[cstmx_ryder]

Hi,

So while trying to diagnose the 'noise' that I've been getting from my front strut, upon taking everything apart, my mechanic noticed the stripped thread on the strut, where the nut would go.....

Another at the shop said that can happen from taking it apart too much, but this is only the SECOND time it's ever been taken apart, the first time being last week. I know it was good last week because he assembled it fine, if it wasn't okay, he wouldn't have been able to tighten the nut over the whole top hat assembly as there would have been no thread to tighten the nut onto.

I thought it was from cross threading and using the air tool to torque/loosen it. I believe my mechanic first loosened the lowering perches so there wasn't so much compression on the spring before he loosened the top hat. But this is what we found.....FML

They then proceeded to try and re-tap the steel and put new threads in, and they said the steel was 'too hard' so they weren't able to do that successfully.

Right now my car's at the shop, and my mechanic is trying to source just the front driver side shock so it can be replaced and be put back together again.

What do you guys think?

FML

[mike3000fl]

this is why i dislike people with airtools around my vehicle.

[DimSum]

damn thats pretty bad stripped. It clearly says on the manual never to use air tools when installing the coil-overs even if it means loosening it.

[cstmx_ryder]

Originally Posted by DimSum

damn thats pretty bad stripped. It clearly says on the manual never to use air tools when installing the coil-overs even if it means loosening it.

Really? I didn't see that anywhere on the Bilstein manual.....Maybe I missed it, but I've read the thing cover to cover 2-3 times.

I'll make sure to tell my mechanic NOT to use anymore air tools....Damn it! FML....

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by mike3000fl

this is why i dislike people with airtools around my vehicle.

Or just people who don't know how to use air tools!

We use them here at the shop all the time you just have to pay attention to what you are doing and not be trigger happy.

[asian010]

they should be able to rethread it. i bought used pss9 and one of the rear shocks has been rethreaded

[#Tee]

retrace thread with a smaller size.

[cstmx_ryder]

According to another guy at the shop, he said the steel is 'too hard' to re-thread? Is this even remotely true?

When I first heard that, I didn't believe it....but then again, I know NOTHING about re-threading things, and I thought all steel would be able to get re-threaded.

So I'm not sure what I should do at this point? Tell them to try and re-thread it again? They have already smoothened out the whole thread surface, getting ready to be re-threaded until he found out that it wasn't possible?

Or should I just ask the shop to buy me a new shock, since this mostly likely happened when he was disassembling the strut only for the second time. Like Harold said, he was trigger happy when loosening the nut. I'm thinking that's true too because there was the compressed spring still holding some pressure against the perch while he was loosening the nut, and that might hve caused the thread to be stripped. In any case, I know the thread was fine between the last time he disassembled it and this time....

Originally Posted by MrTerryliu

they should be able to rethread it. i bought used pss9 and one of the rear shocks has been rethreaded

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by cstmx_ryder

According to another guy at the shop, he said the steel is 'too hard' to re-thread? Is this even remotely true?

When I first heard that, I didn't believe it....but then again, I know NOTHING about re-threading things, and I thought all steel would be able to get re-threaded.

So I'm not sure what I should do at this point? Tell them to try and re-thread it again? They have already smoothened out the whole thread surface, getting ready to be re-threaded until he found out that it wasn't possible?

Or should I just ask the shop to buy me a new shock, since this mostly likely happened when he was disassembling the strut only for the second time. Like Harold said, he was trigger happy when loosening the nut. I'm thinking that's true too because there was the compressed spring still holding some pressure against the perch while he was loosening the nut, and that might hve caused the thread to be stripped. In any case, I know the thread was fine between the last time he disassembled it and this time....

Caution must be taken during disassembly. Did your tech use some sort of thread lubricant before he put the impact gun on the nut? WD40 at the very least will do.

[cstmx_ryder]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Caution must be taken during disassembly. Did your tech use some sort of thread lubricant before he put the impact gun on the nut? WD40 at the very least will do.

No, I didn't see him use any lube....I was right next to him on the work bench while chatting with another detailer.....He basically disassembled it and said 'I think I found your problem' and showed me the stripped threads.....I was like WTF, I KNOW it wasn't like that after the first initial disassembly last week. Or else he wouldn't have been able to reassemble the strut, because there would have been NO threads to tighten the nut onto....

Harold, do you think it's possible that the steel on the shock is 'too hard' to rethread? Or are they just pulling my leg? Another forum member a couple posts up said one of his PSS9 rear strut was re-threaded, and I'm sure they used the same materials on both PSS9s and PSS10s, no?

TIA

[gizmo335i]

I just went through this a little. I stripped the same thread on my rear Koni. I pulled the OEM shocks off, then tried the same nut on the Koni and it was the wrong pitch and it stripped it. But it wasn't that far down.

So from my experience, someone forced a nut with the wrong pitch on there.

But that is really bad. You will definately have to rethread it with a smaller nut. Which is possible no matter what that guy says.

Take it to a machine shop. Get it out of there fast and get it re-threaded by someone who knows what they're doing.

[mike-y]

if your suspension was making noise before you took it to the shop, there could have been damage already done. and it may be tough to prove it was their fault. worth a try, but don't go in there and "demand" a new strut, try to put on your nice guy hat and see what they are willing to do.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by cstmx_ryder

No, I didn't see him use any lube....I was right next to him on the work bench while chatting with another detailer.....He basically disassembled it and said 'I think I found your problem' and showed me the stripped threads.....I was like WTF, I KNOW it wasn't like that after the first initial disassembly last week. Or else he wouldn't have been able to reassemble the strut, because there would have been NO threads to tighten the nut onto....

Harold, do you think it's possible that the steel on the shock is 'too hard' to rethread? Or are they just pulling my leg? Another forum member a couple posts up said one of his PSS9 rear strut was re-threaded, and I'm sure they used the same materials on both PSS9s and PSS10s, no?

TIA

The damage could have happened during the install as well.

You can have a good welder add some material to the shaft then have a machine shop cut the thread for you.

[cstmx_ryder]

Thanks for the help!

I'm sure that the nut was the right pitch, as it was the one that came with the PSS10s. So that's out of the question.

As far as the damage happened during the initial install, I'm not sure that it did. Because after that, we took it apart to try and diagnose the problem, and the threads were still good, because he put it back together and torqued it down. So after that time, the 'clunking' noise I was experiencing when going up my driveway was completely gone. So that tells me that it was an install issue, rather than a defect, because the noise went away after he re-installed the driver side strut.

But the popping noise persisted when going over small imperfections on the road. He sat in the passenger seat as did I, and felt the same on both sides. So that's when we decided to take it apart again, for the second time and diagnose the problem. It was during that second time taking it apart that this happened......

[NiVeDh]

I broke the stud on my rear shock (PSS9) bottom where it bolts to the control arm by overtightening the nut. I sent the shock in to Bilstein and they are going to rebuild it for around $150.

[cstmx_ryder]

That sounds worse than a stripped thread.....so you think bilstein will be able to do something about my thread if I send it in?

Originally Posted by NiVeDh

I broke the stud on my rear shock (PSS9) bottom where it bolts to the control arm by overtightening the nut. I sent the shock in to Bilstein and they are going to rebuild it for around $150.

[DimSum]

Originally Posted by cstmx_ryder

Really? I didn't see that anywhere on the Bilstein manual.....Maybe I missed it, but I've read the thing cover to cover 2-3 times.

I'll make sure to tell my mechanic NOT to use anymore air tools....Damn it! FML....

Yup, it says it somewhere on my PSS9's manual.
Hand tighten and hand torqued.

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Or just people who don't know how to use air tools!

We use them here at the shop all the time you just have to pay attention to what you are doing and not be trigger happy.

+1 on this one, because there are special air tools that have adapters that will never let you over torque anything.

Originally Posted by cstmx_ryder

That sounds worse than a stripped thread.....so you think bilstein will be able to do something about my thread if I send it in?

Yeah Bilstien will fix that for you, at a small charge. It won't be that bad for sure. They rebuild it for you, but of course you will have to wait sometime. To be honest, your better off talking to Bilstien about it first.

[cstmx_ryder]

So I just got off the phone with Bilstein's tech dept.

Cost of repair/revalve:
$75 - Rebuild
$30 - Tube with thread
2-3 days turn around time.

owner pays for shipping both ways.

Their shop rate is $60/hr. but I think that's already included in the cost of rebuild....So I'm assuming that it takes about 1.25 hrs to rebuild one shock.

I'm heading to the shop this afternoon to see what they would do about this.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by cstmx_ryder

So I just got off the phone with Bilstein's tech dept.

Cost of repair/revalve:
$75 - Rebuild
$30 - Tube with thread
2-3 days turn around time.

owner pays for shipping both ways.

Their shop rate is $60/hr. but I think that's already included in the cost of rebuild....So I'm assuming that it takes about 1.25 hrs to rebuild one shock.

I'm heading to the shop this afternoon to see what they would do about this.

That is a great price on a rebuild if you ask me. Typically you will spend between $160-200 on a rebuild. Maybe the $75 is in materials only(seals, shim stacks and other hardware).

[cstmx_ryder]

You might be right about the $75 being the material cost of the rebuild. They probably wouldn't know the labor cost prior to them receiving the shock....so maybe it will end up being in the range of $160-200 as you said.

I went to the shop and the tech/owner said he'll foot the bill for the repair cost. So all that will be taken care of. Now I just have to wait, which is the hardest part IMO....

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

That is a great price on a rebuild if you ask me. Typically you will spend between $160-200 on a rebuild. Maybe the $75 is in materials only(seals, shim stacks and other hardware).

[DimSum]

Originally Posted by cstmx_ryder

So I just got off the phone with Bilstein's tech dept.

Cost of repair/revalve:
$75 - Rebuild
$30 - Tube with thread
2-3 days turn around time.

owner pays for shipping both ways.

Their shop rate is $60/hr. but I think that's already included in the cost of rebuild....So I'm assuming that it takes about 1.25 hrs to rebuild one shock.

I'm heading to the shop this afternoon to see what they would do about this.

Good deal, I would do it.

[CenCal X3M Comp]

Any Updates? I still have the knocking going on on my setup. I'm hoping to get it resolved soon.