Koni strut 101

[strykr14]

Guys,

The bottom screw fell out of my koni strut. I've sourced the size and am picking up the bolt from NAPA today. But I'm told that if I take the strut off w/the screw out, bad things will happen. I was told that I have to install something, take the strut out, take tension off the slings, then install the right length screw.

Why? What's going on inside a koni strut?

 

[jon93]

Screw the new bolt in and be done. The bolt on the bottom of the strut holds the koni insert inside the strut housing. The bolt shouldn't be much longer than 2". If the bolt is too long the insert will bounce around and cause very strange dampening.

Now if you cannot screw the 2" bolt into the bottom, the insert most likely moved. Use a subframe bolt to see how far the insert creeped upwards. Crank it down if you can, remove the strut assembly from the car.

WARNING: If the Koni has no bolt holding it into the housing, the strut assembly is essentially a compressed slingshot. This could be a very dangerous situation. To avoid killing yourself, make sure the bolt is attached on the bottom before disassembling.

 

[luigisho]

we're talking about the screw that attaches the Koni to the modified Taurus housing? Just to attach the insert to the gutted housing correct?

Jon beat me to the post. I'd agree w/ above

 

[strykr14]

Guys, thanks.

So I can try to install the bolt w/the strut still in the car? Looks like I may need to remove the pinch bolt on the spindle and lower the spindle a bit to get the bolt in.

 

[luigisho]

I guess in theory but I never tried it. No idea as I've only installed them already assembled.

 

[strykr14]

Fixed! I hope. We got the correct bolt - M12x1.5 20mm long. Took the wheel off, jacked the spindle up till we could feel whatever it is into Koni stuffs into the strut. Cranked the bolt down, heard a pop and the bolt dropped about 10 mils. Cranked it down till it was tight, drove the car and it seemed ok. I'll check the nut periodically.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[strykr14]

Not fixed! Still making noise. Not much but when I hit hard bumps there is still a bit of noise. I may need to take the strut out and hit the bolt w/an impact. I think it's time to call koni.

 

[rubydist]

is it the same noise or different? if you have a typical SHO, you fixed one problem and discovered another...

 

[jayro]

How snug to the koni inserts fit inside the stock housing? It there a small gap between the outside wall of the Koni and the inside wall off the stock strut? Do you hear the noise when the car is sitting on the ground and you shake the rear of it side to side?

I have found that there a a couple of different diameter rear stock struts. Some require a metal collar in order for the koni to fit snug and not bang against the wall of the stock housing. Mine needed the collars. I was able to purchase them through ShoSource.

 

[luigisho]

If there was all that wiggling around maybe that's why the bolt got loose and fell out. Then again how is the other strut? Operating normally?

 

[zoomlater]

How snug to the koni inserts fit inside the stock housing? It there a small gap between the outside wall of the Koni and the inside wall off the stock strut? Do you hear the noise when the car is sitting on the ground and you shake the rear of it side to side?

I have found that there a a couple of different diameter rear stock struts. Some require a metal collar in order for the koni to fit snug and not bang against the wall of the stock housing. Mine needed the collars. I was able to purchase them through ShoSource.

Agree, on mine the rears needed the spacer, the fronts were fine

 

[strykr14]

Other strut is fine, no noises at all. I only have a little bit of clunking over pretty good bumps (in the bad strut). Koni guy said that there's a nut inside the strut that the bolt threads into and it may be stripped. I don't think that that's right tho. I googled Koni struts and from the images I saw, the inner housing is threaded - no nut. Either way, he thinks the threads are stripped. New strut time I guess.