i am in the middle of installing my eibachs and koni's and ive hit a bit of a snag.... the fronts went in very smoothly... the rears on the other hand have to be difficult.... the strut is connected to the spindle with no way to remove it.....i need a step by step on how to remove the whole strut out of the rear and also the best way to get the stock shock cartridge out of the strut housing so i can put the koni red's in...... any help?!?!

 

Sure you can PM me if you need help or even call long distance if you want. I'm just putting in the rears today - so it's all fresh in my memory.

The easiest way is to remove the entire assembly. Remove Caliper. Remove ABS crap, but don't pound that thing out or it will crack like I did to mine to try and separate the caliper adapter plate from the ABS Gusset Assy thing. Remove adapter plate. Loosen top screw lock not a bit - loosen mount nuts but don't remove or when you remove the parallel link bolt it will drop to the ground.

Remove parallel link bolt. Remove rear stab bar cap screw. Remove Radius Rod bracket cap screw, after baffle plate is removed because it blocks.

 

I forgot to add, the caliper is actually not removed completely on mine - when I removed my rotors, the caliper was still attached around the rotor sort of...but loosely so...it probably would have slid off but I didn't bother, but I put them on little foot stools so they don't hang from the brake hose. You do remove the caliper fixing bolts though. From what I remember the front parallel link is in the way of one of the fixing bolts for Caliper Assy, you remove the parallel link bolt first them move the thing out of the way....maybe my impact sockets were to thick, that's why I had to do it, I can't remember, either way it all has to come off so who cares.

 

alright thanks ive got the strut out and i got the stock cartridge out but when i went to put my koni strut in it wont sit down all the way.... looks liek the koni is ike 3/4 of a inch longer than stock.... what gives..

 

Alright here's what I can remember, you will need the following tools and sockets

14mm for 3 strut mount nuts, 2-7/8 socket or wrenches for parallel link removal, I believe 14mm or 17mm for caliper brake with caliper removal. Monkey/pipe wrench for gland nut on top of strut.IIRC 17mm socket for strut mount removal, LONG PIPE for leverage, I'm talking at least 4 feet lol, flat head screw driver/pliers/channel locks, 10mm for sear removal, at least 2 large vice grips

Alright so that should cover what you need I hope. Begin my jacking up car from proper lift point, I would do from rear cross member, support car with 2 jack stands.
If you do not have airtools, loosen lugnuts a bit prior to lifting.

1. remove rear sear by removing 10 nuts from withint the arm rest under rubber caps and where upper and lower seat meet closest to doors, press inward to access 1 10mm bolt on each side

2. Remove wheel

3. Remove parallel links and trailing arm using a either 7/8 socket &ratchet or wrenches on each side, you might need to loosen the parallel links on the crossmember itself so they arent in the way, its been a while so I'm not sure on that

4 Remove caliper/bracket using 17mm, using either screw driver or pliers remove the clip that holds caliper hose into strut assembly bracket. Emergency brake cable should be able to support caliper weight if not, find something to support it to avoid damaging the hose.

Find a helper or use a jack for this step
5. place jack under strut/spindle, go inside car and loose all 3 14mm nuts. go back out and slowly lower the jack to remove strut assembly.

6. Place spring compressors on opposite sides of spring, I usually like to put vice grips on each side of compressors to keep them from sliding to one side...not necessary but I like to be safe. begin compressing by tightening each compressor one bit at a time in an alternating manner. Once compressed enough, should be quick since its rear springs, remove strut mount using 17mm

7.once spring is out, lay assembly on ground place monkey on glad nut, place pipe over monkey wrench, have someone WITH GLOVES hold the assembly for you while you loosen gland nut. IF you have access to air, get an air chisel and use that instead since you normally get a new gland nut with new cartridges.

7 after removing nut, remove cartridge..beware of diarrhea looking fluid. Put some grease inside empty assembly and drop new cartridge in. Prior to dropping cartridge, compress it a few times to test.

8 I think from here you should be able to figure out the rest. Good luck and sorry if I missed anything, its been 2 years since I did these

 

the cartridge that supposidly came off of a fellow .org members 3rd gen max isnt seeming to fit all the way down into the strut itself.... about a inch too high.... whats up with this?

 

Are you sure the housing doesn't have something in it still? shine a flashlight down in there and have a look, maybe turn it over/shake it..

If you haven't seen this page yet, it might help you with the install.

http://scott92282.tripod.com/scomax/koni.html

the page link is not for your current issue btw, i have no idea why they would be too tall besides some foreign object still in the housing..

 

i read int hat artical that a new cap is supposed to come with the koni shocks... is this cap different from the stock cap... maybe this is why it seems to be too long..... form the pic i have the same shock cartridge but when i put the stock nut back on top of the cartridge it wont go down far enough to start threading... the strut cartridge is too tall......

 

o and i poured all the fluid out of the strut itself and looked at the bottem.... nothing but a concave bottem...

 

Beats me mang..

 

ahhh soo frustrating... i measured the strut to the stock housing and it still looks to be too long for the application... i looked up ont he koni website and they only made 1 style for the 91 maxima and the part numbers corrispond so i am lost?!?!?

 

maybe a difference between the SE and GXE housing?

 

It could be the gland nut. The same thing happened to mine. I used the SACHS gland nut that came with it and it worked. The OEM didn't.

 

I'll add one more thing: It's probably the distance to the OEM gland nut. Please measure the top of the cartridge to the lip of the strut assy and i'll tell you if you have the same scenario as I had.

The OEM gland nut has some oil seal there. The SACHS Gland nut had nothing, it was hollow. The hollow space gave some extra room for the metal washer included with the SACHS as well as the extra room for the cartridge.

The oil seal is incorporated into the cartridge - so you would in fact be using 2 oil seals which may not be good - since the 2nd oil seal could maybe interfere a bit? Maybe, maybe not - anyways, you need th gland nut that comes with the cartridges.

 

Durn that exactly the conclusion i came up with... i read ina write up on how to do the koni swap that the new konis came with a different gland nut.....and the oem gland nut infact has the oil seal in it and i was goign to try and pry it out but the thickness of the wall still seems too thick.... also i was wondering there is a extra bit of metal at the end of the cartridge that extend out of the center.... doesnt seem to fit the bottem of the strut... why did koni put this on there... seems liek with out it it would sit down properly for the oem gland nut with out the 2nd oil seal to fit on it...... any how is there anywhere i could but the proper gland nuts??

 

I thought you said you bought it off a guy? If he bought them new, they would have come with new gland nuts. Ask him what he did with them. Even if you removed the oil seal the OEM gland nut probably won't work because it was the HEIGHT of the walls of the new gland nut that was different. The OEM one wasn't as high as the Sachs one. I think this extra height allows the top of the cartridge to fit properly so it's nice and snug when it's tightened down.

Also don't forget to add a little bit of hydraulic fluid into the cartridge to aid in cooling. The sachs manual said 30mL of hydraulic fluid/jack fluid. I just bought the Gunk Hydraulic Jack Oil fluid.

 

well unfortunitly the guy i bought them off of didnt send the koni gland nut or even let me know of it sooooo...... i want to be able to drive tomorrow so now im putting the eibachs on my stock shocks untill i can get those koni gland nuts...... if the guy doesnt have them for some odd reason do you think i could order them direct from koni?!?!

 

I doubt they would sell them separately. Just fax the company and tell them there was a mistake in your NEW boxes (list the model#) that were a gift, the 'hardware' was missing, no gland nut and lock nut - ask if they can mail them to you.

 

good news the guy i bought them off of still has the gland nuts and is shipping them to me ...... i just dont understand why he thought i didnt need them??? Owell the situation is resolved now

 

While you're waiting to get them installed, have you checked on the condition of your strut mounts?

have a look: http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...usy-today.html

 

Mike i'm not sure if you remember - but the OEM springs for the front had dots on them, to indicate L or R. 2 purple dots 2 green dot etc.... Do you know if there was a specific direction the spring had to be installed in, ie. upside down or right side up? Or even with your aftermarket springs - could they go in either way?

Silly me when I removed them, I couldn't figure out which way the dots pointed - ie. 2 dots lower 1 dot higher, or if coil was upside down other way around.

 

Left or Right, I have no idea, but unless they have worn differently or only fit on one side, then its irrelevant.

As far as the orientation, just make sure the spring lines up with the plates. When force is applied to the spring, it will push back equally from both ends so if its upside down it doesnt matter.

 

The dots indicate transmission/non-transmission side of the car, the trans side of the car is heavier vs. the other. The d-side spring is a bit stiffer then the passenger side spring to compensate for the extra weight of the trans..

 

Oooh, I learn something new every day! So for right-hand drive cars, are the springs the same because the driver's weight should compensate for the trans weight?

 

yes, assuming the trans is on the same side regardless of left/right hand drive..Which iirc is the same on a L/R hand drive maximas..

 

Yea i noticed the dots on my springs when i took them out...green dots, but i wasnt sure which way to mount the eibachs when i put them on the strut mounts so i just put lettering up and put them on....i have the rear eibachs mounted with the stock shock untill my proper koni gland nuts arrive....anyway i tightend all the bolts and everything but sometimes when i hit a bump now i noticed a loud thud....not sure what this might be... i still have the rear seats removed so i know any wheelwell noise is alot louder now but im sure its coming from something i did....

 

the tender coils are unloading and loading causing the bang.
need some thing to wrap around the coils.

 

well i took the old peices that were wrapped on each end of my old springs and put them on my new springs... i figured that would keep it quiet....it almost sounds like my swaybar was too loose and its moving left to right but infact all my bolts are tight and the swaybar cannot move side tos ide because of the way its mounted to the spindle....

 

the stock springs are not progressive springs the eibachs are.

on the eibachs there are coils that actually touch each other when the car is on the ground. when you hit a bump these coils unload and reload hence the banging.

on the stock coils only the last coils are wrapped since the other coils are not going to touch.

 

so can you put like, thin rubber insulators in there to help quiet down the coilbanging?

 

riiiiiight, since my eibachs were on another 3rd gen previously i noticed that about 4 of the coils had worn paint on the inside where they had been touching each other that makes sense now that i think about it.....mostly bangs on a sharp turn and when i cut the wheel back the other way and also on bumps..... im wondering if i could get that same coil wrap to go around the whole coil..... its really an irritating noise

 

Stick your seats back in there mang, not only are they comfy, but they are also huge noise reducers..

 

yea im going to do that tonight after i take another look under it......the correct gland nuts are coming tomorrow so ima jsut have to take it back out again lol

 

Also, make sure the top nut on the strut shaft is tight, this is a commonly overlooked part of the reassembly of the suspension, and will cause the "clunking" noise you speak of..

 

1991 or anyone who remembers, right after you installed your coils into the new front strut, and after you remove the macpherson tool, is it normal for the top mount to be pretty hard to turn by hand (bracing the strut between my legs standing straight up?

I cleaned and re-lubed the bearings. Both sides are like this.

 

yes of course its supposed to be tight... i noticed this also when i was aligning the top 3 studs before i put the whole strut back in place. the tightness is due to the spring load on the top plate which the top (hub) is mounted to to its supposed to be tight to turn.