those of you with play in your bilstiens

[jason2guy]

a couple of years ago i installed a pair of brand new bilstien struts, one of which had lots of play right out of the box. i returned that one for a new one with the same problem. additionally on the side with the faullty strut the least amount of camber i could get was 0.75. fast forward- i purchased a couple of tu bushings on ebay of the right dimension. i figured id install one per side. well i installed 1 on the bad strut- the upper most bushing and that fixed it. it also transformed the way the car drives. the reason i put new struts on was i had play on that same side driving me nuts, so i get the new part and the same thing. my point is ive been driving this car for 10 yrs like that and i cant believe the difference.
im writing this so if anyone else has that play, fix it and you will be well rewarded. the install is fidly to say the least, kind of like replacing a bearing race with less material to grab onto. bilstien is sending these things out the door with the wrong bushings installed

[chris_seven]

You really need a special tool to pull out both of the bushes fitted into the leg as the common method of driving down one bush and adding a third at the top of the leg is a temporary 'fix'.

The Upper bush will wear more quickly due to swash but it is good to change both when you do a complete overhaul.

Over the years Bilstein changed the length of the DU bush from 40mm to 20mm in length.

If you buy bushes from Bilstein they will now supply a 20mm long part (that may differ in the USA) which if just pressed into the top of the case will not last too long.

Original Glacier DU Bushes are good quality and still available from GBB Distributors but there are many aftermarket copies now produced and some are of questionable quality and can wear quickly.


We are just about to make a small batch of the ools to pull out the bushes and I will post photographs when they are finished.

[garment]

Are there specific production runs that we should be on the lookout for with the play issue? I am in the process of collecting parts for an overdue suspension overhaul and I just bought an HD (green) Bilstein strut. As I won't be installing it for a while, it would be good to know if I need to make any changes or purchase bushings. I have a hard time believing that Bilstein would let a problem like this go...

[DRACO A5OG]

Outstanding!

Can you post or PM the eBay link?

TIA,

Jim

[jason2guy]

i was expecting to find a short bushing in the strut housing, but what i removed was a long bushing 40-50mm for sure. here is the info on the bushing i used. its a surplus place on ebay that is sold out, but its a standard part- i found some online when i looked

[jason2guy]

Originally Posted by garment

Are there specific production runs that we should be on the lookout for with the play issue? I am in the process of collecting parts for an overdue suspension overhaul and I just bought an HD (green) Bilstein strut. As I won't be installing it for a while, it would be good to know if I need to make any changes or purchase bushings. I have a hard time believing that Bilstein would let a problem like this go...

secure the bottom of the strut and shake the insert back and forth, youll feel it if there is play

[stownsen914]

I found the same issue on a vintage 911 racecar that I've been working on and restoring for the past several years. It took me a little while to realize that the play/knock was in the strut bushings. I too had significant play. In my case, the wiper seal at the top of the strut had been compromised, probably due to bottoming out at some point. I bought new bushings from Chuck at Elephant Racing. I figured he would have good ones.

[manbridge 74]

All thread and split washers will pull them right out. Usually 40mm long. Member cgarr sold me some 50mm upgraded ones.

[Elombard]

I dont quite understand where that bushing sits in the strut assembly? Is it down at the bottom of the strut tube and the end of the insert slides in?

[jason2guy]

there is 2 of them inside the strut housing top and bottom. the insert rides in them

[chris_seven]

Depending on the generation of the strut the lower bush sits 150mm down into the leg on the early strut and 175mm down on the later strut.

The Early and late strut types are differentiated by the end cap design and the overall length varies by around 10mm.

Inserts are interchangeable between the two styles but ball joints can also differ.

[mnez]

Originally Posted by manbridge 74

All thread and split washers will pull them right out. Usually 40mm long. Member cgarr sold me some 50mm upgraded ones.

Can you explain the procedure is a bit more detail? Not quite sure what you mean.

[chris_seven]

It generally takes a force of about 4000-5000 lbs to pull out a single bush and you really need a specially shaped washer that will pass through the bush and then pull up using all-thread.



We have water jet cut some washers in Hardox 500 which is extremely strong and is a hard wear plate.

We use 2 x washers 3mm thick - we tried CR4 Mild steel but with 3 x 3mm thick washers and a single round washer with a 39.5mm diameter as a back up they bent out of shape just pulling out one bush.

We have made a 4340 steel plug 39.5mm diameter 35mm long to back up the Hardox washers and prevent them bending.

On top pf the strut we have a hard steel cap with a 40.5mm recess 45mm deep to allow the bush to draw out completely.

It has a hardened washer to stop the nut from digging in and a T bar to prevent initial rotation.

We use a Grade 10.9 M10 All thread as we want it to last for years.

If you just need to make one set you could use a socket as the support under the washer and you may find a socket for the top end.

As we re-bush struts every few weeks we felt we needed something more effective.

It is a bit more difficult than it first appears.

it may be possible to make up some parts to adapt to a slide hammer which would avoid the need to tooling at the top of the strut but again we wanted something a little more controlled.

[nine14-6]

is this tool available?

[cgarr]

Or you can just whip one out on a lathe, done hundreds of bushings for years with this little guy:




Sent from me

[dwoods]

Cgarr- do you still rebuild struts? If so, please respond to my PM. Thanks in advance!