Removed and disassembled front struts, rear struts, and the rear crossmember. Now I have the new springs, struts, and bushings almost ready go in!



My rear struts were a disaster. I moved them in and out with almost no resistance and they just stayed there. Found out I need new front bump stops and one new front dust cover.


A few questions:

The center hole in one of my front strut insulators is a bit rounded on the inside. I dont think this merits a replacement though, any thoughts? I'll get a pic of it later.

All strut insulators had a paper gasket where they met the car body, the FSM calls it a spacer I think. I'm just going to use liquid gasket for these during assembly, is there any reason not to?

The rear springs had insulators on the ends, these were in the diagrams and I understand they are supposed to be transferred to the new springs. The front springs also had some kind of stuff around the ends, but it all crumbled apart when I removed them, and there is nothing in the diagrams except for the rubber seat. Should I get anything for the front springs, and if so then what?

I dont think the orientation of the progressive rear Eibach springs matters, so I am going mount them with the writing upright, putting the closer-spaced springs at the top. Sound good?


Those annoying gland nuts still remain, the crappy tool I got for them lived up to its name. I might just get a shop to swap out the rear cartridges for me, cant imagine it would take more than 30 mins of billable work, probably cheaper than getting more tools.

My front KYB GR-2s are still in great condition, they are 1 year old. If anyone wants them, PM me. Sold

 

replace them. my story(which probably started off "rounded"...)
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....104&highlight= ...

 

I remember that thread. I had the same problem for a while, years ago. I think damaged bushings got it going, and it was terrible. One place I took the car to at the time tightened it for me, then it became loose again later.

I havent had any problems with it after the GR-2s were installed, even though the mount remained the same. Im guessing that this is a part that has to be replaced on both sides concurrently?

 

- I guess its just road noise killer. Anything goes.
- cant see any difference except: smbdy will say its the wrong way
- can be true, but the walk, shame

 

I don't know if there is a right and wrong way. If you want any reason (valid or not) one could maybe say closer-spaced spring at top because then with little bumps it will only need to compress a bit of spring where if it was the other way it would have to compress a little bit of spring and move the spring part that is not compressing.

Just a thought that popped into my head

 

Contradictin opinions forbidden: only right way is valid to pass inspection.

 

You have PM

 

The thing is though, when a spring is being compressed, the force applied is split evenly at both ends: F=-kx. In normal springs k is a constant, and in progressive springs it is a non-linear function. It will be shorter by the amount x no matter which way it is squeezed.

It shouldnt matter unless there is another specific detail of which I am not aware, but I brought it up in the first place because I've seen photos where it was mounted in different ways.

 

The thing that I thought about was the unsprung mass factor.

 

Here is my odd-looking strut mount

 

dude, replace that. does the old strut have good thread on the bottom? my old mount looked that bad, and turned the top of my old strut into an hour glass shape. as you know, it should be "D" shaped. that's egg shaped(at least from this view)

 

You lose.

 

replacement time

 

The threads are fine. Do the mounts have to be replaced as a pair, or is it OK to just change one?

 

Nah, just replace the bad mount, but inspect the other for good measure..

 

with all the suspension work you are doing, i would recommend all 4. not that the other 3 need it, but it's one less thing to worry about.
it is, after all 15 years old...

 

This is where the hated (yearly here) inspectors earn their keep. Loose nut will be noted for unawares in advance... I know it on first bump.

 

Thats a lot of money to drop on things that look completely fine and have no symptoms, plus I already repaired other trouble spots like lca bushings, which were probably what caused that damage.

If I notice problems later then I will swap them out as need, its just a few bolts here/there + a rented spring compressor.

 

It looks like I'm going to take back everything I said about the strut mounts. Today I got the new front one, and it is a lot taller than my front ones, which appear to have collapsed on both sides. I was already lowered 1/2" without any lowering springs

Now I'm wondering about the rears! I dont have a reference to know what a good one is supposed to look like, but I suspect they have both collapsed as well.

Could someone please post a close-up photo of a new rear strut mount so I can compare?

Edit: I decided to just go ahead and get the rear mounts, didnt think a photo of something so specific would be forthcoming anyway.

 

What's the typical price range for all the parts you overhauled? I may want to copy you. BUT I don't need performance...just replacement of OEM from any suitable vendor.

 

Struts - KYB GR-2s are the typical OEM strut replacement, I saw a full set of new ones on eBay for $190 shipped.

Springs - I'm not sure if they warrant replacement unless you want a shorter/tighter spring.

Strut Mounts - Looks like I'm spending about $140 for all four.

Bump stops and boots are each under $20 for the front, the rear ones are one unit, $33 each at courtesy.

Energy Suspension bushings are a bit over $30 for the rear, $39 for front. The front ones take some work to swap though.


Spread it over a few months and it wont hit that hard.

 

Finished everything last Friday, here are some pics of how tall new strut mounts are supposed to be:

rear:


front:



lowered now:

 

Do I have to get the strut bearing and strut mount seperate?

 

no

 

so a new mount has a new bearing in it?

 

No, they are separate parts. I think he just meant that you could buy all of them together as a set.

 

ok now i am confused. I have never seen where u could buy them seperate. It was always just a strut, bolt the mount to it and install. How is the maxima's setup?

 

you can buy the strut separate from the mount from brian, actually. www.internetautosupply.com

 

Great ride and handling, just squeaky (http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...ut-mounts.html)

 

ok let me re-phrase: why do they sell the bearing seperately?

 

because in some cases the bearing is the only failed part.
some mounts also do not come with the bearing, I think KYB changed part #'s and started pulling that crap.

 

ok cool now i understand. So basically when I buy my mount I just need to make sure it has the bearing with it. was confused if we had some odd setup and then someone started talking about poly...

 

So, When buying strut mounts, which ones are best to get in terms of quality and which ones come with the bearings?

 

I used to say KYB til they pulled the crap of some part # not having the bearing but the old one did. nowadays they all seem the same to me.

 

whasup,
1..my front springs did have the rubber flat ring on the bottom and the
plastic split hose encasing the top end of the front spring so i swapped it all over.its for anti-noise and vibration im sure
.....i have spare s for almost alll this stuff
2...my sprint springs new came with a coil diagram showing that the tighter end with the smaller coil gaps goes up top and the wider gaps towards the botttom but yours are eibachs so...?
3....ive been able to use a med big sized flat head screw driver and hammer to remove the rear gland nut ,....
by striking the side if the nut with the flat head blade and hammer till it
"cuts' a notch and eventully spins counterclockwise enough to use the wrench
once again my lack of tools cost more time but i still get-er done