Darn it.. My strut popped out. Now what?

[HFR_Racer]

My top strut mount failed. I'm 30 miles from home. Shall I limp home? I've got no tools with me other than my tool kit.


Help please...

[VFR750]

Probably not. The strut will punch a hole in your hood. Flatbed, AAA

[HFR_Racer]

I've got a strut brace.. No way to the hood. Any others???

[HFR_Racer]

Sad to see not much support for a stranded 930 driver on this forum. I drove it home at 40 mph on flat roads and didn't use the brakes much at all. Thankfully my car is soo stiff I think it would run on three wheels if I had too.

The top of the strut pulled through the top mount. Looks like my next parts order is getting larger

[dw1]

Originally Posted by HFR_Racer

Sad to see not much support for a stranded 930 driver on this forum.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I'd certainly be glad to help, but I'm over 1000 miles away (you give your location as Indiana), and was at work when your message was posted. Besides, as active as this board is, it's not really an "IM" kind of thing.

To answer your original question, I (and I think most that may have see the post saw the post) agree with VFR750. As it could cause significant additional damage, and not handle all that well, I didn't think it was a good idea to drive it that way.

But then, I saw an beat-up Oldsmobile on the way home from work this evening driving on rt. 80 with at least 10 degrees of positive camber on his left front wheel, so it's surprising what still can be driven.

[HFR_Racer]

I appreciate that your erroring on the side of caution. I was able to drive my 930 home safely and it did not have any steering issues. Just a little extra tire wear

It looks like I'm in for new camber plate inserts. This appears to be a simple installation based on my reading on this forum.

My original inserts were a bit rotted out. I'd better check the condition of my struts while I'm at it.

Thank you for your input.

[Joe Bob]

Thought this was a George Michael thread......

[dad911]

Originally Posted by dw1

....
To answer your original question, I (and I think most that may have see the post saw the post) agree with VFR750. As it could cause significant additional damage, and not handle all that well, I didn't think it was a good idea to drive it that way.
.....

+1

When you rejected the most logical advice, and did not post pictures(or specific details) of the problem, what do you expect? Suppose someone posted 'Sure, no prob, drive it' and you wrecked?

Frankly, I have never seen a 'strut pop out'.... how about a picture?

[sailchef]

Here at the beach, out in the middle of nowhere, I have come across a couple older 911's broke on the side of the road, both with out of state plates and in both cases the guy was trying to solve his problem with what ever he had in his glove box or using his wifes nail file as a screwdriver.

Fortunately both times, It was either my day off or i was on my way home after work. In both cases it took several hours to make the repairs, one was the clip that holds the throttle cable to the pedal on the cluster, the other guy was a stretched out clutch cable that broke. I wasn't far from home and was glad to retreive a trunk full (Jeep) of tools and go assist these people and get them back on their way.

When I read your add I was really crossing my fingers that someone would be right behind you to assist. I have a "stash" of tools under the drivers seat wrapped up nice and tight so they don't make any noise driving. Its for those occasions that we all know will happen with a 30 year old car. I haven't had to use them yet , but they are there just in case.

[Geronimo '74]

Originally Posted by HFR_Racer

Sad to see not much support for a stranded 930 driver on this forum.

You got an answer after twelve minutes!
What is more, it was advice that you should have taken, IMO.
Like dw1 said, this is a forum site, not an IM thing, there is not a permanent watch on this forum to immediately help out stranded members.
But I can somewhat understand your frustration, being stranded and all...

On the other hand, good you got home without further damaging your car. I hope the repairs won't be to costly.
If you post some pics and if you have questions, you will find that there are a lot of people willing to help in any way they can.

[HFR_Racer]

Thanks everyone....

The rubber bushing that is pressed into the factory camber plate pulled through it's stamped housing. The reason that it pulled through is that the large washer that is supposed to be underneath the 22mm nut was not installed. The top of the strut remained within the pocket that houses the camber plate so I felt it was not a significant safety issue to drive slowly back to my home (30 mile drive).

It seems that a large hole in the highway caused this issue, although I didn't hear the clunking of the strut top until 20 miles later.

Thankfully all is ok now that my baby is home safely.

All I have to do now is press the rubber bushing back in and re-assemble using the large washer