Question About Stock Rear Struts

[Blue Bomber]

Sounds like the nut on the top of one or both of my rear struts is coming loose, so I'll need to retighten them. I looked at the top of the threaded part of the struts, and there's a hole up there. Is that a hex key hole? I hope so, so I won't have to yank the entire strut assembly to tighten it. ;) If it is, any clue what size it is?

[DopeCelicaGT]

I dunno, let me go look at mine that are in a box in the basement and I will let you know.

By the way Blue I just went and looked and there is a recessed area in the top of the stock rear shocks for a hex key. You are lucky LOL. Unfortunately for me, TRD did no such thing with their TRD coilovers despite their infinite wisdom (insert sarcastic remark here) in engineering. It sucks trying to tighten those suckers down even with a vice drip lock down on top and a crescent wrench. The only way I can tighten mine down is to take the whole assembly out. Lucky me. Well anyways glad to be of help. Later.

[RookieGTS]

how did you know it was coming lose??

[Blue Bomber]

how did you know it was coming lose??
One or both make a knocking noise inside the car over large bumps at low speed. Doesn't happen past 40 or so mph.

[DopeCelicaGT]

It happens all of the time on my TRD coilovers but I just try to get used to it as they back off quite often and I do not have the luxury of just taking out the trunk plastics and tightening the top nut. I have to take out the entire damn assembly LOL so I just try to ignore it most of the time. Does anybody know if there are adverse side effects to driving with the top nut somewhat loose or will it do nothing more than annoy the hell out of you?

[slidr]

Yeah, it's a hex key hole, and you can get a crescent wrench in there without removing the strut.


But once you have it tightened, you may have trouble removing the hex key. ;)

[george]

i think it was a 1/4..been a while...

[Blue Bomber]

Cool. Just hope I'll be able to take the key out just once so I can check the other side. :p:By the way Blue I just went and looked and there is a recessed area in the top of the stock rear shocks for a hex key. You are lucky LOL. Unfortunately for me, TRD did no such thing with their TRD coilovers despite their infinite wisdom (insert sarcastic remark here) in engineering. It sucks trying to tighten those suckers down even with a vice drip lock down on top and a crescent wrench. The only way I can tighten mine down is to take the whole assembly out. Lucky me. Well anyways glad to be of help. Later. I know some struts (like Tein's) have a spot up top with two sides flattened and unthreaded to grip with a wrench. That plus one of those 5 degree ratcheting wrenches should make short work of tightening the nut.

[slidr]

Cool. Just hope I'll be able to take the key out just once so I can check the other side. :p:


Just don't let the key sit against the frame at all, or when the bolt is tightened, you won't be able to extract it.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Cool. Just hope I'll be able to take the key out just once so I can check the other side. :p:By the way Blue I just went and looked and there is a recessed area in the top of the stock rear shocks for a hex key. You are lucky LOL. Unfortunately for me, TRD did no such thing with their TRD coilovers despite their infinite wisdom (insert sarcastic remark here) in engineering. It sucks trying to tighten those suckers down even with a vice drip lock down on top and a crescent wrench. The only way I can tighten mine down is to take the whole assembly out. Lucky me. Well anyways glad to be of help. Later. I know some struts (like Tein's) have a spot up top with two sides flattened and unthreaded to grip with a wrench. That plus one of those 5 degree ratcheting wrenches should make short work of tightening the nut.


Yeah the problem is I tried that with a crescent wrench and vic grips, both very small, and it would not budge. However, the car was still on the ground even though that really should not make any difference I wouldn' t think.

[SickCelica696]

its 6mm

[Jesse IL]

I see you have the ST rear bar. Mine actually broke one of the bolts off on one of the mounting locations. This caused the mount on that side to bend back, leaving the sway bar flapping in the wind. It was hitting against the underside of the car, causing a big clunk. This was most noticeable when one rear tire would hit a bump and the other wouldn't (causing the sway bar to flex). I'd check yours out. If you have that problem, I can offer you some tips on extracting the bolt.

[Blue Bomber]

Hopefully I'll be able to check everything this weekend or next when I install my new rotors, pads, and fluid.