Suspension woes

[Mr B]

Had a bit of a mere today. I swapped over the struts and spears from Marty's old BX to try and make the suspension as smooth as I found Martys to be. Martys front struts lifted without any jerks on his, but, here is the strange thing, once fitted to mine they jerked and juddered for fun! How can this be? The struts where off a vehicle for no more than 20 minutes and worked fine before I removed them. I have since lubed the struts via the leak off tubes and they are now better.

Now I know Martys pump is more powerful than mine but is as noisy as hell and leaks behind the pulley, the Acc spear makes the Acc click every 15 seconds as mine clicks onces a week. Also Hydroflush has been in Martys system for a while. Why suddenly are the struts so different on the 2 vehicles

[M]

Its Vera playing silly buggers Dave.

Is there much difference in weight of the 1.7 and 1.9? The only other thing is perhaps disturbing them disturbed some crud?

[Mr B]

Its Vera playing silly buggers Dave.

Is there much difference in weight of the 1.7 and 1.9? The only other thing is perhaps disturbing them disturbed some crud?

The curse of VERA!

Very little difference in weight, a turbo and an I/C, bugger all.

[AlanS]

I'd take a guess that the alignment between the top and bottom mounting is just fractionally different causing the piston to grab ever so slightly as it tries to move internally; the bit that normally gets lubed to try to be a bit more descriptive.
Reason I know this kind of thing can happen is that in my previous life as a fridge and washing machine mechanic, we used to get solenoids on control valves and if they were just a few though out of perfect alignment, they would chatter so loudly they could be heard on the other side of the road, yet just by slackening off the mounts and wriggling around, the noise would totally disappear. Similar things used to happen to electric motors with self centring bearings and if manipulating things around didn't do the trick, then turning either 90 or 180 degrees was often needed to stop the resonating sounds, binding with subsequent overheating or a bit of time spent realigning the components.
I'd be inclined to try a bit of adjusting and aligning myself or you may find the life expectancy is reduced; let's face it, if it's grabbing, it's wearing.


Alan S

[Mr B]

Good point Alan, that could explain it.

[AndersDK]

Dave -

Try simply turn the strut top 90deg : loosen the large topnut then insert the hexkey size very large, and turn the strut.

This is the only way the strut can get in/out of alignment in relation to previous installation - as it would wear slightly in the position it is installed into originally.

[Mr B]

I swapped the struts complete with the sphere mounts as well. Would this create an alignment problem?

[AndersDK]

Dave -

The idea is that the outer cylinder rod gets a kind of wear pattern from the up/down sliding in the slide bush.
If this wear pattern is disturbed by turning the cylinder rod during removal/fitting - then it's bound to get "derailed" in the wear pattern. Known to give jerky strut function.

It would happen if the rod has been loose off the strut top mountings - or the struts have been swapped side to side. If you're sure this is no options in your case - then ...

[Mr B]

Dave -

The idea is that the outer cylinder rod gets a kind of wear pattern from the up/down sliding in the slide bush.
If this wear pattern is disturbed by turning the cylinder rod during removal/fitting - then it's bound to get "derailed" in the wear pattern. Known to give jerky strut function.

This must have happened. It is possible when refitting the strut into the hub to not get it back in the same position as the strut has no positive location point unlike a Ford or VW. As I said, the struts are fine now after I lubed them through the vent pipes.

Thanks guys