Koni Front Shock Install Help

[migbr7]

Hi all,
I have an 84 911 cab. Am installing Koni front sport shocks. I have Boge insterts.

Anyway, I have the Konis in the insterts but am having a heck of a time gettingf the shock shaft through the mounting hole. I've lifted the A arm with a jack but can only get so much of the shaft to come out of the housing. What am I doing wrong! Help!!!

[Oneredspyder]

I just put a set of Koni sports in my 86 Carrara that was fitted with Boge. I had the same problem fitting he Koni. I put a bit of oil on the mounting hole, cranked up the Koni to the stiffest setting. I then did the same thing that you were doing and put a jack under the A arm to get a different alignment up the hole. Took a bit of muscle to pull the tower down a few times. If it starts coming up through and you can get a bite on the top bolt thread, tighten it up with an air tool. It will come right up. I needed the air tool to tighten it, in that the shaft will rotate.

[migbr7]

Thanks so much. I could get the nut on but not any washer. So I cranked on the nut but that didn’t help much. I’m going to try jacking again and see if it will work. I’ll keep working on it. I was almost worried that konis were the wrong shock 😩😩😂

[Trackrash]

With the shock on the hardest setting and using the jack try bouncing on the fender to see if it will work through the mounting hole.

As a last resort you can loosen the three upper shock mount bolts, which will allow you to align the strut through the hole. If you carefully mark the position of the bolts, it shouldn't affect your alignment settings too much.

[migbr7]

Ok. I am kindof at the end of my rope with this project so I thought I might explain a bit more what I’ve done and where I am at now.

I had the car up on 4 jack stands and had my engine out. I did a top end rebuild along with a bunch of other things, while I was in there. One of those was to replace all 4 ancient boge shocks with koni sport. The rears were no problem but the front have been more of a headache. I got the old boge inserts out without a problem, slid the konis in, dust covers back on and slid the shocks through the mounting holes. But that’s where I’m stuck.

The top of the shocks will not come through the mounting hole enough for me to get the washers and nut on.

So first I slid a jack under the a arm and lifted this thing up with the car still up on all 4 jacks. The shock moved out a little. Enough to get the nut on without the washer. And now I tried everything. Jiggling, hitting the nut with a hammer, using a large to try to pry the shaft up. I just need like 1 or 2 more millimeters. I screwed the nut down as hard as I could without the washers to try to get it to pull the shock up. Nothing worked. Then I lowered the car off the jacks back onto the tires hoping the weight of the car would help. Nope. No help at all.

Can anyone help!!!!!

[Oneredspyder]

Where do you live? If you are near South of Boston or the Cape I will come over. Can you see which direction the shock is lining up compared to the way it should and jiggle it into that position. What I mean is if it is off 3 degrees of alignment to the right can you wiggle it in that direction to get it through. I am surprised that if you have the nut on, that tightening it will not pull the shock up. Did you use an air ratchet? I put a little oil on the shaft and I think it helped. I had to try mine 3 or 4 times before it pulled through.

[Oneredspyder]

It is also possible that the old shock mount's rubber is like a stone and will not give. It is not suppose to give too much but maybe that part needs replacing. I do not want to escalate the task though, it should go through. Pull the new shock back down and out of the way without damaging the fender, take the old shock and push it up there and wiggle it a bit to see if the rubber will move a bit. Just a thought, I have not tried it. The rubber of the original shock mount is molded to the mount, so I do not know if you can just replace that rubber with the new rubber supplied. I did not. Maybe that was not wise on my part, but I thought that I might change it out to a mono ball sometime in the future. Living in New England I really just wanted to get my car back on the road, so it is winter work, then summer driving. All a balance.

[Tony V]

Too many bump stops under the dust cover?

[migbr7]

Omg. Thanks all you guys! I figured it out!!! Finally!!!

So with the koni sports each shock comes with 2 rubber bumpers. So koni says one goes below the mount, one goes above and a spacer goes in the middle. Anyway, obviously I didn’t put a rubber bumper above the shock mount because there was already one there. But I didn’t realize there was a rubber bumper built into the shock mount below too!!! So I put a rubber bumper between the shock dust cover and the shock mount. So no wonder I couldn’t get the shaft through enough to get the nuts on!! I feel like such an idiot! But I finally figured it out. Lol

[Oneredspyder]

Good for you, glad you got it. So the question is should you change out that rubber? I have the same Dilemma on my 86 with 88,000 mi. Probably next winter.
Nothing like an ah ha moment.

[migbr7]

Actually I was wanting to but those bumpers are integral to the mount. I was looking at welrmeister camber plates. Our host has them. I’m probably going to do it. Lol