You gotta give me some help...what am I doing wrong w/struts

CapitalTruck · October 14, 2015

Passenger side of truck no problem. Installed strut, strut okay.

Drivers side. If you read my previous posting, I had one of the new struts go belly up within 2 days. I got a replacement. It is now leaking too on the next day. Big time, like oil on the ground.

Is there anyway to mess up struts when installing them? Is it possible that I was given two bad struts in a row? Here is installation procedure.

Remove spring/strut assembly from vehicle (can't really mess that up I don't think).

Lay spring/strut assembly on the ground.

Compress spring using spring compressors.

Use vice grips to grip strut shaft, remove nut from top of strut.

Remove strut assembly.

Place new strut assembly in spring/strut mount.

Use vice grips to hold strut rod and tighten top strut nut to 39 lbs/ft

Remove vice grips.

Remove spring compressors

Put strut assembly in vehicle.

Fasten lower part of strut assembly

Lower Vehicle

Tighten the three nuts that secure mount to frame inside engine compartment.

Is it possible that the strut mount isn't of the right depth and that the rod is being hyper extended somehow? When installing the top nut and using vice grips to hold the shaft, is that hurting something? I don't know how else you would hold the shaft to keep it from turning. I don't see any damage to the shaft.

When removing spring compressors am I doing it unevenly and somehow putting a load on the strut assembly that is putting something out of wack?

I just can't figure it out. Or am I just getting two bad struts in a row?

Thanks for any input you can provide. This one is frustrating because this isn't the quickest job in the world and I can't keep blowing my evenings.

Btuggle88 · October 14, 2015

Where are you grabbing it with the vise grips, you could be putting burs on the shaft and cutting the seals and letting the oil leak out.

brucelimerick · October 14, 2015

I haven't done a strut in 20 years but it seemed to me that the very end of the shaft above the nut had 2 flats on it so you could put a wrench on it. I know with hydraulics as soon as a shaft gets a scratch or a pit the seal is leaking. I would think your vice grips are scoring the shaft and taking out the seals.

CapitalTruck · October 14, 2015

I was wondering about that too. There's a flat on it, but the nut is in a recessed strut mount so I don't know how to hold onto it and put a deep socket on it at the same time. Maybe one of those ratchets that has a pass-through head? I have to tell you, I ran my finger along that shaft, which is like some kind of treated chrome or something, and it seemed smooth.

CapitalTruck · October 15, 2015

Take a look near the bottom of the stem. Do you guys think that could be enough to cause a seal leak? If so I have to find a way to hold that shaft still while I tighten that nut down. Some have suggested that an impact wrench (which I have) can tighten that thing down enough without turning the shaft.

Btuggle88 · October 15, 2015

It's a possibility, buts it's hard to be 100% sure without putting my hands on it. I use an impact when I do struts and try not to put anything on the shaft to keep from scarring it. Does it look and feel like the fluid is coming from around the seal?

POS VETT · October 15, 2015

That shiny surface of the shaft needs to stay that way, one little nick will compromise the seal, let alone gouges like in the photograph. The top of the shaft of a typical damper usually has a flattened or a hexagonal section where a wrench or a socket can grab or it can also have a torx or an allen head.

CapitalTruck · October 15, 2015

That shiny surface of the shaft needs to stay that way, one little nick will compromise the seal, let alone gouges like in the photograph. The top of the shaft of a typical damper usually has a flattened or a hexagonal section where a wrench or a socket can grab or it can also have a torx or an allen head.

It has flats, but the problem is the nut is so heavily recessed in the upper strut mount that all you can do to mess with it is use a deep socket, whereby eliminating the possibility of using something on the flats. I'm thinking maybe crowsfoot wrench on ratchet to allow me to access the flats with another wrench. Either that or trying the impact wrench option.

Since we seem to all be in agreement that it's my fault, now the trick is going to be getting parts store to give me a THIRD strut. I might just do the right thing and buy one, after all, it wasn't their problem I dorked it up.

Curious thing, I must have just gotten lucky that the other side didn't leak since I used the same method to install both sides.

CapitalTruck · October 15, 2015

The leak is definitely from around the seal...I guess that pretty much seals the deal...

CapitalTruck · October 15, 2015

Thank you guys for the help. Stuff like this really causes heartburn until you get it straightened out. It wasn't until the second fault that I began to think "something is up here!"

j-ten-ner · October 15, 2015

Has been a long time for me too, since I've done struts on a Buick.

But, if I remember correctly, there was an Allen screw head on top end of the stem.

so long

j-ten-ner

schnid21 · October 15, 2015

Google pass through ratchet set. The ratchet end is open so you can also put an Allen wrench in while tightening. We use them a lot when adjusting pumps and you need to loosen off a locknut and then adjust an Allen screw in the middle.

http://www.amazon.com/BOSTITCH-BTMT72287-Through-Socket-65-Piece/dp/B00F3ZY4Y0

Gone Again · October 15, 2015

Use the impact wrench with short bursts. Each time you hit the trigger the nut will tighten slightly before rotating the shaft. Works best if you turn air on impact wrench to max.

Btuggle88 · October 16, 2015

I would check the other side just to be safe not to knock it but you might not be as lucky as you think on the other side.

CapitalTruck · October 17, 2015

So, I thought maybe the things were going bad because I was messing them up. However, the strut I just took off the truck that was leaking from the seal big time (not the one in the picture, the one after that) was perfectly smooth. I think these are just crap shocks. I tell you what, if another one goes bad I'm not fooling around with another warranty return, I'm just going to get a Monroe Quick Strut so when that blows out (being that it's Tenneco I'm sure it will go bad) I can just replace the whole assembly instead of fooling around with those spring compressors. I'm sick of dealing with that over and over. On another note, I checked the passenger side and it's still okay.