[Kimura]

Yep!

Happy Birthday by the way Ed.

I already loosened them. That's what I get for going by the torque specs on a Haynes manual. It called for the small link to strut nut to be torqued to 75 ft-lbs! That's more than the torque spec for the much larger link to bar nut. I never did make it that tight. A check with the FSM confirms that it should only be 17 ft-lb!

[Kimura]

As an aside, I wish my suspension bits were that rust free. >:/

[Kimura]

Well they lasted a whole year and 2 months, but the mounts are making noise. You can see the coil spring hang up on the bearing as you turn the wheel, and then when the spring finally moves it makes a clunk.

Going to call up Monroe and give them an earful. One would think this problem would have been fixed by now with such a high failure rate. Getting them replaced seems pointless if its going to happen again. I'd rather them give me the money back to pay for OEM mounts and put those on.

[95intrepid99kid]

make sure to record the conversation, just in case.

[300maximilien]

Curious...

Did you install the black Sensatracs or the blue Economatics??

[DjGreggieP]

These are on the front Andrew? I think I recently put on a moog on my front end when I did my 300m Special swaybar during my engine swap.. I can double check the records at work and get you a part number, they seem fairly heavy duty. Cant remember what they are for sure tho...

[Kimura]

Black Sensa Tracs, although I think they use the same mount part number regardless.

Yeah, they're on the front. I wondered about Moog. I talked to a Moog rep before and he told me that they aren't rebranded Monroes, that they are built under contract by someone else for them.

[Ronbo]

I'm guessing you should've used OEM strut mounts and Bearings! I did a test fit of a Monroe bearing on an OEM strut and it had high clearance. That lead me to buy OEM strut bearings and there were no issues with clearance.

The FSM clearly states the difference between the left/right OEM mounts and how they should be installed. Take a look at that. There have been more than one instances where people have installed OEM strut mounts & bearings on Monroe/Moog "Quickstruts" with some success.,

[Kimura]

You're right, I was apprehensive about putting Quick Struts in because of the issues with the Monroe mounts, but I had the Quick Struts installed as is because I was in a pinch and couldn't wait for the dealer to get OEM mounts in. Looking back, maybe I should have kept the old mounts. The struts may have been rotted out, but the mounts were still quiet!

Its funny, I recall the FSM stating the mounts are two different part numbers, yet all aftermarket mounts, as I recall, are one. I asked that Moog rep why, he didn't have an answer (big surprise).

[DjGreggieP]

My bad, I thought you were talking about end links on the front. I did OEM strut mounts when I had my drop springs installed

[300maximilien]

The reason I asked about the color of the quickstrut is because myself and another 300Mclub member have installed the cheaper blue economatics and neither he or I have had any issues so far. His have been on for about 1 year...mine for about 3 months. And everyone that I have seen on these forums with issues has installed the black ones

[Kimura]

I just got off the phone with Monroe, they told me as of January 2012 the bearing design was changed for the mounts. I got mine October 2011 so I would have the old design. Who knows, maybe this new design will actually last for more than a year.

[300maximilien]

Don't go black....or....

[Kimura]

Weird thing is that the mounts for both the Econo-Matics (blue) and the Quick Struts (black) use mount 903901. Did the Economatic come out last year or are they an older line than that? I wonder if they've been using the newer design and there's still Quick Struts manufactured before 2012 in inventories with the old design.