TEIN-RA suspension/installation problem

[MvM]

This weekend I installed the TEIN-RA suspension.
Took me a bit longer than I had hoped but U did take things easy because of the hot weather.
I put the shock and springs together before and installed them as a whole unit. So far no problems.

Unfortunately, I am having problems with the right front shock assembly right know.
I test drove the car after installing and tightening everything for about 1.2-2 miles. Then I started to hear a hard clanking & rattling sound as if the shock isn't working properly on my right front shock. Naturally, I turned araound and drove home at a very very slow pace.
Now, I can hear the sound even when driving on a level and smooth surface and going like 3-5 mph. My first thoughts were I had not tightened everything correctly. but it is.
It's also not the top end hitting the underside of the hood or anything.
Took the whole shock out again and took it apart.
Then I noticed that the shock hardness-adjustment knob could be turned right off the main shaft. There is a tiny little nut just below this adjustment knob that I suppose should be fixed like being FIXED to the main shaft. With this right shock it isn't. When I turn the hardness down (like the 8 clicks for street driving suggested) the knob turns as well and when keeping turning will turn right off.
I also noticed than when I undid the top-nut that holds the assembly together (the one that should be torqued at 30 Nm) the main shaft of the shock rotates as well.
The manual says that this should NOT be so. Problem is, I did not notice this when I installed the shock so I cannot tell if that was happening at that time as well or just when I was taking things apart again. My hunch is, it was.
Reinstalled the whole assembly carefully again but the sounds remains even at walking speeds. Nothing else rattles but this is a very unnerving sound.
I am feeling now that the shock internals might be damaged.

I would like to know if anyone else has had anything like this on their TEIN-RA's or heared of something like this. And of course, if anyone knows the solution also, please enlighten me.
I hope it's not the shock of course but I am fearing the worst at the moment.
For the record, I only used socket-ratches and spanner wrenches during the whole process. No impact-wrench in sight anywhere in this case. The other shocks seem to be doing fine.

 

[prova4re]

I am no expert but I have had all the same problems that you are having.

[I can hear the sound even when driving on a level and smooth surface]

Does the sound get faster when you increase speed?

[The manual says that this should NOT be so. ]
Were did you get the manual in english?

All four of mine rotate when you try to tighten them.
There is a flat spot at the top of the thread that you can grab with a wrench, and hold on to it will keep it from spinning when you tighten it.

[I started to hear a hard clanking & rattling sound as if the shock isn't working properly ]

How low or high is your car?

I think the clanking sound is the helper springs that are taking up the slack for the main spring.

[There is a tiny little nut just below this adjustment knob that I suppose should be fixed like being FIXED to the main shaft. ]

Mine is the same way I just tighten it up with a small wrench and all is good.

 

[MvM]

Prov4Re,

Thanks for your reply.

As for your questions:
I haven't tried to increase the speed of the car because I did not want to take any changes. So I don't know if the sound will get any faster then. I do know that for the first 2 miles everything was OK and it was only after that that I heard the sound.
It really sounds like something is jumping up and down.

I got the manual in English from the www.tein.com website. It is shorter than the Japanese one but at least it's a bit more comprehensible. The link is here:
http://www.tein.com/ti/h14.html

I have held the flat end you suggested after I saw the shaft rotating. Point is that is a bit hard to hold there. There is not much room to hold and a 10mm spanner wrench isn't that big. I'm getting another one today and will sand it a bit thinner (flatter) to hold the shaft without touching the adjustment knob.

Right now, the front of the car is higher than the rear. Haven't measured the rear yet but front is about 125 mm (5 inches). Before, is was 114mm. That's measured from the road surface to the underside of the chassis just after of the front wheel wheel. (where you put you jack under). Funny, I set the height from the 285mm in front mentioned in the manual to about 290mm. The manual states the 285mm settting it will drop the ride height to 90mm and I wanted a bit more height. This country of mine is really speed-bump crazy and the car was already lowered to 114mm front and 130mm rear and that was very difficult at times.

I was thinking that maybe I should adjust the ride height to at least level. But even then, I think it's a bit strange that I only hear the sound from the right and not from the left front.

Many thanks for the suggestions. Glad to hear that at least someone has been there before
Hope everything is ok with your TEIN set now. And of course, that you like it a lot.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

MvM,

Based on the instructions, it does sould like something is loose internally. I am thinking that there is an internal nut that may have come loose(they caution about that in the instructions) on the bottom of the shaft.

It really sounds like that side has no damping.

I have not istalled these, so I realy have not had forst hand experience. Maybe you can e-mail Chris at SoS. I know he sells them here in the US.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[prova4re]

The jumping up and down is because your nut is not tight enough.
You need to hold the shaft with a wrench and tighten the nut at the same time. I have had this problem many times if it is off just a little it makes a lot of noise when you hit the bumps.
If it is off a lot it makes a thud noise all the time
I carry two wrenchs in my tool kit just in case it comes loose again.
Make sure the three nuts are tight at the top.
And it is hard to grab the flat part and tighten the nut at the same time. My came loose in the middle of no were and we had to use a pair of vise grips to hold it. It striped part of the thread but it was better than messing up my shocks.

As far as your ride hight goes if you are at the top end of the scale, you will tend to hear the claping of the helper springs when you hit some bumps that are big. The lower you go the less you will hear it.
My car is lowered to 3 inches from the front lip to the ground.
I dont get the plastic claping because the spring is compressed most of the time.

I like my Teins alot but it took some getting use to .
You might want to get some sway bars to help in the handling.
I think its a must! My car was pushing alot in the corners the sway bars fixed that. Most of that was due to my ride hight and the fact that I am running neg 2 camber on the rear.
You might not have that problem at the hight that you stated.
Drive it a bit and get use to it. You can dial it in later.

I do know quite a few people that are running the damper settings at zero with no problems. I know the manual says to start at 8 but that is stiff IMO.
Hope this helps
Brian

 

[MvM]

Hi Brian,
Thanks for your tips. It's a bit late now to try everything you suggested but will do that tomorrow evening.

The sound might very well be from the springs or the shock moving up and down because it's not tight enough. Although I try to not overtighten it. 30Nm isn't that much at all.
Tomorrow evening I will adjust the heigt back the what the car was (about 110mm front, 125 rear) and then tighten all the nuts again. Maybe the fact the car 'leans backwards' now a little amplifies the problem.
I really hope that will solve my problem so it will not be the shock itself.
I will keep you updated on my results.

 

[MvM]

To all that might be interested.
Turns out that I still didn't have the nuts tightened enough. Although the manual tells you not to do it (for obvious reasons) I took a large vise, really got a good grip on the main shock-shaft and then proceeded to give the top nut some additional turning. It wasn't easy and unfortunately I did damage part of the threading of the shaft but the sound it now gone. Seems that just a little extra was enough from going clunk-a-clunk to no sound at all.