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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Strut shock Clunk?

Posted by: RustyWa Apr 10 2005, 08:05 PM

So what I've been thinking was loose front wheel bearings all this time, turns out to be

crap...hit the enter key by mistake.....continue below...

Posted by: RustyWa Apr 10 2005, 08:10 PM

So all this time, what I have been thinking was a loose front wheel bearing, turns out to be the strut cartridge rocking back and forth in the strut. What's up with that? Is it normal?

I've got new Bilstein strut cartridges installed. If the car is sitting on the ground and I rock the front of the car side to side, you can hear a clunk. The large spanner nut holding the cartridge in the strut is tight.

Any suggestions are welcome?

Posted by: rhodyguy Apr 10 2005, 08:15 PM

i can't help you on that one. but i do like the avatar.

k

"get out of malibu lebowski!! stay out of malibu, deadbeat!!!".

Posted by: RustyWa Apr 10 2005, 08:24 PM

"I do mind. The Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand man."

Posted by: Elliot Cannon Apr 10 2005, 08:29 PM

If the big spanner nut is tight maybe it's loose a little higher up. Open the front trunk lid, push the car back and forth and take a look.
Cheers, Elliot

Posted by: Aaron Cox Apr 10 2005, 08:55 PM

QUOTE (Elliot Cannon @ Apr 10 2005, 07:29 PM)
If the big spanner nut is tight maybe it's loose a little higher up. Open the front trunk lid, push the car back and forth and take a look.
Cheers, Elliot

i agree... see if your upper strut mounts are tight!

Posted by: RustyWa Apr 10 2005, 10:11 PM

Yep, upper strut mount was tightend with an impact wrench, and the bearing plate bolts are tight. I also have new ball joints, also just checked the ball joint collar and it was tight.

One thing I noticed is that the spanner nut does not bottom out on the strut tube. There is probably like a little less than 1/8" of thread left. Doesn't appear to be any slop up/down in strut.

I'm heading back out to the garage to tear it apart again.

Posted by: RustyWa Apr 11 2005, 09:36 AM

Pulled the cartridge out of the strut. All fasteners were really tight. There appears to be a little slop in the shock side to side. It looks like 0.010" when the shock is at the fully extended position.

Maybe this is normal?

Posted by: rhodyguy Apr 11 2005, 09:45 AM

eric, did the bils come with their own closing/cap screws? i seem to remember brad mentioning they took a specific type. the stock ones and the koni ones didn't fit quite right. i think .

k

Posted by: RustyWa Apr 11 2005, 09:55 AM

Yep, came with it's own cap screw. I'm going to call Bilstein today to find out whats normal for lateral movement on these shocks.

This is all in my quest of trying to find out why my car has a shimmy between 55-65 mph. I thought I figured it out last year when I found a loose nut on the inner rear control arm. But that didn't do it. I've gone over the whole car. New shocks, springs, tires, wheels, front wheel bearings, alignment...I'm sure there is more. The only things left to do would be front and rear control arm bushings, rear wheel bearings and motor mounts. I'm tired of throwing money and parts at the car.

Posted by: Bleyseng Apr 11 2005, 10:12 AM

Join the club! oh wait, you already have...

The car does this because you haven't thrown enough money at it. 914's are like women and required lots of money to be throw at them to be happy!

Geoff
oh, your front bushing are toast so order the Elephant ones.

Posted by: Joe Ricard Apr 11 2005, 10:19 AM

QUOTE (Bleyseng @ Apr 11 2005, 08:12 AM)
Join the club! oh wait, you already have...

The car does this because you haven't thrown enough money at it. 914's are like women and required lots of money to be throw at them to be happy!

Geoff
oh, your front bushing are toast so order the Elephant ones.

The trick is to keep both the car and wife happy.
Throw equal amounts of money at each.

Then again Don't listen to me I just got put in credit card hack. can't spend nuthin for a month.

So buy some shit from me so I can give back to the vendors.

Posted by: SpecialK Apr 11 2005, 10:40 AM

Sounds like a loose nut behind the wheel.............

Posted by: rhodyguy Apr 11 2005, 10:46 AM

+ a shimmy too, at 60 or so. switch the rear tire to front just to see what happens. rim is off a bit? take it back to the shop that did the tire balance and ask them to redo. "all 4 please.".

k

Posted by: mskala Apr 11 2005, 08:01 PM

I've had the same issue re: bearings seems tight enough, but
can move tire. I just got new shocks 'cause it needed it
anyway. Definitely not bad shocks, although there has to be
-some- amount of play in the shaft.

I'm looking at this diagram (I have a '6) and have to think
there's something not perfectly seated, or worn that I didn't
see when last opened everything up.

Attached thumbnail(s)

Posted by: SpecialK Apr 11 2005, 09:12 PM

QUOTE (mskala @ Apr 11 2005, 06:01 PM)
I've had the same issue re: bearings seems tight enough, but
can move tire. I just got new shocks 'cause it needed it
anyway. Definitely not bad shocks, although there has to be
-some- amount of play in the shaft.

I'm looking at this diagram (I have a '6) and have to think
there's something not perfectly seated, or worn that I didn't
see when last opened everything up.

How much "play" are we talking here?

shouldn't be any negligable movement when working the wheel (grasping the top and bottom).

Could've been that the last person that replaced the bearings and races didn't have the race seated in the hub properly, and it's slowly seating itself giving you excess clearance.........well, sounds like it could happen that way.

Posted by: RustyWa Apr 12 2005, 12:42 AM

Ok, I played with it some more. Took the wheel off, and removed the grease cap to the bearings. Loosened the clamp nut bolt. Put the wheel back on without the center cap. Lowered the car back down. Started tightening the bearing clamp nut while rocking the car side to side. I got the clunking to pretty much stop, but the bearings are now pretty tight as the washer under the clamp nut does not want slide back and forth anymore.

I'll take it for a spin tomorrow and test it when I get home. Bearings are pretty cheap if I end up smoking these.

Kevin - I put my old steel wheels on, a while back, and it did not help. I'm wondering if, like Geoff said, my control or trailing arm bushings are bad...?? Since I feel the shimmy in my ass, I keep thinking it's in the rear trailing arms.

Posted by: Bleyseng Apr 12 2005, 07:39 AM

The rubber bushings have gone past their useful life. Once you take thinkgs apart and look at 30 yr old rubber bushings you'll see what I mean.
The rears suspension ears bolt hole also could be ovaled some.....

Geoff