Help!!! Strut bearing direction

[Icey1174]

I am putting new front struts in for the first time. Never did a strut job before. I am stuck right now. When I was putting the strut back in the car I noticed a 5mm difference from the plate of the strut bearing to the top plate (stop plate). One side measures 40mm and the other measures 35mm. When you rotate the bearing it is not level. Should it be level (perpendicular to the strut)? There is also a larger gap between the top spring cup and the bearing on one side. There has to be a difference in the way it bolts up to the car. Does anyone know which way this bearing should be bolting into the strut tower for sure? A good guess would be to put it back the way it came out or to look at the other side. BUT, the PO has pretty much put EVERYTHING back that he "fixed" incorrectly.

The car also has some "tight/hard" steering. The pump is new and recently flushed to rule out that problem with ATF Dextron III. The ball joints were just replaced. The tie rods and rack are newer. I just replaced all the bushings on the sway bar too. The bushings on the control arms look good. I was told the strut bearings may be bad. This bearing on the side that is off now seems fine. No play and moves with no restrictions. I am thinking that if you put it on the wrong way you might get some binding with the top spring cup and the strut bearing plate, thus some tougher/harder steering.

Does anyone know the correct direction to put it back together???

Does it sound like the steering might be a binding issue with the strut bearing plate and the top spring cup?

Please share your input. Please include in your response if you know for a fact the way they should go back into the car. PET and Clark's are no help with this. I used Clark's for the procedure, but it says nothing about the orientation of the bearing and the strut tower.

THANKS!!!!

[jcommin]

Did you replace the top bearings or reused the existing ones?

[Icey1174]

I am waiting for new after market bearings to get here. In the meantime I was going to use the old ones. The strut tower has a slight angle to it as does the bearing.

[jcommin]

John,

I have a Porsche 944 parts and technical manual for cars from 1977-1988. The support bearings, spacer, mounts, stop ring, etc are the same for LH and RH struts. The support bearing is molded into the rubber and can only go into the mount one way. There is no way you can reverse it. I have pictures of my struts to show you the support bearing shoulders against the strut. Everything bolts together.

I'm not sure what is happening to your assembly but I'm comfortable with the set up as I have shown.

[Icey1174]

Jim,

Thanks a million for the pics and effort! With your pictures my question might be better understood.

The last two pics, bottom two, show the top part of the bearing where it is mounted into the strut tower. If you mesure from the bearing plate where the studs are welded to the bearing to the top plate or the stop plate I measure 35mm on one side and 40mm on the other side. Which side goes to the inside of the car? The 40mm or the 35mm? I swaped my old spring onto the new strut assembly and never relized a difference. A 5mm difference could make a big difference.

Like I said earlier in the post, I don't trust the other strut to be correct as most things on the car have had to be corrected. When I swaped the spring out I lost the original orientation for the proper location for the instalation of the bearing. Maybe not the "proper" orientaion, but at least the oritentation it was in before I took it out.

Thanks for your help!

[jcommin]

John,

I still don't get your question but I'm not giving up either. One of the things I noticed and it drove me crazy until I asked a Porsche service mechanic for his opinion was this:

First let me say I replaced all wearable parts. I have new bearings and stop ring. I cleaned up the housings and bought new gaskets that go around the housing.

When I pre-assembled the strut, I noticed a gap between the bearing and stop plate. It looked like about 3/8" - 1/2". I couldn't understand how this assembly could stay together. I looked at my old bearing and compared it to my new one (I'm using OE bearings). Although they are the same part number, they physically looked different. I thought there might be a service bulletin I was not aware of, so I visited my local Porsche dealer to get an opinion.

When I assemble the strut, the bearing must be seated on the strut. The rubber in the bearing will compress and preload (for the lack of a better word). The stop ring will come in contact with the bearing, making an assembly tight with no gaps. The torque setting is 150 +/- 30 Nm.


The difference between the old and new is that the rubber took a set. That explained the difference.

The top mounting plate needs to be bolted to the car. Make sure the gasket is in place. This needs to be bolted solid to the car.


Now I am saying all this casually because I haven't done it yet but I will soon. I'm putting together my strut assemblies this week, hopefully today. My son has access to the high school's auto shop facility and they have a nice spring compressor tool. When I have the assemblies, I will fit them in the car and see if I can see what you are describing.

The only other comments I have:

The LH and RH strut base are different. I marked mine before I took them apart.

Don't forget the spacer that fits inside the bearing


Jim

[Icey1174]

When the strut is assembled and you spin the strut bearing it does not spin level, one side is lower than the other. It is not something that you noicte when you take it apart. It is minimal, 5mm at best. There has to be a reason why one side is lower than the other and it has to make a difference when it is bolted back into the car.

If you have the bearing handy and you have a scale, try measuring as many diffent points on it as possible in different areas. You'll see the 5mm difference I am talking about. Your two bottom pics show the bearing as it would be installed in the car. There are 4 studs on the top of the bearing plate. The pairs of studs that are cloeser together fit either towards the inside or outside of the car when they are installed. If you measure inbetween the two pairs of close studs from the top of the bearing plate that the studs are welded to, to the top of the assembly (top plate or stop plate) you'll find a 5mm difference. When I mearuse mine I get 35mm on one side and 40mm on the other.

My question is which side is installed to the inside of the car and which side is installed to the outside of the car?

[jcommin]

I think I got it now. I will look at mine and get back to you.

[Icey1174]

ok... my new bearings should be here via UPS in about 20 minutes. I am one of the first stops for the day! But I am expecting to see the same difference in these as well.

I am guessing that your struts were on your car correctly, so maybe you still have the correct orientation.

[Icey1174]

ok... looks like the measurement difference will not matter. The new "Monoball Strut Mounts" from Paragon that I ordered are here. The new mounts/bearings are the same height the whole way around.

The only draw back that I see so far with these ones is that there are not studs welded to the plate, they came with nuts and bolts. Good thing I have long arms!



I'll let you know how I like them. Thanks again for the help. I may put the OEMs back on, so the info would still be helpful if you have it.

[Icey1174]

There is a difference and there IS a 5th hole in the mounting flange for a location pin for correct mounting. The mounting pin in welded on the underside of the strut tower. My guess for the orientaion must have been correct.