Front shock absorber strut play, Front shock absorber strut play Options

[Creamsicle New Zealand]

Happy new year to all from the land of warm weather cold beer and BBQs.

I have a knocking sound and feel in the car which I have traced to one of the front shocks on my 1974 2.0
Have had it for some time but have only just found the source. The front shocks are new so it seems strange. When the car is on a hoist with the wheels freely hanging I can put upward pressure on the wheel and see and feel play, I can feel the play when holding the top support bracket on the top of the guard, I can see the play when looking above the wheel and can see the strut shaft as it goes into the protective tube has slight amount of movement, there is no visible sign of movement when looking at the top support bracket area above the guard, its only a small amount but when driving around the smallest bump in the road sends a thud thru the front of the car.
Just wondering if anyone here knows of any reason for this to happen (maybe a washer missed during assembly?) as the struts - as mentioned above - are new.
Thanks for any help.
Steve

[mepstein]

Undo the strut from the strut tower, drop it down a bit and remove the cylinder dust cap. Check the threaded nut on the strut to make sure it's tight. Many times they loosen up and develop a clunk.

[rgalla9146]

Undo the strut from the strut tower, drop it down a bit and remove the cylinder dust cap. Check the threaded nut on the strut to make sure it's tight. Many times they loosen up and develop a clunk.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Either the 19 mm nut at the top of the strut or the retaining collar inside
the dust cover.
Be careful of the brake hose when you lean the strut outwards to remove
the dust cover.
Thread a long (3"?) 6mm bolt into the top of the strut to pull it back up into
the mount.

[Creamsicle New Zealand]

awesome thanks guys.

[Creamsicle New Zealand]

I have just had a look and the top of my strut appears to be different from the photo rgalla9146 sent? does this just mean I have a different make strut?

[Krieger]

I have just had a look and the top of my strut appears to be different from the photo rgalla9146 sent? does this just mean I have a different make strut?

It is possible, but he definitely has a different shock absorber. It does not look like you can do the long bolt trick. Depending on what shock absorbers you have and their condition they may naturally extend themselves.

[porschetub]

Hi Steve,I have the same setup as your picture,I fitted replacement Saches/Boge strut inserts a few years back and found that it was hard to get the retaining nut up to full tension with out the strut shaft turning,I had the movement you talk of till I found a better way of tightening them up fully,can't exactly remember what I did but it worked.

[mepstein]

Hi Steve,I have the same setup as your picture,I fitted replacement Saches/Boge strut inserts a few years back and found that it was hard to get the retaining nut up to full tension with out the strut shaft turning,I had the movement you talk of till I found a better way of tightening them up fully,can't exactly remember what I did but it worked.

Rattle gun with a torque setting.

[rgalla9146]

Hi Steve,I have the same setup as your picture,I fitted replacement Saches/Boge strut inserts a few years back and found that it was hard to get the retaining nut up to full tension with out the strut shaft turning,I had the movement you talk of till I found a better way of tightening them up fully,can't exactly remember what I did but it worked.

Rattle gun with a torque setting.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Impact gun or grab the large toothed washer with your gigantic channel locks.
Also, my bad, not all struts have the 6mm threads at the top.
In that case you'd have to disconnect the bottom of the strut (!) to aim the top into the top mount.
Then use your floor jack to lift the lower control arm up into the bottom of the strut.

[mepstein]

Hi Steve,I have the same setup as your picture,I fitted replacement Saches/Boge strut inserts a few years back and found that it was hard to get the retaining nut up to full tension with out the strut shaft turning,I had the movement you talk of till I found a better way of tightening them up fully,can't exactly remember what I did but it worked.

Rattle gun with a torque setting.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Impact gun or grab the large toothed washer with your gigantic channel locks.
Also, my bad, not all struts have the 6mm threads at the top.
In that case you'd have to disconnect the bottom of the strut (!) to aim the top into the top mount.
Then use your floor jack to lift the lower control arm up into the bottom of the strut.

Rory, I’ve replaced a lot of 914 strut inserts and I’ve never had to remove them at the bottom. I do compress the shaft on the strut, aim it at the top mount and then use the jack on the bottom of the A-arm. I just did it a month ago to make a chassis into a roller.

[Creamsicle New Zealand]

Thank you all. I will get a long bar socket onto it with a large pair of poly grips to hold the top housing/washer, I'm not going to do it up to a torque setting I will just get it as tight as I can as its a 22mm nut so don't think I will break anything.
Cheers.

[mepstein]

Thank you all. I will get a long bar socket onto it with a large pair of poly grips to hold the top housing/washer, I'm not going to do it up to a torque setting I will just get it as tight as I can as its a 22mm nut so don't think I will break anything.
Cheers.

I use a pin spanner from my bicycle tool collection but a pipe wrench works as well.

[ndfrigi]

Undo the strut from the strut tower, drop it down a bit and remove the cylinder dust cap. Check the threaded nut on the strut to make sure it's tight. Many times they loosen up and develop a clunk.