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changing my struts right now. i'm on to the rear, but cant seem to find the strut mount bolts so i can loosen it from the top. I tore apart all the lining in my trunk looking for it, but can seem to find them.
Everything went well, except now the rear mounts makes lots of noise when I drive it over bumps. For this reason, I've kept it in the garage and out of commission.
The noise sounds like the mounts are not bolted no tight enough, so this allows the mount to moving free/wiggle around. I have tried to tighted all the the bolts (the 3 in a triangle form and the center one)
BUT the center one seems as though it can be tighten down more. everytime I wrench it, its spins along with the strut's piston, so all it is doing is spin round and round and not tighting.
you need an impact gun to get the nut on the strut to go all the way down... and you have to line it up too... cause there's 2 notches on the strut and same notches on the strut mount..
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Quantum mechanics - the dreams that stuff is made of.
There's two notches cut out of the top of your strut, and two tabs sticking out the bottom of the strut mount. If you line them up correctly, they will keep the piston rod from spinning while you tighten it. One of my tabs on the rear mount somehow got bent back though, so it no longer holds them tight. If that's the case, you can either try to repair it yourself with whatever you have handy, or buy a new rear mount. Obviously, don't use tools to hold the rod in place... you will ruin the surface, and will quickly cause the new strut to blow.
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If torque actually won races, wouldn't we all be driving diesels?
There's two notches cut out of the top of your strut, and two tabs sticking out the bottom of the strut mount. If you line them up correctly, they will keep the piston rod from spinning while you tighten it. One of my tabs on the rear mount somehow got bent back though, so it no longer holds them tight. If that's the case, you can either try to repair it yourself with whatever you have handy, or buy a new rear mount. Obviously, don't use tools to hold the rod in place... you will ruin the surface, and will quickly cause the new strut to blow.
So you think the slots on both sides of the struts are not correctly aligned with the slots on the strut pistons? Damn, this means that I am going to have to removed the entire thing and reinstall?
Look what I found out: "most likely your problem is that these are cartridge struts, meaning your strut assembly stays the same and you just change out the insides. Now the problem is that whoever compressed and changed out your cartridge most likely didn't transfer the washer like spacer from your old cartridge over to your new one, therefore your cartridge isn't held in place tightly and when you hit a bump its actually moving inside the strut assembly."
Anyone know where these washer spacer's are they at? And I also do remember the struts included a washer for each, but didnt know where they go so I left them out. Anyone have any ideas?
Sounds like a worn out strut mount. I just replaced my front mounts and am thinking about the rears but haven't done anything yet. On the old front mounts, the center nut would turn and turn. It's actually the rubber bushing, through a notched collar, that's supposed to hold the strut's shaft and keep it from turning. Once the rubber is shot, it will turn and turn. Sometimes as the bushing is wearing out, you can turn it a bit and effectively tighten the rubber, but a few months later the whole thing will be worse than before.
Everything I've heard says to always replace the mounts when replacing struts. I've got my original struts (ES300 - Japanese) but the front mounts were definitely shot at 100K miles. The ride firmed up a little with the new mounts, too. There's a little verticle shimmy that's gone, but it's also a little harsher.
FWIW, my original strut mounts had an oval opening at the top and the new replacement called out in some service bulleting had smaller round openings.
Don't forget to check your sway bar bushings and end links while your back there.
FINALLY got these bad boys in working condition. It turned out that the washers that came with the rear struts NEEDS to be utilized. I had to take the entire thing apart and place the washer under the center nut then reinstall.
I feel like pro working this project for about a week...so anyone have questions... ask.
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