New Gland Nut Refuses To Screw On

[EuroDat]

John beat me to it.

I think its ovaled as well. Probably from falling over. Maybe it fell hard on the ground during your spindle pin drama and you didnt notice at the time. It wouldnt take much.

Do you have a set of vernier calpiers? You could then measure the inside diameter and see if it is oval. You could try screwing the old nut back in, lay it on a block of wood and tapping around the outside with a soft hammer, preferably widest part of the oval.

Chas

[Hardway]

Thank you for all the replies guys. When I took the strut out I used 2 pipe wrenches to get the gland nut off, one to hold the tube and the other to turn the gland nut. I have tried it many times with the strut out and insured the gland nut was not bottoming out on the strut when it was in. I still had the old gland nut, found it in my pile of parts. The nut/hat on top was pretty chewed up from getting it off but the threads were in good shape. I tried putting it in and it has the same problem. I am in agreement that the tube is oval'd ever so slightly. I also believe that even though the threads look good, something else is not right with them. The other 3 strut tubes and their gland nuts went on very easily and required just a little effort to snug them down. This one should follow suit but it is not. I could trial and error this until the cows come home but once the new gland nut arrives I am going to take it to a machine shop and have them figure it out. Their tools and expertise will help solve this and I do not want to permanently fubar the tube either as replacing it will not be cheap. I will keep everyone posted!

[djwarner]

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[Hardway]

If your strut tubes are perished, Look here:

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The one that is giving me trouble is the passenger side rear. I have some leads on some others if I need one but hate to go that route as I have already replaced the bearings and seals in this one and there is no guarantee another won't be a bigger pain to get apart thus leaving me in the same position. I got the new gland nut in and plan to go to the machine shop this afternoon.

[Hardway]

Good news, the gland nut is now on. Bad news, looks like it has to come off. Even with it all the way down the strut cartridge moves up and down in the tube about 1/8 of an inch. My other rear strut assembly went together just fine and I did not run in to this. I am thinking I need to put a large washer or something under the gland nut to hold the strut in place. On the bright side, the shop I took it to, Japanese Motorsports in Round Rock was great. One of the master techs, Scott used a large stocket for 4x4 hubs that fit the gland nut perfectly and used one of the old ones to reshape some of the threads that were damaged. He also used a small Snap On tool for correcting threads. Best of all, only cost me $20. I will post up my results on getting the strut tightened up in the tube.

[cbuczesk]

That's great news! :-) See if the shop has some washers/spacers. Take your parts with you!

Chuck

[Hardway]

That's great news! :-) See if the shop has some washers/spacers. Take your parts with you!

Chuck

Thanks Chuck. I found some washers at Home Depot. The outside diameter is perfect but I need to drill the inside hole out some with my step bit. Hopefully it won't be too much drama and I have plans to tackle it tomorrow after work.

[Captain Obvious]

Good news on getting the nut installed, but bad news that it has to come off again!

Do you still have threads showing? Is it a matter of the gland nut grinding to a stop on crappy threads before it hits the top of the insert, or has the nut run out of threads (either internal or external)?

Haha! Does that even make sense?

What I'm trying to find out is... Are washers the correct solution, or is the correct solution to do some more work on the threads?

[Hardway]

Hey Captain, those are all good questions and I understand what you are asking. No threads are showing and based on my other strut intalls the gland nut is as far down as it will go as the curve along the top is sunk in a little past the top edge of the tube. The gland nut has a ring welded in to it and on the old one that ring looks thicker than the other new one I have. I have included a picture below, apologies for the crappy cell phone pic. Don't worry about the chew marks on the gland nut, those are from the tech and I using channel locks and the 4x4 hub to move it back and forth to clean up the threads. It is really not as bad as the pics make it look.

[Zed Head]

Weird that one side tightens up and the other doesn't. Implies that the second strut tube is longer. Or the insert/shock/strut is shorter. Or the gland nut is thinner at the load-bearing surface. Does the gland nut fit tight around the top of the shock? It should. Maybe the beat up nut you're using is the wrong one anyway. There are several varieties of gland nut out there, designed to match the shock.

[beermanpete]

You can put the washer/spacer at the bottom of the strut tube and avoid the need to increase the ID. It should take up the space just the same at the top or bottom of the strut.

[EuroDat]

Thats goodnews. Would be a PITA to start all over on a new strut, knowing what you went through with these (spindle pins).

Chas