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BDS 2" Lift


micahfelker
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  • 4 weeks later...

I ordered all my parts and mostly everything has come except for the springs. I got the HD OME coils from rocky road, but I haven't received a shipping confirmation yet, and when I try to check the status of my order is, it says that they haven't received the payment, even though I was already charged. I sent them an email but no reply yet. Anyone have similar issues? What should I do?

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How long ago did you send the email?

 

Worse case, you could ask them to cancel the order and issue a refund. If they won't, then you can dispute the charges with your bank, or PayPal or however you paid.

 

IMO, give them a few business days to respond to your email. You could also try calling. The dispute route can be tedious, so that is a last resort.

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  • 1 month later...

Alright guys, after over a month my springs finally came and I've had everything installed for a couple weeks now, but I've been having some problems. I've had to get it aligned twice because even though I tightened them initially the alignment place for some reason thought it was a good idea to tighten them without also holding the other bolt on the back of the struts. Now the camber seems to be fine but my steering wheel seems to be pulling to the left when I let go of it, but sometimes it's perfectly straight. Alignment guy said it was my tires, but it never did that before. Also, whenever I go over a bump or turn the wheel too fast there is this awful popping/clunking noise coming from the passenger side front, but I don't know where. It doesn't sound the same as when the struts top out, and I thought it was the sway bar end link binding up or hitting on something so I ordered some new ones on amazon as well as sway bar bushings to see if the noise would go away. I just put the end links on today (Didn't feel like doing the bushings yet), and the noise is still there. However, my steering seems to not pull left as much lol, maybe it's just wishful thinking though. Anyway, do you guys have any ideas?

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Are they tight enough?

 

Last time i put on new end links they loosened a little bit after a day or 2 of driving and made a sound similar to what you are describing.

 

You may just Jack it up and check all the front end bits... Especially if the alignment shop was having issues tightening things... They could have left something else a little too loose

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Are they tight enough?

 

Last time i put on new end links they loosened a little bit after a day or 2 of driving and made a sound similar to what you are describing.

 

You may just Jack it up and check all the front end bits... Especially if the alignment shop was having issues tightening things... They could have left something else a little too loose

 

Yeah they are as tight as the can possibly go. What do the angles look like on yours? The top bolt (one connecting to the strut) is angled up pretty steeply on mine. Looks like a slightly steeper angle on the passenger side, which is where the noise is coming from. Maybe I could just take the end links off and see if it goes away. I'm not sure though.

 

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So I had very similar issues after my SFD install. Unfortunately I paid to have mine done by a shop and got screwed. But I figured out a few of the symptoms quickly and had them remedy the problems.

 

Topping out noise was the nut holding the strut rod. If tightened while the truck is in the air, on a lift in my case, without the weight of the truck on the suspension, you cant properly tighten that particular fastener. Put weight on the truck, jump up and down on the bumper etc... and see if the nut moves or if the rod comes up with the nut. Both of mine were as described. With the truck on the ground tighten that nut per the FSM specs.

 

As for the steering issue, might not be the case for you but my strut bearings were not installed, or improperly installed. I never was told which but they were the source of the issue. Easy way to tell in my case was that the spring would "wind up" or twist. The top hat of the assembly should rotate freely, mine didn't. Caused a steering issue which I initially thought was an alignment problem as the camber bolts were also installed incorrectly. The truck would drive straight sometimes but after a turn it would want to pull towards that same previous input. Had the shop replace my strut bearings and it was fixed. You could have not installed them correctly or if you didnt replace them with new units they could have failed. Might not even be the problem but if the truck has been aligned and the numbers are good but it still pulls this sound like the issue, especially since the problem is intermittent.

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Yeah they are as tight as the can possibly go. What do the angles look like on yours? The top bolt (one connecting to the strut) is angled up pretty steeply on mine. Looks like a slightly steeper angle on the passenger side, which is where the noise is coming from. Maybe I could just take the end links off and see if it goes away. I'm not sure though.

 

Mine have an angle to them. I can take a picture tonight if you would like. When you put them on were they at a fairly neutral angle while you are tightening? If they were angled even then the nut could have bound up before they were actually tight...

 

Keep looking it's probably a stupid simple solution. At least that's usually what it is for me.

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So I had very similar issues after my SFD install. Unfortunately I paid to have mine done by a shop and got screwed. But I figured out a few of the symptoms quickly and had them remedy the problems.

 

Topping out noise was the nut holding the strut rod. If tightened while the truck is in the air, on a lift in my case, without the weight of the truck on the suspension, you cant properly tighten that particular fastener. Put weight on the truck, jump up and down on the bumper etc... and see if the nut moves or if the rod comes up with the nut. Both of mine were as described. With the truck on the ground tighten that nut per the FSM specs.

 

As for the steering issue, might not be the case for you but my strut bearings were not installed, or improperly installed. I never was told which but they were the source of the issue. Easy way to tell in my case was that the spring would "wind up" or twist. The top hat of the assembly should rotate freely, mine didn't. Caused a steering issue which I initially thought was an alignment problem as the camber bolts were also installed incorrectly. The truck would drive straight sometimes but after a turn it would want to pull towards that same previous input. Had the shop replace my strut bearings and it was fixed. You could have not installed them correctly or if you didnt replace them with new units they could have failed. Might not even be the problem but if the truck has been aligned and the numbers are good but it still pulls this sound like the issue, especially since the problem is intermittent.

As far as the noise goes I'll definitely try that, but I don't know if it will do much. Both bolts appear to be tightened about the same and the noise only comes from the passenger side.

 

I did replace my strut bearings when I installed my new struts, and I made sure they spun freely. I could check again, but I don't think that's what it is. The alignment place said it was because my tires were worn so unevenly because of all the negative camber I had on one wheel with my old blown struts. They rotated the front two tires and the steering doesn't want to pull as much anymore.

 

I really hope it is that bolt that's making the noise though, as I did tighten them without load on them. It would be a very easy fix. What is the torque spec on those bolts?

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Mine have an angle to them. I can take a picture tonight if you would like. When you put them on were they at a fairly neutral angle while you are tightening? If they were angled even then the nut could have bound up before they were actually tight...

 

Keep looking it's probably a stupid simple solution. At least that's usually what it is for me.

Yeah! That would be super helpful. The bottom bolt on mine appears to be pretty straight, but the top one is angled up quite a bit. Both bolts are torqued to spec though.

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All right. Idk if these will help.

 

But they are from the back side with the wheel turned.

 

Driver

20170515_171553_zpshepadwja.jpg

 

Passenger

20170515_171621_zpsmxwdyzdo.jpg

 

Ignore the torn boot... That happened while changing the struts and the post started turning while i was attempting to loosen the nut... So channel locks.

 

Google for the fsm on Nico club. That will have the torque specs for the bolt on the struts. Hell while I'm thinking about it. Did you double check the 3 nuts that mount the strut on the tower in the engine bay. Maybe those are loose.

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As far as the noise goes I'll definitely try that, but I don't know if it will do much. Both bolts appear to be tightened about the same and the noise only comes from the passenger side.

 

I did replace my strut bearings when I installed my new struts, and I made sure they spun freely. I could check again, but I don't think that's what it is. The alignment place said it was because my tires were worn so unevenly because of all the negative camber I had on one wheel with my old blown struts. They rotated the front two tires and the steering doesn't want to pull as much anymore.

 

I really hope it is that bolt that's making the noise though, as I did tighten them without load on them. It would be a very easy fix. What is the torque spec on those bolts?

If your front tires are that bad, then put your spare in place of the worst one. Put the spare and the other bad tire on the rear and your two good tires from the rear up front. See if your alignment problems go away.

 

Should help the pulling but probably won't help the noise.

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Remus92, mine look exactly the same so I guess it's safe to assume that isn't my problem. The 3 strut bolts are definitely tight.

 

TowndawgR50, uh oh. Does the diagram show the strut bearing on the bottom of the strut mount assembly? Like in between the spring top hat thing and the part that has the 3 studs pressed into it. When I pulled off my old struts, the bearing was on the inside, in between the part with the studs pressed in and the one that slides on top of it, so that's where I put the new one.

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I just had someone turn the wheel for me, and it looks like everything is spinning fine. Next I'll check the torque of those bolts. I'm really hoping that's the problem, because if it's not I have no more ideas.

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If that bearing is not where it is in the diagram. Change it to match. That may be the issue!!! Even if not that's where they need to be.

 

It sandwiches in between those two parts and assists them rotating.

Edited by Remus92
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Alright well it looks like I'll be tearing my front end apart again tomorrow haha. I'm really annoyed that I have to redo everything, but I'm happy that I most likely have the solution finally. Thank you guys for all the help!

 

It makes me question the PO's choice of mechanic though. When I put everything back together I did it exactly like the old struts were assembled. I should have watched a video and done more research before just assuming the old setup was the correct one before I assembled everything. Once I redo everything I'll check back in and let you guys know if the noise is gone.

 

On another note, should I start a build thread? So far I've been putting most of my progress here, but the title isn't making sense anymore haha.

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Didn't have the time today to tear apart everything yet, but I did try tightening the strut bolts (the center one). The driver side is as tight as it will go, but the passenger side (the side the noise is coming from) is spinning the whole inner part of the shock when I try to tighten it. Any ideas?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Did you go with the KYB's? I don't remember if the KYB's have these but some struts come with flats milled into the threads of the strut rod to use a wrench on in case it spins on you. If not find some vice grips and apply a lot of electrical tape to the jaws, preventing damage to the rod, and grab it through the coil. Be really careful because that can damage the rod if the teeth penetrate the tape or whatever material to use to pad the jaws. I actually have used thick Neoprene rubber, about 1/4", for something similar with great results but Neoprene isn't exactly cheap or easy to come by...

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Yes, I have KYB's. They have one flat side, but there's no matter what you do there's no way to get a wrench on the threads and a ratchet on the bolt at the same time while it's on the car. Do you think the fact that it's rotating while the other one isn't may also be the cause of the noise?

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Try using wrenches only for now. Itll be a pain but unless you grab the rod through the coil I cant think of any other way.

The spinning rod isnt necessarily bad, but I may be wrong. Its basically the rod end of a hydraulic cylinder so there isnt really anything preventing it from spinning other than the friction/fit of the seals against the strut tube walls, which is why they come with flats.

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Shoot, I just remembered that the strut mount/top hat thing had a flat spot in the hole for the threaded part of the strut to slide though. Since that top piece doesn't spin, and the inner strut tube is spinning, it means that flat spot in the cutout has worn out enough to let the strut spin. That explains why it's only that size that moves, and it also explains the possible noise. Every time I turn or the strut is compressed, it has a little bit of wiggle room in there and the noise is it knocking against the sides of the cutout whenever it moves too much. Right now this is just a theory, but I'll see it as soon as I tear everything apart again. Looks like I'll probably have to buy another set of strut mounts or top hats (not sure exactly what they're called). Does this make sense at all or am I just imagining this?

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