MY front strut shocky cartridge inserts

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:49 pm

I recently bought from ebay a pair of Gabriel Gas Ryder strut insert cartridges which were supposedly for early 80's Subaru Leones.
The seller basically stated it was up to the buyer to make sure the shocks were right for their car so it was all up to me (Logical I know)
I couldn't find any real info on these which had a P/N of G44732 but I went ahead, bid and won the units thinking $70 is cheap if the shocks work and a learning experience if they don't.
I pulled my front struts from the MY Wagon which I already knew were of the rebuildable type and pulled all of the original oil filled guts out and after cleaning put the new cartridges in.
I noted they were too long due to a locating spigot on the bottom of each cartridge.
After much thought and throwing (some) caution to the wind I removed the spigot from the bottom of the first cartridge.

Now the cartridge fitted.
Did the same for the second cartridge and now both were fitted.
Lastly I installed the pair of King Springs I have had for years.
What do I think of this set up ?
Hard, jarring and jolting ride.
I will give it a couple of days but I may end up going back to the oil filled shock set up.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:52 pm

Just a note for clarity, the photo in my original post shows the first cartridge with the spigot removed, repainted and just before installation. The other cartridge is obviously the other cartridge straight out of the box.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:43 am

Better result than my attempt to fund a members failed components replacement scheme. At least you started with the rebuildable struts. Were the Kings part of the ride before strut replacement ? Surely it is springs that cause the jarring ? Had my Brumby out on a few windy, dirt and gravel roads yesterday. The L struts and springs were beautiful

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Mon Mar 07, 2016 4:02 pm

Steptoe
I had the King Springs in the car a few years ago with the original oil filled shocks and I think I only took them out as the heavier springs lifting the front (it has done this again) but as I was intending to actually do something about this (adjustable strut tops) I was going to leave the King springs in.
This means the car has been running standard front struts and springs in the recent past.
I guess I have 3 options as I see it from here-
1. take out the new Gabriel shocks and the King springs, refill with new oil and put the old strut guts back in with the original springs. Basically take it back to standard.
2. take out the King Springs leaving the Gabriel shocks in and re install the original springs.
3. refill with oil and put the old strut guts back in but leave the King Springs installed.
I guess option 2 is the easiest and if it still runs crap back to the original strut guts I go.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:26 pm

I have now sunk to a new level of Stupid !!!

Anyone see the issue with the following picture ?

Thanks Right, there is a 19mm socket sticking out of the top of the strut tower.
Should it be there ?
No
Is it possible to leave the said socket on the top of the strut and bolt the 2" lift spacer on the top of it ?
Yes
Does this ultimately cause the lift spacer to not sit correctly onto the top of the strut and cause the car to act weird on the road and make the owner rather PEED off ?
Yes
Does removing the socket and solve all of the problems previously stated in the posts above ?

YES !

I need a BEX and a good lie down...............................

Proton mouse · Post by **Proton mouse** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 12:17 am

Up til just before the last post I was thinking it was definitely not going to be the inserts giving the hard ride, and that option 2 would be the correct choice, that was when I read the last post and changed my opinion to option 4 (removal of all foreign items from suspension travel)

How does the car's ride feel with the new shocks and springs?

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 6:48 am

Don't worry, we've all been there

So how does it ride now?

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:33 pm

Wont really know about the ride till tomorrow when I take the car on the highway to work.
I expected this but it is worth noting that the front suspension is basically 10mm higher with the new shocks and springs.
As you could imagine this does nothing for the front camber issue the MY's suffer so this is a side effect. I seem to recall this was due to the stiffer springs as I had the same issue when I had the King springs fitted to the original standard struts.
I will keep the original strut guts as they were not leaking and good for spares.
Does anyone know any details for adjustable strut tops for MY's.
I know they wont be cheap but I would like to research this option till I can afford them.
See how things go tomorrow.
P.S. what I didn't mention was a second very embarrassing occurrence while doing this job. I wonder if anyone else has managed to fit an outer front brake pad backwards.
I deserve an A for effort as I managed to do this on the front LH side. Surprisingly, the car still stopped well till the disc had had enough and started to grind.
Equally surprisingly, it didn't do a lot of damage to the disc just a bit of a groove. More hurt pride than anything else. Luckily I was still in town so could nurse the car home, took off the wheel, turned the pad back around and with the wheel back on, off we go.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:22 pm

Some good learning going on there!

I've seen the aftermath of a guy that saved up his used pads then packed them in one after the other until be couldn't fit them anymore. I'm pretty sure he got three pads on one side with the extreme disc wear he had.
This resulted in the pad finally wearing the disc through to the vented centre section where it promptly spat the multiple pads out as the vehicle stacked into a stationary object.

Cheers

Bennie

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:25 pm

Drove the car to work today and all is OK.
The front is obviously more solid than what it was but now the rear is washy.
I wouldn't mind a heavier than standard front sway bar which would probably help.
I would be keen to follow up on coil overs for the rear like the L series so I have a chance to swap to some sort of variety of springs for different tensions.
I would leave the original MY torsion bar in place but backed off and tension it if needed.
I would like to aim for the "ideal world" scenario though.
I would want to avoid any additional spacers/brackets for the top shock mount (I understand the bottom mount is no issue) if at all possible.
The car has a 2" lift so this may increase my options.
I will search the forum as I recall people had wins with Mazda shocks and/or springs.
If anyone is keen to part with an existing and proven rear shock/spring set up for the MY let me know.

coxy · Post by **coxy** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 8:24 pm

Well this is the suspension section and Steptoe asked me on some thread or other what the part number was for genuine Subaru lower control arm inner bushes.
I believe it may have been on Silver Bullets build thread where there was a discussion about the different size nolathane types because they list two different diameters basically because the bushes can be fitted into the original outer steel sleeve of an original bush if they are still in place or a larger size if that has been removed.

Well I detest urathane bushes in control arms as I have seen too many fail and recomend only genuine bushes, Well for MY, Brumby (MV) and L series they all use the same bush and this is the part number off the packet for a genuine subaru bush.
I was lucky finding the original number on Subaru of America's site but have been unable to find it since.

621108170 quantity required naturally 2.

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Sat May 28, 2016 11:37 am

Just for info, with the cartridges installed and with King springs fitted the cars front end acted very harsh.
When the car went over something (speed hump or dip in the road) the front end dropped as you would expect but as the front end lifted again it abruptly stopped.
It felt like each shock was reaching is extended length.
I have now pulled the cartridges back out and re inserted the original rebuildable insert components/15w fork oil with the King springs and with a short drive all is good.
I noted when removing the springs that the original struts seem longer which falls in line with my thought above. I didn't measure anything but I base my thoughts on there being more clearance when I put the springs back in.