1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Yep, it clunks when the retaining nut is not tight.
One issue is the paint on the bottom of the strut. That should be scraped off, as the clamping load is reduced when the paint yields. Ditto for any paint where the nut bears in the top of the strut housing.
With the Konis' you get a difficult to tighen replacement nut made to fit the top body of a Koni shock.
I had to do my struts a second time and remove them. The second time I cleaned and degreased the nuts and tubes and put on lots of loctite blue and got them as tight as I could. No problem after that.
I suggest this. Jack up the front of the vehicle, both sides, to allow the suspension to drop. If you do one side the sway bar will not allow this. Remove the road wheel on the one side. I think that you can reach through the spring and move the boot up and see/feel if the nut seems loose.
With the suspenstion dropped, the suspenstion is hanging on the strut which could make detection of loosness difficult. You can support the hub to offload that tension. You can then also remove the strut top shaft nut and then lower the suspension further to extend the spring. Watch for tie rod interference at the fender opening, and the brake line tension. The top nut will be free of any external loads. With the gas charged Koni's there is no danger of the shaft getting down and difficult to deal with. If your shocks don't want to push the shaft up on their own, watch what you are doing.
There is no danger of explosive spring force release using the method that I describe, as long as you have vehicle weight on the hub or wheel when you remove the nut. As you back the nut off, if the nut starts to spin free of the mount, there is your assurance. If the nut appears to be under load, you then would not want to tread it out of engagement with the shaft.
All of this is for investigation without strut removal. If the nut appears to be loose, you will probably have to get the shaft back into the mount with vehicle weight on it to do that, then refit the nut, no need to tighen, then remove the whole strut etc.
posted by 207.43.195...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
