Im just finishing up putting my Bilstein struts in and I have the nut ALL the way down the shaft but I really cant tighten it WITHOUT using an impact gun. Is there anyway to torque it to 50Ft. lbs. like the Haynes (POS) book says??? Worse comes to worse I'll just zip it down with a 1/2 inch gun and be done with it. BTW..What are the torque specs for the strut to spindle bolts supposed to be....Haynes said 195 Ft lbs. but I find that hard to believe...what do you guys think?

Dan

 

I did 150 ft-lbs on my bolts since thats as far as my wrench would read. I just tighten the top bolts with a gun on a lower torque setting.

 

My GM service manual says 180 ft/lbs.

My KYB struts used a 6mm allen key for the center shaft, and a 19mm nut. I bought a 6mm 3/8 inch drive socket from sears, and a 19mm crowsfoot wrench. I held the hex solid with a little breaker bar, and used my torque wrench along with a 6 inch extension on the crowsfoot socket- worked great.

 

darn i definitely dont think i got that high of foot pounds with regular old wrenches, might be a good idea to tighten up some more with something bigger.

 

Yeah, I just cranked those strut-to-knuckle bolts on tight with the impact gun, see this message: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=187050

 

so does 50Ft. lbs sound about right???


Dan

 

For the strut-to-strut-mount nut? Yep!

 

ok...thanks for the info. I like your idea of using a crowsfoot to torque the top nuts to spec.. Later..

Dan

 

I'd love to afford the snap-on one; they make one that's an actual box-end, and not an open-end design. Can't find it in their online catalog, but here's the closest thing (the one I saw takes a 1/2 inch drive from the side, just like a crowsfoot adapter) They call it a torque socket or torque adapter...

<img src="http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/OBJECTS/36800/36797.JPG">

 

Holy cow I hate snapon.com's online catalog. Can't find the part I want to show everyone!! I'll look it up in their paper catalog when I get home; hopefully the part # will pop up a picture on their website. I remember being surprised that more people don't make one...

 

Tom~ Snap on USED TO HAVE a great website... about a year or two ago they changed it.

Anyway...back to my orginal problem. I tryed doing what you were talking about with a crows foot but didnt have a lot of success. I was in a rush when I tryed to do it so I have to try this weekend when I have a good amount of time. I also tryed to zip the top bolt down but didnt work too well....car was on stands ect ect. The main reason why I dont wanna zip the bolt down is because I put "skyjacker" boots over the struts and when I zipped the bolt down the first time the boot twisted. Granted that boot is just for apperance but Id like to have the job look "clean". Any thanks for your help in my stupid problem and I'll keep you posted on whats going on with my car.

Later..

Dan