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I have a 2001 996 (the 2.1 or 1.1 - whatever it is... the earlier one) and I'm going to replace a couple of front suspension parts on it. My left side spring broke right where it sits on the bottom plate, so I bought a complete strut assembly to replace it. (used for $100 on Ebay) It's newer than mine. I took off the top plate and bought a new bump stop & installed it).
I also bought sway bar drop links for both sides, and tie rod ends for both sides (new) since the boots are shot on the old ones.
I can't find the torque settings for any of these bolts - if anyone can help me with those I'd sure appreciate it. BTW I need the settings for the hinge point of the lower control arm too, since I'll have to loosen that to get the old strut out.
I anticipate somebody's going to tell me it's a mistake to replace the strut/spring assembly on just one side... if I had plenty of money I'd buy a new pair of struts... I'd buy Bilsteins and maybe a boat and a new vacation house too. I don't. Working on a budget here... I'm going to take a chance that the car will still function fairly well without matching, color-coordinated struts. To the guys who threw shade on me for buying a Dayco idler pulley instead of Porsche parts, a few weeks ago, I'll have you know it's been three weeks and well over thirty miles and it's still working perfectly, so I win that one, thank you.
Here's my 996 tip that everybody probably already knows; don't keep your jumper cables in the trunk. If your battery goes dead you'll need them to open... the trunk.
Front:
Control Arm to Subframe: 89 lb-ft
Control arm to Diagonal Arm: 118 lb-ft
Diagonal Arm to Subframe: 133 lb ft
Control Arm to Knuckle: 56 lb-ft
Shock Tube Clamp: 63 lb-ft
Strut Mount to Body: 24 lb-ft
Damper Rod to Mount: 59 lb-ft
Tie-Rod to Knuckle: 56 lb-ft
Tie-Rod Lock Nut: 37 lb-ft
Swaybar Bushing Clamps: 48 lb-ft
Swaybar End Links: 35 lb-ft
Rear:
Toe Control Arm to Knuckle: 56 lb ft
Toe Control Arm to Subframe (Toe): 74 lb-ft
Control Arm to Knuckle: 56 lb-ft
Control Arm to SubFrame (Camber): 74 lb-ft
Diagonal Arm to Control Arm: 118 lb-ft
Diagonal Arm to Subframe: 133 lb ft
Upper Control Arms to Subframe: 81 lb-ft
Upper Control Arms to Knuckle: 81 lb-ft
Damper to Hub Carrier: 81 lb-ft
Strut Mount to Body: 24 lb-ft
Swaybar Bushing Clamps: 17 lb-ft
Swaybar End Links: 35 lb-ft
Be careful with the "hockey stick" piece that affixes the sway bar and the caster arm - There are 4 bolts and 3 different torque values. These values are not very clear in the factory service manual. The front most one is easy to strip if you use the wrong torque...I won't tell you how I know, but I will tell you one of mine has a Time-Sert in it now. :-)
Be careful with the "hockey stick" piece that affixes the sway bar and the caster arm - There are 3 bolts and each has a different torque value. These values are not very clear in the factory service manual. The front most one is easy to strip if you use the wrong torque...I won't tell you how I know, but I will tell you one of mine has a Time-Sert in it now. :-) l
I know the part you are speaking about. Its a horizontally mounted plate that makes up the forward mount of the caster arm. WTF were Porsche thinking with three different bolts?? Three sockets, three torque specs, all for a clamping plate?
I know the part you are speaking about. Its a horizontally mounted plate that makes up the forward mount of the caster arm. WTF were Porsche thinking with three different bolts?? Three sockets, three torque specs, all for a clamping plate?
No kidding...Four bolts total....Three different torque values that span 48-118 ft lbs.
Also in addition to these values not being clear in the factory manuals the Torque Book from LN Engineering also only lists torque values for 2 of the 4 of them. I found the correct numbers a couple years ago but it took some serious digging.
I actually wrote the torque value on the bolt head of each bolt on my car with a silver paint marker.
I actually wrote the torque value on the bolt head of each bolt on my car with a silver paint marker.
You sir, are a genius!
Yeah, the multi-sized fastener thing drives me nuts. Seems poor engineering to me. Honda "used" to be exemplary in this area on competition model bikes. Armed with an 8mm, 10mm and 12mm sockets you could "almost" change out a crank. On true factory race bikes, they even put tidy little undersized 8mm heads on larger 12mm bolts, all to make the job of the mechanic easier (and faster).
UPDATE ON MY PROJECT: My car is a 2001 996 - I think it was always garaged, but not sure -(just bought it three months ago). I bought a used strut with spring & top plate on Ebay for $100 - fewer miles than my car, which has 104k miles. I checked the suspension before starting and noticed bad drop links (one was actually broken off) and bad tie rod ends, so I bought a pair of each (new). Taking into account that I'm not a mechanic, and this was by far the hardest job I've ever tried to do... I ran into a LOT of problems getting the bolt that holds the strut in (and the top of the drop link). I used a propane torch, a hammer, tons of Blaster lubricant, plenty of appropriate swearwords and threats, and I worked for at least FIVE hours trying to get it free. I held that propane on it for like TEN MINUTES straight, several times. What did it, finally, was disconnecting the tie rod (boot end) which allowed me to swivel out the carrier farther, so that instead of having just ten or 12 inches of backswing, I had an open shot at the end of that ****ing bolt, and even so, it STILL was another hour till it came free. Then it was MUCH harder to get at the lower control arm to loosen it ( I was just working with jacks and concrete blocks, so the car was only a foot off the ground.) ALL of the bolts gave me problems, including the caliper bolts - that was on account of my not having a working impact wrench, but even so, those ****ers were in REALLY tight. Another two hours on those. Last thing, I really do not understand why I was supposed to mark the nuts on the top plate of the strut assembly. The tie rods I get, but the top plates? No clue. I did manage to get the two little arrows on the top of the top plate facing the same direction as the strut I took out, so I'm pleased about that. I also counted the tie rod turns AND marked those threads - again - if I'm counting threads, WHY do I need to mark them? Last: Because the car was so low, I couldn't get my torque wrench in to tighten the control arm bolt back up to spec - I just had a little 8 inch wrench, and hauled on that with all my might. (got a little extra oomph by leveraging my body against the carrier/caliper.) The car's all back together now - seems fine.
UPDATE ON MY PROJECT: My car is a 2001 996 - I think it was always garaged, but not sure -(just bought it three months ago). I bought a used strut with spring & top plate on Ebay for $100 - fewer miles than my car, which has 104k miles. I checked the suspension before starting and noticed bad drop links (one was actually broken off) and bad tie rod ends, so I bought a pair of each (new). Taking into account that I'm not a mechanic, and this was by far the hardest job I've ever tried to do... I ran into a LOT of problems getting the bolt that holds the strut in (and the top of the drop link). I used a propane torch, a hammer, tons of Blaster lubricant, plenty of appropriate swearwords and threats, and I worked for at least FIVE hours trying to get it free. I held that propane on it for like TEN MINUTES straight, several times. What did it, finally, was disconnecting the tie rod (boot end) which allowed me to swivel out the carrier farther, so that instead of having just ten or 12 inches of backswing, I had an open shot at the end of that ****ing bolt, and even so, it STILL was another hour till it came free. Then it was MUCH harder to get at the lower control arm to loosen it ( I was just working with jacks and concrete blocks, so the car was only a foot off the ground.) ALL of the bolts gave me problems, including the caliper bolts - that was on account of my not having a working impact wrench, but even so, those ****ers were in REALLY tight. Another two hours on those. Last thing, I really do not understand why I was supposed to mark the nuts on the top plate of the strut assembly. The tie rods I get, but the top plates? No clue. I did manage to get the two little arrows on the top of the top plate facing the same direction as the strut I took out, so I'm pleased about that. I also counted the tie rod turns AND marked those threads - again - if I'm counting threads, WHY do I need to mark them? Last: Because the car was so low, I couldn't get my torque wrench in to tighten the control arm bolt back up to spec - I just had a little 8 inch wrench, and hauled on that with all my might. (got a little extra oomph by leveraging my body against the carrier/caliper.) The car's all back together now - seems fine.
Could someone please correlate this list, with the numbers in the picture?
Torque suspension fasteners
Front: Control Arm to Subframe: 89 lb-ft Control arm to Diagonal Arm: 118 lb-ft Diagonal Arm to Subframe: 133 lb ft Control Arm to Knuckle: 56 lb-ft Shock Tube Clamp: 63 lb-ft Strut Mount to Body: 24 lb-ft Damper Rod to Mount: 59 lb-ft Tie-Rod to Knuckle: 56 lb-ft Tie-Rod Lock Nut: 37 lb-ft Swaybar Bushing Clamps: 48 lb-ft Swaybar End Links: 35 lb-ft
03-08-2019, 04:01 PM
996 Front suspension torque settings
