Pfadt Coilover Troubleshooting

[JHall651]

Hey everyone. A bit over a year and about 8k ago I had some pfadt featherlights installed and have loved every mile. Recently though I have had some creaking and popping coming from the front end when I would turn the wheel right or left. Thought maybe it was the Sway bar but I disconnected it at the end links and still made the noise when I would turn the wheel. This happened moving or sitting still. So I figured it was the mounts. Lucky for me my Dealer is very mod friendly and replaced the mounts for free. Seems to have made a big improvement but still seems to happen when I turn out to lockout position. I thought I would snug up the upper nuts just a few pounds and see if it would help but here is where things got funny. Seems my passenger side just keeps spinning and spinning. I mean it pops my torque wrench at 70 ft lbs but if I give it a hair more the mount spins inside and the nut never really goes anywhere. Is this normal? Is the shaft running into the strut that has the threads on it suppose to spin like that? If all this is normal then how do I go about snugging those without it spinning? And any suggestions on what the pooping could be would be appreciated. It seems to be maybe my springs doing it when they twist, when I turn my wheel. Not sure. Thanks everyone.

[bannonm]

Originally Posted by JHall651

I mean it pops my torque wrench at 70 ft lbs but if I give it a hair more the mount spins inside and the nut never really goes anywhere. Is this normal? Is the shaft running into the strut that has the threads on it suppose to spin like that? If all this is normal then how do I go about snugging those without it spinning? And any suggestions on what the pooping could be would be appreciated. It seems to be maybe my springs doing it when they twist, when I turn my wheel. Not sure. Thanks everyone.

Can't help you with the noise, but the threaded shaft will spin. If you notice the top of the shaft can fit a hex wrench. That's how you hold it still from spinning. A normal torque wrench won't work with a hex wrench in place. I highly warn against turning the shaft with a torque wrench and holding the nut still. If you're not careful the shaft can crack on the threaded part.

You do know that nut gets torqued to only 65ft lbs.

[JHall651]

Originally Posted by bannonm

Can't help you with the noise, but the threaded shaft will spin. If you notice the top of the shaft can fit a hex wrench. That's how you hold it still from spinning. A normal torque wrench won't work with a hex wrench in place. I highly warn against turning the shaft with a torque wrench and holding the nut still. If you're not careful the shaft can crack on the threaded part.

You do know that nut gets torqued to only 65ft lbs.

Yes I understand that it only gets torque to 65lbs. That is why I stated in my post that I snugged it an additional 5 lbs to 70 lbs to see if it would help. So I take it you have to use a crows foot to torque it then?

[kobSS]

I had an issue with the springs making popping and creaking noises as I rotated the wheels. Ended up being the original installer not putting the isolator on top of the spring perch. Noise was the spring popping and out and creaking under tension.

[JHall651]

Yea. Im pretty sure its coming from the spring but I dont think thats my problem. Thus didnt start until after a year of driving on them. So not really to sure.