Strut dilemma

[Frodo]

We were doing work on the rear axles (repacking CVs, replacing boots, etc, a job that, for a number of reasons, has dragged on for a while) and seemed to be just about done when we ran into trouble.

Early on, we disconnected the drop links from the sway bar and, in the process, came to realize they (the drop links) needed replaced. In that I needed to order them, my son told me there’s no problem temporarily driving the car without the rear sway, we could finish up the current project and wait for the replacements to come in to do them later. So we went ahead and totally removed them (sway bar and drop links).
We lowered the car (it’s on a lift) to allow us to place and tighten a new axle nut on each side, and later again to try to adjust things a bit so that, hopefully, the chassis reinforcement plate would slip back over the studs (it was giving us trouble when the car was in the air).

In the process something unexpected happened. Neither my son nor I realized that the upper bolt on the drop link is responsible for holding/pinching together the part of the wheel carrier that the strut slides through. So, of course, with the bolt out and us raising and lowering the car as described, this happened (see the shiny, previously unexposed metal of the strut?):




Anybody have a suggestion as the least-difficult method of sliding that strut up the ½” or so that it needs to go to be able to re-insert the bolt? Ie, (hopefully) some approach that minimizes what we have to take apart to accomplish that?

[ike84]

Put a jack under the tire and jack up slowly. The carrier will slide over the strut rather easily. Then secure with the bolt once properly aligned.

Don't put weight on the axles without fitting the traingular plate, btw. Fit it before dropping it. Use ratchets if needed to adjust the alignment of the bolts. The uprights are fragile and don't tolerate the outward stretch that they're subjected to when that plate is removed and the axle is loaded.

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[feedback]

Take the weight off, it will tap back down. trying to make a bridge to support it will not work as it has to move at an angle. I personally would use a piece of hardwood to use as a drift and tap in the angle of the strut

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by ike84

Put a jack under the tire and jack up slowly. The carrier will slide over the strut rather easily. Then secure with the bolt once properly aligned.

But won't that just push the carrier further up the strut? It's 1/2" up too far already.

Originally Posted by ike84

Don't put weight on the axles without fitting the traingular plate, btw. Fit it before dropping it. Use ratchets if needed to adjust the alignment of the bolts.

Not sure exactly what you're describing here. You know of a discussion/video where this (ratcheting) is demo'd? (I'd search, but I don't even know how to word the search parameters. There's not even agreement as to what to call that plate—"triangular plate"? "Rear transmission pan cover"? "Chassis reinforcement plate"?)

[Quadcammer]

take the weight off sub the hub is hanging. Then it should be mostly free to move on the strut. push down on hub until bolt holes line up.

no biggie.

As for the plate, sometimes they don't like to go back on. The idea is to locate the subframe uprights, to which the lower control arm and toe arms bolt, wrap a ratchet strap around both sides, and cinch down until the studs line up with the plate holes. With the plate off, they have a tendency to spread apart a bit. Sometimes an issue, other times not.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

take the weight off sub the hub is hanging. Then it should be mostly free to move on the strut. push down on hub until bolt holes line up.

We tried this. In fact, using a piece of 1"x1" as a drift, we tried tapping down on the top of the carrier—didn't wanna move. Maybe some W-D or PB Blaster might help.

Thanks for all the replies. We'll try again, armed with the suggestions

[Gilles]

[QUOTE=Thanks for all the replies. We'll try again, armed with the suggestions [/QUOTE]

Frodo, I would try to 'open' a bit the slot on the hub that is clamping the strut with a prybar you will not damage anything just try to apply a bit of twisting force between the slot that runs up and down (parallel to the strut), if I remember correctly this slot has pretty thick walls, all you would be to release (momentarily) clamping force so the bottom of the so you can reposition the strut again..
.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Gilles

Frodo, I would try to 'open' a bit the slot on the hub that is clamping the strut

Yeah, that's a thought. Maybe that's what's creating a lot of the resistance to the strut moving up/down through the carrier. Thanks!

[feedback]

There is a tang on the plate welded to the strut that usually stops it going that far, as you have gone past it, it will jam, I would NOT try and widen the pinch bolt, thats asking for trouble.

[feedback]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LcKtHEeGwCSDdLR89

Last picture on that album will show the tang

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by feedback

There is a tang on the plate welded to the strut that usually stops it going that far, as you have gone past it, it will jam, I would NOT try and widen the pinch bolt, thats asking for trouble.

So, you're saying I've "gone past it, it will jam." And that widening the pinch bolt is "asking for trouble." So what's your recommendation? As to your original one: "Take the weight off, it will tap back down. trying to make a bridge to support it will not work as it has to move at an angle. I personally would use a piece of hardwood to use as a drift and tap in the angle of the strut,"
I have tried all of that. None of it worked.

So (repeating myself), what would your recommendation be?

I considered this: I've got a couple of C-clamps that would seem appropriately sized: Why couldn't I just put one on each side of the strut (ie 180 degrees apart). For each, one clamp face against the bottom of the strut, the other against the top of the wheel carrier (right next to the strut). Then crank a little on each clamp, alternating sides frequently. And thereby close the gap.

Who thinks that would work?

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Frodo

Yeah, that's a thought. Maybe that's what's creating a lot of the resistance to the strut moving up/down through the carrier. Thanks!

Frodo, this is what I was trying to say.. (English is my second language, and my computer skills are way worse..LOL)



PS: If you look closely, inside the yellow circle is a thin metal sleeve, to compensate for 'thinner struts' one time I tried to get a coilover without removing the sleeve and the strut got stuck inside the hub and applying a bit of force with a praybar or a big screw driver (not hammering..) that allowed me to remove the strut, you don't need a lot of force
.
Edit: Just remembered that I used a heavy screwdriver as a lever to 'pry open' the gap on the hub carrier (the hub is a pretty hefty part by itself..) and used the other hand to push the strut upwards out of the hub
.

[Frodo]

Thanks Gilles. I think we're gonna be able to find time to work on it this evening.

And don't feel bad, sometimes I feel like English is my second language too

[Silber]

They actually sell a tool to spread out the strut holder in the steering knuckle to allow you to easily remove it:

https://www.amazon.com/ITEQ-Suspension-Spreader-Dismantle-Volkswagen/dp/B07KK8ZQD1/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=strut+tool+vw&qid=1633015053&sr=8-4

I have one and it works great on VW/Audi bearing carriers with the same design, only made out of steel. Not sure how it would work on an alloy bearing carrier.

Silber

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by feedback

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LcKtHEeGwCSDdLR89

Last picture on that album will show the tang

I got to looking closer at your photo, and I’m confused about this tang you talk about. In your photo, where should it be when it’s properly positioned and the drop link bolt is properly installed? Should it sit on top of the top part of the wheel carrier (maybe 2” below where it is in your pic)? That would seem to make sense, since that would put that C-shaped opening in the welded-on strut plate (just below the tang) in a position to accommodate the drop link bolt.

If that’s the case, where did it go in my case?? In my pic, it’s clear that the strut has slid downward relative to the carrier, but there’s no way that tang could fit down into the narrow gap in the carrier that the plate itself fits into. (This is hard, because the car is at my son’s house 25 min away—I can’t just run out to the garage and look at it. I’d ask him to go take a look but he’s working today. We're hoping to get back on it this evening after he gets off work.)

Is it possible some struts (ie these on my car) don’t have that tang at all?

[ike84]

Shoot, sorry man, I looked at that pic wrong. I thought the carrier slid down the strut, not up the strut. Do as was said before, jack it up and it should slide down. A bit of spray lube will help. If it doesn't come down on it's own, use a rubber mallet to tap on the hub assembly to help it along. Sorry again, I gotta quit looking at pics in the middle of the night.

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[Frodo]

Originally Posted by ike84

Shoot, sorry man, I looked at that pic wrong. I thought the carrier slid down the strut, not up the strut. Do as was said before, jack it up and it should slide down. A bit of spray lube will help. If it doesn't come down on it's own, use a rubber mallet to tap on the hub assembly to help it along. Sorry again, I gotta quit looking at pics in the middle of the night.

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Hey, don't worry about it—we've all done it!

[Frodo]

Well, got it wrapped up last evening—by midnight anyway (we got a late start). On the slipped strut I first fruitlessly tried various clamps across the gap, attempting to span from the bottom of the strut to the lip at the top of the wheel carrier, to see if I could crank them together. Good in theory, but (as usual with such endeavors) it just wasn’t to be. Not enough room to work.

So we liberally applied W-D down into the gap and then, lowering the lift some and breaking out the floor jack and a 3’ length of 2x4, did this:



We jacked to the point that we were lifting the strut a little…though we were also lifting wheel carrier along with it. But we were putting upward pressure on the strut, and while that was happening I grabbed a small piece of 2x4 and, using it, hammer-tapped on the top of the wheel carrier. Per side, it probably took a dozen medium blows with the hammer, but we got it moved and the holes lined up. Got the pin through (the kid had done a cut-off on the old drop links, giving us something to insert while we waited for new ones to show up).



It’s possible we didn’t need to do the lift/2x4 bit at all, but it seemed to work.

At that point we basically started putting stuff back together.

As seems to be the usual anymore, had trouble getting the reinforcement plate over the all the studs at once. Tapping into my wood working resources, I had brought several clamps with me (hoping to find a way to make one of them work on realigning the strut/wheel carrier situation). The kid says let’s put them to work here, so we did. One wasn’t long enough, so we stacked them. I had my doubts, but it worked:



Was tempted to drive her home last night but decided against it for a couple reasons. If by some chance we had some post-project issue or other that we had to deal with, I'd rather do it in daylight than at 1:00 a.m. It was also pretty chilly for top-down driving, whereas it’ll be perfect for it today.

Man oh man do I love working under a lift

Thanks everyone for your input!

[feedback]

Sorry, I was away form my computer, but I see you got it figured out. if it was a steel carrier I would have said spread the pinch bolt, but a cast piece like that that's already easy to slide the strut in and out I would not try and over stress it.

[old911doc]

I’ve been into Boxster rear struts several times. The shock absorber metal tab welded to the lower part of the shock tube slides into the ‘gap’ of the knuckle aluminum casting. The top of the tab is bent at a right angle to serve as a stop to govern the position of the shock tube within the knuckle casting, at which point the hole in the shock tab lines up with the holes in the knuckle. The long bolt which goes through to pinch the knuckle tightly to the shock tube serves also as part of the downlink to the anti roll bar.
Apparently the limit tab on the shock must be missing, else the shock could not slip so far into the knuckle that the holes don’t line up.
With the suspension off the ground at full droop, the weight of the knuckle and the parts attached to it serve to move the knuckle down the shock tube. All that should be needed would be to break the static friction that holds them together.
I would suggest:
a) apply a penetrating petroleum- based lubricant ( not silicone, not WD 40, not colloidal graphite) at all accessible points of the shock tube, and then apply 30-60 minutes.
b) use a steel or brass hammer, not a rubber, nylon, or dead-blow hammer. You don’t need to strike the knuckle hard, but you must apply the strike downward along the axis of the shock tube. The purpose of the blow is to create an acoustic shock wave within the aluminum knuckle with a rapid ‘rise time’ to overcome the static friction holding the knuckle to the shock. ‘ Tap-tap-tap, not beat-beat-beat’.
c) If the hole in the shock tab has not completely occluded the hole through the knuckle, you could use a long, tapered drift (looks like a punch but is much longer) placed through the small opening and driven in with taps from a metal hammer. As the drift forces the shock tab upward you’ll need successively larger drifts, until the holes line up again.