HELP! Front struts blown out 2013 GT w/ BMR springs

[Dave_6]

Took the whole strut assembly off laid it on my garage floor with the strut mount facing the wall just far enough away to get my socket wrench on the nut that holds mount on took my two tires I had off the car stacked them up slid them against the bottom side of the strut and laid a small piece of plywood over the whole assembly put my knee on it and started cranking the nut off , when it came off all the way the pressure popped back against the tires and slapped my socket wrench against the wall leaving the mount still slightly on the strut shaft and all pressure released , the new spring was short enough to assemble without needing to compress at all

Haha that sounds like something me and my friend would do every time we work on something. :banana:

 

[Reno Five-O]

I know a LOT of people keep the factory shocks/struts and lower their car and yeah they are fine still because the cars very new still. They will fail early eventually...


As I said before though, I am very surprised yours failed so early. Only 200 miles, something isn't right. I know their have been huge arguments on what I am about to say in other threads but this is what I would do: Put the stock springs on and take it in to get fixed under warranty. I would normally agree with the argument that Ford shouldn't have to cover this since you modded the car, BUT...200 miles? really? I think you should do this.
Flame suit - engaged.

Stock shocks/struts with Ford K Springs and almost 34,000 miles.

 

[Reno Five-O]

I also have a brembo car with sportlines and rides great, 3000 miles and no problem , and it sucks not to be able to work on your own car , it's almost not worth modding if you have to pay someone to do the work every time........unless your rich lol

I agree there's no sense in paying somebody to do something you can do yourself. The mods I've done were done by me or with the help of a buddy or two. I'd only feel right paying somebody to do something I know for a fact I couldn't do without training or something. But when it comes to unbolting something and putting it back together, it's not rocket science.

I have friends that pay for every single thing they get put on their car even if it's as simple as axle backs... I did my catback in a garage and jackstands and it was a learning experience but I know if I had to do it again, I would know how to get it done faster than the first time.

 

[dirtyd88]

I had many local 5.0 buddies offer their stock struts to me, but I just felt better know that new struts would be going in, not another set of used one, that there is anything wrong with that.

Also, all the work I have done on my car, and my F150 previously were done by myself and my friend. We met in the F150 community, and now we help out each other when we can, typically trading a helping hand for a helping hand. As stated before, I didn't have the time nor the means to really take my car back, then proceed to reinstall the factory springs, thus tearing down the strut again. Who knows if it would haven't even worked the second time!

Anyways, I got the struts replaced, new strut mounts, and an alignment, and all is well! Not really what I had in mind for a spring install, but it's done and over with, and fixed. Just need these to get me another 15-20k miles and then a/m struts and GT500 mounts go on.

 

[Jedisalami]

the strut shaft spinning when you loosened or tightened the strut nut didnt do any harm.

 

[Grant808]

Are you sure the struts failed? I've heard of a lot of top mounts coming apart an bearings going everywhere. Did your friend use an impact wrench to install the top nuts?

 

[04SNK390HP]

How did you take the spring off the strut without blowing your head off?

Another way of doing this is:

- Placing the front end on jack stands.
- Place a jack under one side of the front control arm
- Jack up the control about an inch to compress the strut slightly
- Raise the hood and remove the center nut on the strut mount
- VERY SLOWLY lower the jack until the strut assembly has lowered enough to remove the spring.
- Reverse the process to reinstall spring.

VIOLA: Spring change with no spring compressor or lift. I have done this so many times this way that I can complete a spring change in about 40 minutes start to finish

-Nick :beer:

 

[Jedisalami]

^easiest way to do it by far.

 

[HEMI LOL]

Not saying you can't work on cars but you don't need any of those things to change the struts or springs on a 5.0 , you need jack and jack stands if you have them but not "needed" and a basic craftsman tool kit , that's what I used

for god sake, just shut up.



sucks dirty, glad you figured it out.

 

[dirtyd88]

A socket ratchet was used on the top nut while we held the strut shaft with a pair of channel locks to prevent it from spinning. The tech mentioned that these struts have the shaft thread into the body, so if the shaft did in fact end up turning, it damaged/broke the seal and allowed the oil to leak of the strut, even more so when it would compress, throwing more oil out. I see where this would make sense, but we took every precaution to not allow something like this to happen.

Like stated many times before, my friend knows what he is doing. This was either just a freak accident on our part on reassembly.

But it's fixed now, and all is well.

I do wish now that I had found a way to transfer over the "iso" on the stock spring so the BMR springs don't make noise against the strut perch...

 

[niz55]

A socket ratchet was used on the top nut while we held the strut shaft with a pair of channel locks to prevent it from spinning. The tech mentioned that these struts have the shaft thread into the body, so if the shaft did in fact end up turning, it damaged/broke the seal and allowed the oil to leak of the strut, even more so when it would compress, throwing more oil out. I see where this would make sense, but we took every precaution to not allow something like this to happen.

Like stated many times before, my friend knows what he is doing. This was either just a freak accident on our part on reassembly.

But it's fixed now, and all is well.

I do wish now that I had found a way to transfer over the "iso" on the stock spring so the BMR springs don't make noise against the strut perch...

You are not suppose to hold the shaft with channel locks. You will damage or put deep scratch on it and it will kill struts. Your friend does not know how to,work,on cars. You have to,get the special tool to open it, or hit it with impact gun.

 

[Grant808]

You are not suppose to hold the shaft with channel locks. You will damage or put deep scratch on it and it will kill struts. Your friend does not know how to,work,on cars. You have to,get the special tool to open it, or hit it with impact gun.

:shrug: I thought he meant that he used the channel lock on the hex at the top above the nut, and not the shaft below.

I am surprised that both struts blew. Makes me think there was a problem with the install.

 

[niz55]

:shrug: I thought he meant that he used the channel lock on the hex at the top above the nut, and not the shaft below.

I am surprised that both struts blew. Makes me think there was a problem with the install.

You can't hold the hex on top and use a socket to open the 21mm nut. You can't even use a open end wrench because the 21mm nut is way down their.

 

[MikeLTDLX]

Autozone rents spring compressors. It makes the task much easier.

 

[twistedneck]

My buddy is an ASE cert tech that works on imports all day long, and used to work on Land Rovers. He knows how to change a spring/strut like the back of his hand.

The only thing we did differently was reuse the factory mounts, of which BMR does NOT recommend.

And just got off the phone with the only dealer up here that does carry Ford Racing parts, and they don't have the struts in stock....****.

Side load on some of these aftermarket springs are horrible. have a set on my car with Eibach struts. the top mount angle is crazy huge - thats tilt of the top spring seat before the load is released and the spring comes to its natural rebound position. i've destroyed mounts because the top mount angle was so off it put a crazy side load into not only the strut but the top mount bearings. one reason for coil over shocks vs. struts is that you know the side load is minimal and you wont have sticky steering, sticky struts, or pre-mature wear.

 

[mikestoyz]

:shrug: I thought he meant that he used the channel lock on the hex at the top above the nut, and not the shaft below.

I am surprised that both struts blew. Makes me think there was a problem with the install.

Yeah, you can't use a socket on the nut and hold the top hex. I'd guess the channel locks scratched the shaft which caused the leak. If anything use one of those rubber strap wrenches.