I need to see pics of a tokico strut, thats been loading into the rear strut, anyone who has this set up knows what i mean.. i need to know what it looks like jacked up.. PLEASE.. im worried they just left my old ones.

I just had my eibach/tokico struts installed...
by a local mechanic, first they didnt do the job because they didnt know to use the original housing of the rear strut for the new tokico rears, which i could understand..

now what i cant understand, and am REALLY livid about right now. Is that they didnt even test drive it after installing! Theres a very loud "clunk" on the rear drivers side.. not to mention the shield by the brake is rubbing, theyre supposed to be professionals?! ugh.. im pissed..

 

I'm sick of hearing of "clunks" when it comes to Tokico's. I might just splurge and buy some Koni's. Especially if you have to use the stock housing for the rears, I thought you got 4 complete assemblies with Tokico. Sorry, don't have a pic for you.

 

its a clunk/rattle.. sounds almost as if the struts loose.. or somethings not right.. its only at a decent suspension hit/bump..

theyre brand new, dont think they should clunk, i only heard good things about tokicos, didnt want the hassle of installing the konis, but i didnt even wind up doing the job now..

 

alot of people don't replace the gland nut when swapping between brands, failure to do so will in some cases be the cause of the thunk

 

Take it back to them and tell them to fix it- ON THEIR DIME. It wasn't clunking when you went in, and unless the parts were defective (which they should have told you about), then it's installation error.


USUALLY it's one of these things:
1. the gland nut is incorrect. The tokico gland nuts are different than the OEM, and IIRC they are a little longer to hold the cartridge in place in the housing. If the OE ones are shorter, they leave a small gap- about 1/4" or so- and the cartridge moves around inside the housing.

2. The top nut on the strut shaft is loose. If they didn't tighten it all the way, it will rattle and clunk over bumps too.

3. The 3 nuts that hold the upper strut mount to the car are loose. When doing this job alone, you have to hold the strut in place and tighten those nuts by reaching around into the car. I've left them loose a couple times since I just get them hand tight to hold the strut up, then go back to the stuff under the car and forget about the top ones. I now make it a point to check them before putting the seat back in place, but it's an easy thing to forget if you're doing it all yourself.



The dust shield thingy on the brakes is easy enough to fix. stick a screwdriver between wheel spokes and push it back away from the rotor. usually it's mashed on the bottom where they set the strut on the ground.

edit.. DOH... brian beat me to it.

 

so is it something like there is a little too much clearance inside there and the cartridge is moving up and down when it should be held in tight? and that's why you are supposed to switch the gland nut?

edit: too slow. matt answered my question as i was typing.

 

boy we are moving too fast and too slow at the same time on here today

 

bingo, thanks you and matt..

i see cause i cut the dust boot to look, and at first i thought when i saw black rusty metal, they left the old, then i realized, that big nut unthreads and in goes the tokico.. the nut which i saw, looked old and chewed!!!

but the passenger side doesnt sound bad.. but the drivers side definitely is clunking, like matt described, like the new strut has actually room to move around..


AND as pissed as i am, you didnt have to tell me to take it back to them and its on their dime. they all packed up and left, i had just called them.. only the owner was left.. i was about ready to drive thru his doors.
telling me my car was out of gas, they didnt get to test drive it!!
i think the mechanic just said fuc$^ it..

thanks for the info guys, i do believe the cause is that gland nut.. i took a pic while i was under there.. hope it shows the gland nut, im not in the mood to jack back up and go back in there..

 

alil hard to see it..

so drivable issues? i would say its undrivable, which now im more pissed.. 3 days no max

well, i wanna know 100% so im going to get better pics, can one of you guys check again on me later tonight and see the pics to say whether or not theyre OEM or the Tokico one?

 

holy crap i need to resize these pics first lol.. took them directly off my phone

 

this is raised! the center nut on top.. it just turns and turns too.. and i hear alil sqeeke kinda noise when i turn, like maybe the shaft of the strut turning? is this UP in the air due to the gland nut not pulling it down snug??? its obviously part of the noise im hearing, and wont drive it like this.

 

dood, you need to take this car back to that shop!! Speak with the manager/owners only about this..Print out the pictures, take them with..This needs to be fixed correctly by them.

 

that nut was not tightened
if you haven't driven on it long, and it's busted up right there, they owe you a new insert.

 

and heres some pics of the gland nut.. maybe someone can tell for sure if this is the OEM or not.. is there 2 parts? IE: a top and a bottom? Cause i see old white paint on the top part, but it looks to be 2 parts, the threaded part underneath the cap piece which is hexagon shape for wrenching is what looks old.

 

yea, that much is known ty

im just trying to go in there well informed and tell them whats wrong, i already had to tell them that the rears are cartridges!
and i spoke with the manager tonight on the phone, he knows im coming and not happy.. but i have to wait till tomorrow night damn i work to much.

 

1. the car is driveable if necessary. it's just noisy. (any damage is already done)
2. I can't tell for sure if the glad nut is on right, but it looks okay to me. I can't tell just from looking if it's the proepr one or not (it's been 5+ years since I've touched a Tokico insert)

I'd bet it's just the top nut that's loose.

 

It's probably the top nut, but I do have a pic of the stock retainer/gland nut.



I took the rear struts off myself and had a shop repack them and they didn't tighten the top nut, had clunking in the rear over bumps because it allows it to rattle around. They also had a problem with the gland nut saying that they could weld it on, but the strut assembly would be trashed if I decided to change cartridges, apparently I told them not to do that and had the person I got my tokico's from send me the correct gland nut. If the shop used OE nuts they will rattle around. I would question them on it.

 

ok, that nuts all one piece.. and looks like whats on mine. So id say they used the OEM..

this is day 3 now..
day 4 will be their refix day.. cuz i cant even go there tomorrow till 6pm cause i work so much.

thx for the pic..

 

but when i try to tighten it, it just spins?? idk, im gonna go try again lol..

 

if the shaft is spinning then chances are your mount is bad.

 

if it is still spinning, the damage is done. the end of the shaft should be "D" shaped, with a flat side that slips into the strut mount. if it wasn't tightened, it would move around, wallowing out the "D" shaped hole, making it more"O" shaped, rendering the mount trashed as well.
so they owes you a new strut cartridge, and a new mount.

edit: brian beat me to it. but I explained it better

 

thx, and dont worry ben.. he was quicker, but the D turned into an O worked good lol

yea i just tried again, and reached down grabbing the shaft thru the boot, spinsss spinss!

So need a new catridge and mount, hah.. now i have to wait for parts and let them touch my car again.

I have the worst luck when it comes to going to mechanics.. if it wasnt for the lack of good equipment and the weather, id have done it myself.

if you want it done right, do it yourself!

 

blame them for bad mount and get them to replace that too....

 

Can not figure out how the guy did that. Maybe theres another insert with thicker shaft ? ...so he couldnt fit the shaft in and drilled a larger hole?

murky "...because they didnt know to use the original housing..."

 

the insert is probably fine, but the mount is fried.

 

i don't know that they drilled a bigger hole... but the shaft's ability to move around in the hole rounded it out so it's not D-shaped anymore

 

Yes but how would that happen if it was ok, soundless (?) before operation? You cannot ruin the D-hole just by turning... Also the shaft sticks lots higher than it should with genuine Nissan insert.

 

they took it back, agreed to do labor free.. im payin for the mount.. eh.. thats ok with me, they were the original ones, and to think of it, id have been best off to replace all mounts at the time of replacing the springs and struts.

i grilled the kid on the gland nut issue, i trust he put the tokico ones on. Assuming the gland nut is two pieces, or.. i dont know how to explain

so tomorrow, new strut mount, and i should be good to go...

 

yeah, he better have used the tokico nuts, they are both one piece.

 

you gonna go ahead and do both sides? or just the one that was making noise?

 

yes, I recommend doing both sides.
I have seen the rubber (or whatever it is) pillow that everthing rests on, collapse (due to age) causing the car to sag (almost like it was dropped a li'l)
there isn't much there to collapse, so you may be safe, but you have the mechanics under the car, so...

 

I talked to tokico tech, he says its not possible to use oem gland nut with tokico struts..says it would go crooked. so i guess gland nuts not an issue..?? wrong info? should have my car back tonight and resolve this

 

got it back.. new strut mount..
yea i wanted to do both strut mounts, but.. cant afford it right now.. maybe i will do the other side in spring. but I will do it this time.

but, the eibach springs and the tokico struts are riding fckin sweet! i love it.. everything feels tighter, smoother..

i had pretty shot struts before. lol

 

when i did mine, i did struts, mounts, springs, and dust boots, everything new, not replacing everything can cause premature failure on new struts, these cars old as ****, gotta do it right and honestly i can say 98% of peoples complaints with tokico is because of ****ty install or installing new struts on old mounts and using old boots or none at all, i run tokico on B&G's and its a sweet ride, i would have went with koni's for the adjustability only but its to much damn work to adjust them, id love to custom fit some koni yellows or tokico illumina's but im no miracle worker