I just got Eibachs and Tokicos installed, and the ride is nice but I am getting a lot of rattling from the rear end when I hit bumps. Anybody else experience this?

 

Did you put back EVERYTHING that was there before. It could be that you are missing a piece or that the spring is not seated correctly.

 

just go back through and make sure everything is torqued to the correct specs...

 

you sure you dont have junk in your trunk.......

 

Well,

I took it to Midas to get an alignment today. They told me that they don't do alignments on lowered cars...but they did tell me what my problem was.

The center strut bolt was not tight on the driver's side rear. I had planned to take it back to them, but they are busy today.

Can this bolt be tightened without taking the strut back off?

I was thinking that maybe I could compress the spring somehow with the strut still on the car, so I could make the bolt up tighter.

Probably not...huh?

 

you don't need to do much to get to that bolt.... you have to remove the backseat and pop the strut tower cap off. then you will see the 3 bolts on the strut tower (you won't need to touch those) the nut they are referring to is in the middle (can't miss it)...just curious if they figured out it was loose why didn't they tighten it?

 

I know where the bolt is, but if you turn it, you just turn the strut shaft and not the threads. I wondering if the following would work:

I put a socket on the nut to hold it in place, then I get a padded wrench to grab the piston shaft on the strut, and turn it to make it up?

OR: (this sounds a little more dangerous):

what if I jack the car up, put a jack stands under it (one on each corner to make it level, then I jack the strut up, and make the bolt up from the top.

If any one can help, please advise me to the feasibility and the danger (mechanical to the car, and physical to me) of both these theories.

 

Air-Tools

 

say again?
The strut shaft should not be turning because the upper mount has a "D" shaped hole that the "D" shaped threaded portion of the strut shaft goes through. Therefore, as long as the upper mount is fixed in place (i.e. - installed in your car), you should be able to tighten the nut on the strut shaft. Just be careful you are tightening, not loosening (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey ).

 

Please elaborate about using air tools to tighten the strut.

 

First, are you talking about the upper strut shaft nut? The one at the upper mounting insulator? If so, you should be able to tighten it, Because it is D shaped like mentioned earlier.

The reason Jeff said use air tools is because when using an impact gun it would transfer the impact force to the nut and turn it before it turned the shaft.

If you're talking about the very large gland packing nut that holds the strut cartridge in the strut housing that's a different story. You will have to remove the strut/spring assembly and tighten it with a 2" pipe wrench while it's held in a vise (ok, a vise makes it a LOT easier, but it's not completely required).

Identify the source of the problem and we will find a solution.

-Kaleb

 

My top bolts are tight. Torqued to Chilton manual specs, my packing gland nut is shown in the picture.

Is it supposed to me made up all the way? If so, is there a way to do it without removing the strut from the car? Like made with 2 pipe wrenches or something.

 

Kaleb,

Did you see the picture? Is that packing nut supposed to be made it all the way? Both sides are screwed in the same amout as shown in the picture. But only the passenger side rattles.

Also, will the strut have to be adjusted after the Eibachs finish lowering?

One more thing...I'd like to get one of your custom grilles if you're still doing that. Email me if you still are. I have a '91 but I am planning to get a 92-94 grille from a salvage yard this weekend.