Koni Yellow won't drop all the way into strut knuckle

[fradd]

After four days of working on this suspension job, I finally managed to get the strut into the housing, and most of the way in. Everything is put back together except the pinch bolt for the strut knuckle, because the strut will just not go in that last 1/8th of an inch.

I've tried jostling the car, driving up and down the curb on my driveway multiple times, and all the methods I used to get the strut as far in as it is--jacking, hammering, strut spreader, prying with pry bar, lots of lube...it's all very sexually suggestive, and annoyingly unhelpful.

Any ideas? I started this Wednesday and I still need to do passenger strut, along with rear shocks. I'm hoping I don't have to take the strut out again to resolve this, I'd probably off myself.

 

[tkelly0727]

Koni yellow are known for not seating the in knuckle 100%. This is due to the design of that tab. Some people used a drimmel and cut The bottom portion off where the bolt goes through. Since you already got it in id just leave it. Doesn't cause any issue. Fyi koni coils have the same tab.

 

[fradd]

Koni yellow are known for not seating the in knuckle 100%. This is due to the design of that tab. Some people used a drimmel and cut The bottom portion off where the bolt goes through. Since you already got it in id just leave it. Doesn't cause any issue. Fyi koni coils have the same tab.

So you think I should dremel off the part of the tab I can see through the bolt hole, then put the bolt through at this level? I'm just worried the passenger strut will be at a different height in the knuckle if I did that.

The amount of the bottom of the tab I can see through the hole is about 1/8th inch too

 

[AM407]

I did mine 4-5 years ago, so memory may be a bit hazy, but...

Yeah, if you leave the tab, you won’t be able to get them seated all the way to the bottom and still get the bolt in. So either Koni screwed up the design on these, or they were never meant to seat all the way to the bottom.

If you believe the former, you Dremel out the tab and/or bolt hole to make it fit in all the way. If you believe the latter, you only insert the strut far enough so that you can still get the bolt in, in which case the strut will not be seated on the bottom of the knuckle.

FWIW, I assumed Koni knows what they’re doing, so went with the latter. It’s been fine.

 

[fradd]

I did mine 4-5 years ago, so memory may be a bit hazy, but...

Yeah, if you leave the tab, you won’t be able to get them seated all the way to the bottom and still get the bolt in. So either Koni screwed up the design on these, or they were never meant to seat all the way to the bottom.

If you believe the former, you Dremel out the tab and/or bolt hole to make it fit in all the way. If you believe the latter, you only insert the strut far enough so that you can still get the bolt in, in which case the strut will not be seated on the bottom of the knuckle.

FWIW, I assumed Koni knows what they’re doing, so went with the latter. It’s been fine.

Well the bottom part of the hook on the tab is still sticking up from the bottom of the bolt hole. So yeah I just want it far enough in to put in the bolt, but that means it has to go lower than it is. But if it goes too low will the tab be sticking down from the top of the bolt hole? It's been hard enough to get it in this far so I don't know how I'd get it precisely lined up with the hole if this happens.

Also, if I had to dremel it, I'd have to take it all out right?

 

[snobrdrdan]

I'm assuming this is your current state:

I've always just Dremel'd the lower part of the tab off (prior to install), like so:
8A8FA52F-29EE-4E2D-AD7B-894A5620048F by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

No issues & it'll sit all the way down in the knuckle

If it won't drop all the way in the knuckle still....try lots of lube & putting a jack under the control arm to get it to sit all the way in.

Extreme case: it's happened on only a few installs I've done, where it wouldn't sit all the way down due to a thick paint job....we had to put the wheel back on & lower the car (with the strut spreader still in) & that "popped" the strut down into the knuckle all the way.

 

[BudgetPhoenix]

I had one strut that would not fit in once no matter what I tried, I had the knuckle spread with two strut spreaders simultaneously it would not slip in at all. Couldnt not even could jack from the bottom of the knuckle to compress the strut in, even started lifting the car with the jack. I eventually just had to remove the paint from the bottom of the strut and it slipped right in. I couldn't believe it.

 

[fradd]

I'm assuming this is your current state:

I've always just Dremel'd the lower part of the tab off (prior to install), like so:
8A8FA52F-29EE-4E2D-AD7B-894A5620048F by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

No issues & it'll sit all the way down in the knuckle

If it won't drop all the way in the knuckle still....try lots of lube & putting a jack under the control arm to get it to sit all the way in.

Extreme case: it's happened on only a few installs I've done, where it wouldn't sit all the way down due to a thick paint job....we had to put the wheel back on & lower the car (with the strut spreader still in) & that "popped" the strut down into the knuckle all the way.

I had one strut that would not fit in once no matter what I tried, I had the knuckle spread with two strut spreaders simultaneously it would not slip in at all. Couldnt not even could jack from the bottom of the knuckle to compress the strut in, even started lifting the car with the jack. I eventually just had to remove the paint from the bottom of the strut and it slipped right in. I couldn't believe it.

This is my current state

Don't think the tab is an issue besides getting the bolt through, but that doesn't matter at this point since the strut is not all the way in anyway. It looks like the tab would be out of the way if the strut went in that last bit.

 

[fradd]

UPDATE: It popped in after some greasing and then driving down the hill I live on, braking hard-ish, and turning into a parking lot.

Aaaand now hopefully bolt lines up and I can move onto passenger.

Edit: TOP OF THE TAB IS NOW TOO FAR INTO BOLT HOLE. I guess we'll try to drill it away without messing up the threading in there? I really need this car to be drivable and STILL have to do passenger.

Edit 2: gonna find a different bolt to put in that'll fit, with nuts and locking washer on the end. I am not pulling the whole strut out again, hopefully ever, and I'm not worried about it popping out on its own.

Drilled to make more room on the tab on the other strut that I'll be putting in so hopefully won't have this issue.

 

[snobrdrdan]

^^^
Ahhh...I wouldn't have gone so far as to driving on it, but glad you got it worked out.
I think you just needed to move the strut spreader to the base of the knuckle and that should've done it though.

That's why I was saying you needed to trim the strut tab in the post before....because with the Koni strut fully seated, the bolt won't go thru it (as you found out).

As for a smaller bolt & nut idea....I'd just use a Dremel and go to town on knocking down the slot on the tab, that's in the way, instead.
It shouldn't take long to do.

good luck

 

[mrrogers1]

This is a pretty old thread BUT in case anyone else stumbles across this, as i did while doing a full set of Koni Special Active's on my MK6 Golf TDI. I experienced the SAME "last 1/8th of an inch" situation and the solution, which I think was the best but maybe more work, was to actually clean out the knuckle. The bottom of it, where the factory strut was looser or just where grime and junk built up, was SUPER rusty and full of corrosion. I cleaned out the inside, all the way to the lip and also took some of the paint off the bottom of the strut body. It slid RIGHT into the knuckle.

Thanks for the info though, it was good to know I wasn't the only one.

*The second picture isn't fully cleaned but gives you a good idea of the cleaned vs corrosion at the bottom.

 

[nomz_mk6]

bringing this back from the dead with the same scenario as the above people: the strut is in the knuckle but not completely and the tab is preventing getting the pinch bolt in. My solution was to leave the strut spreader in and reconnect everything as if the job is done. Once you do that and lower the car back to the ground, the body weight should be enough to push the strut down

and then if the body weight is too much and it pushes the strut too far down so now the tab is blocking the hole again? my solution: curse yourself out and then get the car elevated again. you'll have to disconnect everything again and then start whacking the knuckle down with a hammer to fine tune the strut position. steady taps + anger will get you to line up the tab with the bolt hole.