strut mounts

adam92sl · 04-10-2003, 02:18 PM

To the experts:

At the top of my new monroe struts I have a large nut with the attached washer. The saturn struts had the curved washer. I opted out of using the curved washer with the new nut during replacement.

What do you think?

Joeybagodonuts · 04-10-2003, 02:22 PM

as long as it snugged down securley i guess id go with the ones that came with the new struts....

adam92sl · 04-10-2003, 09:16 PM

Yeah thats what I did the first time. Seemed to be snug. Figured I would get verification before I tear it apart for these mounts you sent me.

wolfman · 04-11-2003, 03:31 AM

So long as the new washer does not make contact with or bind the INNER portion of the strut bearing you should be fine. (That's why the factory washers are curved)

adam92sl · 04-12-2003, 12:11 AM

Hey Joey, I was looking at the strut mounts you sent. They didn't look much different then the ones from my memory on my 92. I bet its hard to tell with the rubber. I will find out this weekend when I install.

Joeybagodonuts · 04-12-2003, 02:45 PM

no, they all pretty much looked the same, you can tell the ones i sent are from a newer car by how black the rubber still is and not dry rotted. i know they all interchange as we recentley sent a complete set of struts, springs AND the upper strut mounts from A 2002 with 4k miles on it to a customer with i beleive it was a 93, everything bolted right up, they DID change the tie rods ends around 2000 but the strut/spring /mount combo wil fit FROM ANY year, so when we send them we always send them from low mileage later model cars, i cant see sending someone a 93-4 or earlier set of strut mounts as they are a wear and tear item and it would suck to replace them only to have them last less then a year
NOW, BE CAREFUL if you play with them or open them up, there is little needle bearings in them (i beleive the early ones had regular little ball bearings and the later ones inside had a needle type bearing, that was one diffrence but its internal, from the outside they all look the same) if you open them up and bearings of any sort come out or go out of place thats it, might as well get a new set or spend hours trying to get all the bearings back in place....!
when we sell just the upper strut mount, as i believe we did for you youll notice they are ALWAYS TAPED OR SHRINK WRAPPED TOGETHER, DO NOT TRY AND PEAK IN or spread apart the rubber, if you ruin them during install, you bought em baby! lol, just be careful doing the install adam, another common problem when doing struts or even upper sway bars is people tighten the 3 nuts to the strut housing on top to tight and snap them.

adam92sl · 04-14-2003, 03:33 PM

Well I did it this weekend. No change. Something is still rattling on bumps. (I did get to see the bearings - when I took the sticky tape off, the top bushing came with it. Not to surprising, since I believe the bearings are there for rotation.)

My upper mounts nuts were cool, I torque them to specs.

I really don't think its the strut/mount. I had the problem before replacement. And the mounts looked no different.

What do you know about the ball joints? The tire place that did my allignment did not see anything. But its probably more of a satty thing on how to test the ball joint.

I will start a new post for a better problem description.

Joeybagodonuts · 04-14-2003, 04:43 PM

did any of the little bearings fall out?
ball joints are easy to check adam if they checked them and said their ok id look into other things, one, does it happen more when turning? the other things that come to mind are cv joints or possibly bad bearings.
describe the noise to me again. thanks

adam92sl · 04-14-2003, 06:41 PM

Yeah I dropped a few bearings. They were greased pretty good and turned very smoothly after I reinstalled them.

The sound does NOT happen when turning. It sounds like a clunk when the wheels fall. Like at the downward end when going over a speed bump. I can jump/rock on the front suspension all day and NOT hear a thing.

I am not sure if the tire place checked it really good, I bet they just pulled on the struts. I would love to get it on a lift and shake the tire up and down. I am afraid to do that on jack stands-though.

Joeybagodonuts · 04-15-2003, 03:42 PM

is the clunk coming from the same wheel as where the bearings fell out?
what your describing is typical strut mount noise, or poissible ball joints, but if you dont think they checked them well, then go head and get it on jackstands, it should be plenty safe with two stand supporting the front of the car.
now, i have seen aftermarket struts not fit proper also adam, some of them have to have the bump stop shaved, do you have stock springs?
boy, i wish you could drive over this week or maybe monday of next week, if i can see the car i can narrow it down in two minutes and fix it while your here.
BUT, after next tuesday thats it, were closing down.
my guys will still be doing parts orders and nelsons wifes (freckle on the board) collsion on their car, they got in a small accident, but once im gone my guys will only be able to do what i relay to them, id personally want to be there to diagnose it properly the first time.