suspension Q - loose top hat

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:27 am

My U12 developed a clunking sound at the front right which turned out to be a loose top hat nut. They're standard shocks with cobra super low springs, how do I stop the inside of the shock turning so that I can tighten the top hat nut? or do I have to remove the shock and spring to do so?

touge_ae101 · Post by **touge_ae101** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:57 am

rattle gun.

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:39 pm

so just shove a rattle gun on it and go hard?

touge_ae101 · Post by **touge_ae101** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:48 pm

i'm not all that qualified as i'm no mechanic but this is how i do it. just make sure you're not tightening it up on the highest setting or you won't get it off again.
could even be worth replacing the nylock nut if it has worked itself loose.

2LTR Rona · Post by **2LTR Rona** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:48 pm

moose.cannon wrote:so just shove a rattle gun on it and go hard?

Not if the tophat has the locating D section in it for the shock shaft, its the D section cut along the top of the shock shaft & in to the top hat that stops it spinning & enables it to be tightened.

If your car has this setup then until to line both sections up so it locates correctly it will all be in the piss, slightly out of alignment and possibly putting additional load on other parts its not meant to.

First confirm if your shock / tophat run this setup with the D section for locating, if so it might be a pull the lot out job, you might get lucky and be able to line it all up while its still on the car

If it doesnt run this setup and just has the normal O pattern in the tophat then you're probably safe just hitting it with a rattle gun or similar

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:52 pm

cheers, because I'm a noob, I have to ask the question how does one find out if the shock has a magical locating D section without pulling the shock out?

RS13 · Post by **RS13** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:10 pm

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:16 pm

has a flat spot, looks a little fiddly to put grips on and tighten at the same time :\

touge_ae101 · Post by **touge_ae101** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:52 pm

don't put grips on there you will ruin the thread on the other side of it. the little 'D' cutout slots into a corresponding 'D' on the top hat which holds it in place and locates the shaft correctly for tightening.

if this was not located properly to begin with it may be why the nut came loose. it is a tricky job to get it to sit in there right with the shock in the car, so as mentioned above, it might be easier to take the whole strut out of the car and start again.

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:13 pm

cheers touge, will I have to take the springs out to line it up? its been ages since I put the springs in and im no mechanic

sergei · Post by **sergei** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:15 pm

if shock is not rooted it will have tendency to go up, combined with car trying to compress spring while you rotate the nut, it should pop in by itself.

Unless of course the D became O on the flange due to over-tightening.

touge_ae101 · Post by **touge_ae101** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:28 pm

hmm it can be done with it in the car but is a bit of faffing around and easier with two people. whereas taking it out will be much easier.

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:30 pm

touge_ae101 wrote:hmm it can be done with it in the car but is a bit of faffing around and easier with two people. whereas taking it out will be much easier.

sweeeet. by taking 'it' out do you mean the shock and the spring or just the shock? I do recal a D that the bolt fitted into when changing the springs.

cheers

touge_ae101 · Post by **touge_ae101** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:57 pm

take the shock out but will probably have to take it all apart to line up the D before bolting it all back down.

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:59 pm

sweet, cheers for the info's guys. will be doin this friday _b

allencr · Post by **allencr** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 8:52 am

Have you tried it jacked up with the suspension hanging down & with a little extra weight on the wheel?

Also, some shocks never come anywhere close to bottoming out, so it wouldn't care if the top of its shaft had some teeth marks on it.

moose.cannon · Post by **moose.cannon** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:06 am

took her to owens and the guy jacked it up and had a quick poke around then shoved a rattle gun on the top and problem solved! Hopefully she stays tight

Bling · Post by **Bling** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:41 am

Rattle guns fix anything that's loose

touge_ae101 · Post by **touge_ae101** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:49 am

BZG|Bling wrote:Rattle guns fix anything that's loose

didn't work on dnalunchies sister....

runs and hides :lol:

sergei · Post by **sergei** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:26 am

BZG|Bling wrote:Rattle guns fix anything that's loose

Rule 34