Front Suspension Issues

[BayAreaZ650]

I might just install it without it. It would just lower the rear by half an inch.

[BayAreaZ650]

It took me nearly two weeks but I’m finally finished with the suspension on the Z! I believed I stripped the nut holding in the strut (the one in the middle). It just keeps spinning and it won’t tighten. Is it possible to remove this nut with the car’s weight on it or do I have to remove the whole strut tower again?

[grannyknot]

If you have tried to remove it and it just spins then yes you have to remove the strut, hopefully it is the nut that is stripped and not the shock absorber threads.

Wait a minute, it might not be stripped, there is a possibility the shock strut is spinning with the nut in which case you need to find a way to hold the shock strut and prevent it from spinning so the nut can be screwed down.

[Terrapin Z]

7 hours ago, BayAreaZ650 said:

It took me nearly two weeks but I’m finally finished with the suspension on the Z! I believed I stripped the nut holding in the strut (the one in the middle). It just keeps spinning and it won’t tighten. Is it possible to remove this nut with the car’s weight on it or do I have to remove the whole strut tower again?

What I have seen happen, is that there is a D shape to the strut hat. The strut piston has a corresponding D shape to it. That is what keeps the inner shaft from spinning when you tighten the nut. If the D shape gets rounded out the nut will spin the piston shaft and it will not tighten. (I just grabbed this pic off the web to show the D notch in the hat).

If you look under the fender at the strut while turning the nut and see the inner strut piston turning as well the the hat is probably rounded out. Like what @siteunseen indicated.The proper fix is to take it apart and find another hat. Zip off the nut with an impact gun and see if the hat is rounded out, and see if you did in fact strip the nut. You could impact drive the nut down to tighten it but that is not a proper fix. 

Just a possibility......

[Namerow]

Try loosening the nut with an impact wrench.  Sometimes the combination of shock and vibration is effective in backing off a Nylok nut. 

[Dave WM]

Its hard to see on those thread, but you should have a noticeable flat on the threads that engage the D shape of the strut mount insulator. What was the strut cart you used?

[BayAreaZ650]

Thank you for the replies. I used a KYB Excel-G shock. I spoke to technical support and they said the shock strut is made of a much harder material than the Nylock nut so hopefully it's just the nut that is stripped. 

[Zed Head]

You can mark the shaft with a Sharpie and give the nut a half-turn.  If the mark doesn't move the nut is stripped.  The threads of the Nylock nut are still steel though, shouldn't strip easily.

It looks to me like the shaft is not through the D shaped hole.  The shaft should penetrate farther through the nut, in your picture.

Whatever is happening you should be able to remove the nut with the strut installed without worrying about anything dropping, to see what's going on.  The shock is gas-filled and has a few pounds of upward force on it.  You might be able to move it by hand and it will pop up through the hole if you get the D's aligned.  First thing to do is to get that nut off of there.  An air/impact wrench would work well for that since the D hole is not working.  Worst case it just spins backward.

[grannyknot]

11 hours ago, Terrapin Z said:

What I have seen happen, is that there is a D shape to the strut hat. The strut piston has a corresponding D shape to it. That is what keeps the inner shaft from spinning when you tighten the nut. If the D shape gets rounded out the nut will spin the piston shaft and it will not tighten. (I just grabbed this pic off the web to show the D notch in the hat).

If you look under the fender at the strut while turning the nut and see the inner strut piston turning as well the the hat is probably rounded out. Like what @siteunseen indicated.The proper fix is to take it apart and find another hat. Zip off the nut with an impact gun and see if the hat is rounded out, and see if you did in fact strip the nut. You could impact drive the nut down to tighten it but that is not a proper fix. 

Just a possibility......

That's funny, that is my photo back from when I had a look at making shock mounts.

[Terrapin Z]

46 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

That's funny, that is my photo back from when I had a look at making shock mounts.

Uh-oh looks like I snagged a photo without paying the royalty fee. ?   Your .0296 cents is in the mail.

I bet a lot of the google images are from this and other forums.

[BayAreaZ650]

I found the KYB piston nut laying on the garage floor. I ended up reusing the old piston nut (don't my mistake). Since there is a load on the vehicle, do you guys think i'd be able to unscrew and replace the piston nut without putting the Z on jack stands? 

[Zed Head]

6 hours ago, Zed Head said:

Whatever is happening you should be able to remove the nut with the strut installed without worrying about anything dropping, to see what's going on.  The shock is gas-filled and has a few pounds of upward force on it. 

I do.  The springs hold the car up.  You'll be fine and you can get a good look at it.

Edit - actually you want the car on the ground, weight on the strut,you don't want the wheels hanging.  The strut/shock is what keeps the wheel from dropping and the spring from extending.  If you have the wheel hanging and you remove the nut that would be bad.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Zed Head