I did a little searching today and couldn't find any information on adjusting your Koni struts while they are still on the Maxima. All the posts I found said that you have to remove your struts completely by using a spring compressor. Also, I never touched the rears. Since these Koni struts can only adjust the rebound, I'm only bothering with the fronts.

I figured I'd first see if it was easily possible to somehow adjust the Konis while they were still on the car before I put the effort into removing everything. I really didn't want to have to bother with separating the knuckle from the strut housing. My alignment has been absolutely perfect for the past couple years and I didn't want to disturb that. My tire wear has never been so perfect.

This is the first time I've attempted to adjust the Konis since I originally installed them back in 2004. I wanted to set them to 100% firm instead of the 60% I set them at. This is to prevent front end rise during my launch.

Put a small jack under the bottom of the ball joint to support the knuckle, hub, control arm, etc. Then, remove the top strut nut and then slowly lower the entire control arm and knuckle with the jack. The strut piston will come out of the hole and the housing will move so hold onto it. While everything is lowered, the spring is not under tension. But try to keep it in place. There is a bearing that needs to stay put or it won't go back into the insulator (the 3 bolt housing that's already bolted to the car).



Make sure the spring isn't under any tension. Then, reach inbetween the coils and push the piston strut all the way down. Remove the bump stop and get that out of the way. Then unsnap the strut piston boot to allow that to drop all the way down. Then, you can use your hands to turn the piston while pressing downward until it locks into place allowing you to adjust the firmness. It spins pretty easily and I didn't have to use any special tools to hold the piston down.



I set mine to 100% firm. So getting the piston raised back up was a little tough by using your hands. But it's easy if you put a large 21mm socket lug nut (1.25 pitch) on the piston and use a pickle fork to pry the piston as high as you can. Once you have it as high as it will possibly go, you use your tiny jack on the ball joint to lift the control arm back up while you slowly make sure the piston goes back into the insulator that is bolted to the car. Make sure the bearing didn't move. It should stay centered and fit into the insulator perfect as you are raising the control arm. It would help if someone else raised it while you concentrated on making sure the piston goes smoothly in the hole. I found myself raising the jack with my left foot while making sure everything stayed aligned.





It only took me about 15-20 minutes to do one side. Not too bad.

 

Great info Aaron!

It looks like that koni is blown. IIRC, it shouldn't stay compressed like that all by itself.

 

It always stayed compressed like that when it was 100% firm even when it was new. But that's not the issue when it's 60% or less.

I noticed no signs of wearing in the 6 years I've had these.

 

nice, this should help some Koni folks on here

my tokicos after 6 years are shot, i push the piston down and it stays down

are you not running any rubber spring seats/isolators? weight savings?

 

Sean, your shocks (Konis) are oil filled. Not gas. So if you push it down, it stays down. As long as there is resistance down/up

The Tokicos on the other hand are a combo of oil/Nitrogen I believe. When these stay down, they are el toasties. ie.. go down/up easy

 

Great info, Aaron! I have had mine on for 4 or 5 years and 60K miles and they have held up with no issue. How many miles do you have on yours?

 

I just realized that there isn't a little rubber thing on the bottom spring perch. There was on the other side. I just removed it probably because it was shot.

I just checked my maintenance book. I've had these on the car for 75K miles.

 

Also, while I was adjusting the front right strut, I broke it. At first, it went into the slot no problem and I adjusted it to 100% like I wanted. But as I was turning it by hand, I felt a snap and it slipped out of the notch. I'm thinking it broke since I could not get it to adjust again after that. I couldn't find the notch after that. Luckily, it's at 100% right now.

I left a message with Koni technical support around 5pm yesterday and Paul returned my called this morning. He had no problem with honoring the lifetime warranty since I have the original receipt. All I have to do is fill out the warranty claim form on their website to get the process started. I asked him if I should only send in the one broken strut. He said as old as they are, just send in both of the fronts and they'll rebuild them for free. So I'm pretty happy with their customer service so far. Since the struts adjusted like I want and seem to be in good condition, he said I could wait as long as I want to send them in. This is the reason why I spent the extra bucks to get Koni struts (hassle free customer service and lifetime warranty).

I also asked him if there was a way they could make these externally adjustable. He looked up some information to refresh his memory and said that since these are sealed units, there is no way to make this happen. Oh well, I guess I'm stuck with these until I am able to retrofit some coil overs.

 

Looks like I learned something new today.

My rear konis still seem to be good, but the fronts aren't. A while ago, I was diagnosis an odd alignment issue and I discovered that there was play in the ds front strut. It took me a while to figure it out because it was only noticeable when there was a load on the suspension. Everything was tight when there wasn't a load on it. I temporarily replace the strut with one from AZ. My ps front strut is questionable. I plan on replacing/rebuilding both of them.

 

Wow, that's pretty good.

I have no clue how many miles are on mine.

 

I forget how many miles the Konis had when I bought them. 20k? They were used.

Sean, the koni is held down by a bolt though the bottom of the strut. Maybe it's loose? Or the top nut is loose allowing the koni tube to rattle in the stut tube?

 

That's what I thought at first, but that's not the case. Somehow there's play in the strut cartridge itself.

 

Wait a minute... Koni said they'd rebuild them for free? If that's the case, why aren't they doing it for me? The threading on the top of the strut is stripped, and they said that since they don't produce them any more so I'm SOL. I'm calling them back today.

EDIT: Just called Paul.... the 862435 is a sealed unit, so rebuilding it is not an option. If it breaks, you're out of luck. Might as well run it till it breaks, and then start shopping for a new brand. They will never produce another strut for our cars again. The only option, if you still want to run Koni's, is to purchase custom struts which run about $1500-$3000 each. Insert sadface here.

 

I was mistaken when I said rebuild. Paul told me that they are under warranty and I'd simply have to fill out the warranty card to get the process rolling.

I just spoke with Paul myself a second ago in order to make sure I was clear on everything myself. Just like you said, they are out of stock and no more will ever be made. I didn't know this when I originally spoke with him. And yes, since they are a sealed unit, they can not be rebuilt. I just ASSUMED () that they could be rebuilt.

In order for me to claim my lifetime warranty, he would just have to refund me for the purchase price. I definitely don't want to do that. I'd only be looking at around $225 for both the fronts.

But regardless, I guess I'm stuck with 100% adjustment on the fronts. I ran at the track last night and they are stiff. Not sure if I like how consistent my launches are. But oh well. I'm stuck with these just like you said.

I did ask to see what my options are for my vehicle. He said if you go on the Koni website, you can search for "road racing strut inserts". Those are adjustable and if you get the lengths pretty close, they may work in our stock housings. Just an idea he threw out to me.