Koni Strut Inserts

[rocky2]

I made mine before seeing this style and it broke off the very end of the threaded area of the strut. This design which I did consider but opted not to incorporate has a recessed/bored portion that goes down over the strut rod and uses a set screw. I would think that it screws on to the strut as well.

 

Mine threaded up to the shoulder and would have been a better design if it went over the strut shoulder at this area and covered the strut down to the next step in the rod.

 

Here is a pic

The busted rod Bits4Vits design looks better and should be incorporated in your design IMHO

Edited December 16, 2012 by rocky2

[fixinto]

Your Pathfinder looks great and is in great shape for a 96. I want a spare tire hanger. Just think how cool it would look with a 4" lift.

The 31's are killing your gas mileage. Our 3.3L engines have 165hp and are geared for the tires stock. Raising the height of the vehicle could only create more air drag co-efficient but would marginally affect pushing the vehicle down the road thus minimally decreasing mileage. The only way to get your axles off the ground is tire size, once that is done it's fender clearance that comes into play ie.wheel articulation and rubbing, thus lifting the vehicle must be done. Your right though, it's expensive but anything worth doing is costly. I have 31's on mine but the gear ratio was affected and caused power and gas mileage decreases for me, thinking of going back to 30's and/or gearing it. Larger tires make you tall geared and make the engine work harder in order to get up to torque curve, like starting out in 2nd and never being able to get to 5th unless on a downhill with the wind at your back sort of feeling. I put steel braided brake lines on all my vehicles and love them for their performance attributes lifting any vehicle just requires longer lines and my brake lines were $90 for front and rear. Well worth the cost IMO

Lifting your vehicle and running 30's gives you more articulation clearance in your fender well and dosen't affect your mileage and power very much, but sure dosen't look as cool as big tires. Let's say you were to run 37's on your Pathfinder without gearing properly, you probably couldn't get the thing rolling and would have no power and terrible gas mileage.

Gear ratio and tire size

30's= 3.73 and stock

31's=4.10-4.11

33's= 4.56

35/37's=4.88

You get the picture now, if you get huge tires you need to gear accordingly or the motor can't push the tire circumference and negatively affects gas mileage and power band. Lifting the vehicle dosen't affect the mileage very much.

It's all cool just keep improving on it is my game.

Honestly i am getting 16mpg on my STOCK 31x 10.50 tires. i was getting 19mpg before i effed with stuff while doing a valve cover job. when the wether warms up i will get out there and fix her mpg, but for now she is running strong and doing well on gas. not awesome on gas like she was but good.

[fixinto]

Honestly i am getting 16mpg on my STOCK 31x 10.50 tires. i was getting 19mpg before i effed with stuff while doing a valve cover job. when the wether warms up i will get out there and fix her mpg, but for now she is running strong and doing well on gas. not awesome on gas like she was but good.

Also if you leave your gears stock and add a larger tire it makes your gears go the other way. say ur doing 65mph on 30inch tires with a 3.73 gear ratio, u would be turning about 2715 rpm. now with the same speed and gears you put a 31 inch tire on there now ur turning at 2628 rpm according to the calculation. so either my entire life i have had my gear ratio to tire size formula fubar'ed or someone else has their numbers a little wonky. that being said. Thank you for the post, nice ideas and thought process you have there. Good job on the Koni Shock mod too. I am thinking about lifing my pathy a modest inch and 1/2 in the front and 1 inch in the rear just to offset the bumpers im building for it. maybe i will go 2 and 1/2 in the front and 2inches in the rear and that would give me about an inch of lift after bumper weight. Still tryin to figure out if i just want to go with spacers or springs or both. most deff dont want to do a SFD too much work and i spend most of my time on the road and not the offroad.

[nckrawler]

whats the cost for this i looked up that part and it was over $400

[Protocol.]

I'm actually interested in fitting these inserts. Where can I buy a set? Looked around for the part No. but couldn't find anything.

 

Edit: Is there any difference between the 96-99 and the 04 struts?

Edited May 20, 2013 by Protocol.

[shoesandsocks]

yes there is but if u get a universal strut mount it will work either way on my 2001 i have kyb excel g up front i have 00-04 strut on the left side and on the right i have a 96-00 and on the 96 side i had to use the spacer that comes in the kit with my strut mount the 01 strut has less threads so it did not require a spacer

 

 

the lil silver tube is the spacer in question

 

strut mount

 

oh and heres where i bought mine from

koni strut insert

[Protocol.]

Sorry, just to get my thoughts straight. If you re-use the stock struts it will work ok? If you use 96-00 Struts then you require the spacer out of the universal strut mount? Thanks for the help.

[shoesandsocks]

the only difference is on the 01 there threaded potion is shorter the shaft are the same length but if u werent to use the spacer on the 96 with a universal mount it would have alot of play

[Iceman2989]

This is a strut spacer that I found on the web. The one I built was slightly different and ended up breaking. But this set-up looks better and will solve the top out issues associated with AC coils.

http://www.bits4vits.co.uk/store/vitara-/-x90/strut-spacers-2-25-machined/prod_79.html

 

 

I want these! Maybe I can make some in my machining class on campus.

[jyeager]

This is a strut spacer that I found on the web. The one I built was slightly different and ended up breaking. But this set-up looks better and will solve the top out issues associated with AC coils.

http://www.bits4vits.co.uk/store/vitara-/-x90/strut-spacers-2-25-machined/prod_79.html

 

 

Rocky, let me ask this. Your Koni solution gave you a better damping strut than stock, but the lengthening part of that equation could also have been solved by using a spacer above the top hat of the strut, right? (Not your topping out problem of course....but you could have kept the stock spring and gotten lift with the top spacer and saved $ and trouble, right?)

[jyeager]

Also, when all was said and done, how much longer was your strut over the stock strut? And what is the travel? Was that changed at all? I would guess it was less than stock because the insert was designed to lower a vehicle, so the body must be shorter than the stock strut body?

 

My '97 stock struts apparently have a compressed length 16.625" and extended length 23.375".

 

According to the Monroe Spec sheet another strut has the same body type (B10) and compressed length 16.310", extended 24.210", travel 7.900" (part 71680/71681). Could that be readily adapted for our use? It's OEM from a 93-01 Camry on the rear. If that could be adapted readily, then it would accommodate a longer spring, presumably without topping out, plus gives longer travel (which when used with bigger tires would still require the use of a top spacer).

 

 

[sleeper00]

Interesing project. My question is, why not weld them in? You would no longer need a spacer or collar, and there would be no side load issues. It seems like that would have been easier. Great job none the less.

 

Also, have you figured out why it cant work in the 00-04 r50s? I dont see the complication if it was welded.

[vg33deguy]

Got a question kinda related to struts. Have you had a camber kit? I'm trying to see what I need to do to make the necessary repairs to get rid of them. It's just the passenger side but I really would like to get it back to not needing them. Any ideas?

 

 

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[ferrariowner123]

The geometry is thrown off with the lift. A camber kit will be a needed item to maintain an even contact patch while driving on the road.

 

Just get an alignment, Mark the bolt with a silver sharpie or like, so you can remember where they are without having to pay just to have those bolts adjusted. That way, should they wiggle loose or you need to remove the struts for any reason you can retain your alignment.

 

-Kyle

[hawairish]

Got a question kinda related to struts. Have you had a camber kit? I'm trying to see what I need to do to make the necessary repairs to get rid of them. It's just the passenger side but I really would like to get it back to not needing them. Any ideas?

 

R50s never came with them, so you should be able to remove them. Only toe was ever adjustable on R50s, though SuperPro produces offset bushings that adjust. I didn't need camber bolts until I hit the 4" lift mark.

 

Aside from your current alignment woes, does it seem like there's another purpose that it has the kit on the passenger side?

[ferrariowner123]

Sorry, must have read that too fast. I was assuming he was lifted.

 

My bad, again.

 

-Kyle

[hawairish]

Only toe was ever adjustable on R50s, though SuperPro produces offset bushings that adjust caster.

 

Oops, forgot a word.

[vg33deguy]

I was told by 4 shops it was the only way they could do the alignment. The camber was horrific when I got it but it's ok now. I managed to counter the bent knuckle with about 3 1/2 threads inward but it's the fact that I know it shouldn't need them....tells me something else is wrong but I'm not sure what. It's not off or anything just don't want them on if they don't belong. I know camber bolts can fail and cause bigger issues. Im just trying to do as much as possible when we take the knuckle off and put new struts and the new knuckle.

 

 

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[vg33deguy]

As far as I understand unless I'm wrong the camber bolts are on the strut connected to the steering knuckle....so wouldn't replacing those two parts even things out. The control arm on that side is new as well. I'm just trying to think of what else could possibly be causing the need for them.

 

 

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[hawairish]

I think your passenger strut isn't assembled correctly...in particular, the upper spring seat needs to be clocked.

 

If you look at the top of the spring, the thick metal bracket that cups spring is the upper seat. If you feel along its bottom edge, you should find a notch, like shown (this pic is of the part upside-down, btw):

 

 

The notch needs to be on the back side of the strut, facing the engine. There may even be a "W" stamped on the opposite side of the notch on the seat, and this needs to be on the wheel side of the strut.

 

The upper seat has an angled surface relative to the spring end where the strut bearing mounts. If the upper seat isn't clocked correctly, it doesn't affect the bearing, but it causes the spring to compress more on one side than the other, which causes the strut to be installed at a slight angle...likely enough to require the camber bolt.

 

Also, when I put camber bolts on my truck, I noticed that the bolt couldn't cycle a full 360° (closer to 300°) because the strut would contact the knuckle. I tried the bolt in both mounting holes, and the bottom seemed to allow the most adjustability. At first I thought it was related to my OME struts, but I had the same observation on my buddy's truck with different camber bolts and KYB struts.

 

My thought is that the upper seat needs to be rotated, they've attempted to cycle the camber bolt but it doesn't rotate enough to make it align-able, and because you were in a minor accident, the shops attribute the misalignment to that. And maybe the knuckle isn't bent at all!

[vg33deguy]

Sweet. I'll check it out tomorrow. Just did both pulleys up front and prepped for the knock sensor so I may try a get this in tomorrow. Looks like it may be an easy fix.

 

 

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