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Stuck waiting for my trailing arms to come back from the shop, so in the meanwhile I've been giving everything a once over.
PO had put some pieces of rubber mat between the concave washer and the mount but it looked terrible so I pulled it off expecting that this was a cheap out and the rubber washer/spacer would be missing. Instead I found both were there, but with the top center nut torqued down there is a clear gap (pics below). I have the two washers/spacers on order but I'm wondering if anyone knows if this is normal or not? Am I missing something?
It's like this on both sides. I went ahead and loosened the nuts to check everything out, so the second picture is with the concave washer removed.
Also, I did do a search for this next question, but while i'm here just curious if anybody else has had issues using an impact to tighten that top center nut?
Normal.
And you can't really use an impact to tighten it, because you need to hold the strut rod in place while the nut spins down.
I got a box-end wrench for the nut, and used an allen key to hold my strut in place (I have different struts than you apparently)and just cranked that **** down.
That large concave washer isn't supposed to touch the rubber. The part the strut goes through is actually a ball bearing (so the steering is nice and smooth). That washer touches the inner part of the bearing - the part that turns - so touching the rubber would cause it to bind up.
The shape of that washer is to keep water and debris away from the bearing.
I did my struts a few months ago and was able to re-use the original bearings...they pretty much fell out of the strut tops.
Drop them in a jar of mineral spirits and swish around to get the old grease and dirt out, little bit of old-toothbrush action, dry with air gun, and re-packed with lots of wheel bearing grease...steering is SMOOTH
Awesome thank you guys for the quick answers! I'm glad to know there isn't something wacky going on with my car.
Off to the hardware store to pick up a 22mm box end, I had noticed the strut top didn't have the Allen slot like everyone else had mentioned but hey, I'm up for a challenge
I'm glad to hear that it can work. I get scared of messing up that top bearing/mount, but thankfully I don't have the later ones @$500/pair!
i ordered a cheap offset box end wrench this afternoon as none of the stores local to me had a single 22mm offset anywhere to be found So that will be here in a few days. I figure using that with the 7mm open ended wrench that fits the weird top bolt of my strut will allow me to be more accurate with the torque. If I can't make that work then it'll get a little shot from the impact for sure.
Either that or if I get really impatient, but with the trailing arms out it's not like i can drive anywhere yet
04-26-2016, 01:59 AM
Early Front Strut Top question
So that will be here in a few days. I figure using that with the 7mm open ended wrench that fits the weird top bolt of my strut will allow me to be more accurate with the torque. If I can't make that work then it'll get a little shot from the impact for sure. 
