palmyra

Hi all,
This is my first post, so apologies if anything is missing. Please let me know. I'm in the middle of installing a new set of Bilstein front struts in my 2012 CTT (about 120K, new to me 6 months ago, and I knew I would need to replace the struts) The front right ATE has been leaking so I bought a pair of Bilsteins (that was a long challenging process) to replace both fronts at the same time. The install was going along pretty smoothly (a few challenges slowed me down) until I tried to get the new strut in. In order to lift it high enough to pass the bolt through the lower control arm and strut fork, you need to feed the upper bolts through the three mounting holes. But they don't line up. They are rotated such that one bolt would go through, but the others are off by 1cm or more. The strut fork would need to be rotated (maybe 10-15 degrees) to allow them to align.
Interestingly, comparing the alignment of the bolts on left side strut (marked left and carrying the correct part number, as is the right side unit- I don't have them mixed up) with the right side I just took out, they are a match. Did Bilstein screw up the uppers on these? The mounting hole for the sway bar link is clearly on the correct side. I did check the fit of the right side strut with the upper cap that the strut is fed through for mounting and the cap fits, so it's really just changing the relative positions of the lower fork and the upper bolts. How do I do that? The fork doesn't seem to want to twist. Anyone else have this experience? I seem to recall Raudi posting something about this issue with his Bilstein install, but I can't seem to find it.
I will be reaching out to Bllstein to get their take. Fortunately, I have other vehicles to rely on until I can the the Turbo back in action, so I can leave it as is until I know what to do next. Hopefully one of you has some useful advice for me.
Thanks in advance.

garrett376

Just rotate it.

palmyra

With the strut up in the wheel well, I couldn't get enough leverage to get any rotation. The upper and lower didn't have any freedom to pivot. Felt like they were locked in that orientation and I didn't want to force anything. Tomorrow I'll pull it back out and get some proper leverage on the unit and hopefully I can get it to twist.

RAudi Driver

You can twist it. It won't hurt the shock. Also before you install, post ups picture of the shock so we can see if you have the new model. You might have an old one which would mean it's been on the shelf for a while and that's no bueno.

A few more tips:

Only do one shock at a time. Suck the nitrogen into the accumulator, remove old shock, install new shock and push nitrogen back into shock. If you already removed an old shock without doing this, no worries as you can fill each individual shock before you attach the plastic air hose.

Another tip is to detach or drop the sway bar so the lower arm articulates enough to get the shock over it..

Joostem

If you loosen the valve on the strut and let a little air out it’s easier to twist and align with the holes. The struts come pre-pressurized but it could make it difficult to align the holes. You can also just press the vent in with your finger to open it slightly.

Just make sure that you fill the strut before you put weight on it.

palmyra

Thanks for the input. Raudi, here's a pic

The one on the left is the passenger side that I'm working on now (yes, only planning to do one at time). I bought it mid- winter (when the suspension was really showing its issues) and it was very hard to find. Turned out to be an aged out unit (durability date 29/7/21 if I recall). The seller (Germanautoparts.com) was willing to take it back, but I was able to send it back to Bilstein for evaluation and they serviced it and sent it back to me with a new durability date. I see it doesn't have the red paint that the driver's side unit does, but it looks identical. Is it one of the bad ones? If so, why would they have sent it to me as is?
On the orientation question, I was able to twist the lower into a better position once I had it out on the floor and could use a couple of longer levers to apply force. But now I'm concerned about putting the strut in. Let me know.
Thanks.

RAudi Driver

That strut is the new design and looks good to go. If the strut without the paint is the one that was serviced, it seems expected.. That paint is a mark so Bilstein can see if they were tampered with.

Install those puppies!


For reference, this is the old design:

palmyra

Cool beans. Going to get back to it. Thanks for the help. Hopefully it all goes smoothly from here.
Quite a few other challenges with the vehicle, so I'm sure there's more to come (hopefully just on other fronts.

Rcayenne2011

I have the same issue with the bolts not lining up. How did you rotate? My air strut has a data of 4/2023.

palmyra

Hey. I used a crowbar between the forks and a long screwdriver between two of the mounting bolts to twist the unit. It takes a fair bit of leverage to free it up, but then it's pretty easy to reposition. Getting it lined up correctly might take a couple of tries ( it did for me).

Rcayenne2011

Thanks for the response. I will give it a try. It came pressurized, did you release the pressure? would it make it easier to rotate?

palmyra

I didn't release the pressure. Don't think it would make a meaningful difference. The trick seemed to be getting decent leverage over the top and bottom of the shock.

garrett376

Just stick the strut in the 3 upper mounting screw holes, and grab the fork and rotate the darned thing!

Rcayenne2011

Thanks everyone, I was able to rotate with a pry bar. It was easy to rotate with light pressure.