Monday, October 29, 2007 - 08:27 pm, by: Ben Lippa(Blipman)
Hi guys,
I've bought some Suncore rear replacement air struts for my Celsior and I've run into some problems, I was wondering if anyone else who has changed their struts can give me any advice.
After 2 days of frustration not being able to get the air line into the new struts I've discovered the problem is that each of the 2 struts is different so I believe one of the struts which was sent is the wrong part or is missing a component
The right rear strut goes on fine and everything works, however the left rear strut I could not get the air line in, the bolt turns about a turn then suddenly stops. At first I thought I'd damaged the thread but after a long time I have discovered that the hex body of the bolt is hitting the threaded hole. After checking why I was able to get the one side on and not the other it turns out that the two systems for taking the bolt are completely different, and in fact there is an internal part missing as well meaning the airline will never seal... I can actually push the air line right into the strut rather than it stopping and locking into place.
I understand this is maybe not that clear based on that description, please see the photos
Pic 1 shows that the hole for each strut is different, the hole on the right is much smaller and so the airline with the rubber O-rings slots into place, while the one on the left has a much bigger hole and the airline goes right in with nothing to stop it.
Pic 2 shows that the fitting is different, the bolt goes into the one on the right no problem, but the one on the left has the thread much deeper in and so you can only get the bolt in a turn or so before the head hits the large outer ring.
Pic 3 shows the hole on the standard strut compared with the much bigger one, again you can see there is nothing to stop the line from going right into the strut rather than sitting in place and being held in by the bolt.
Pic 4: shows how I've been blocking the driveway for 2 days!
All other aspects of the strut are pretty much the same (they both physically fit!) so is it possible I've got one from a different year model, or is there an inner piece that is missing (why the one fitting has a large hex head while the other has nothing perhaps?) which would explain why the two struts are different?
I've asked Suncore and will see what they say, in the meantime I thought maybe someone here could have some experience with this.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 07:07 am, by: Rich O'neil(Kiwiinaus)
You are missing a screw in type adaptor , you can see that one of the struts has an extra hex , this actually screws out . If they can't supply one I think I've got a spare somewhere , just let me know .Also check to see if you can just screw one out of the original shocks ?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 10:30 am, by: Brendan Horton(Vip)
Should you be able to just take the hex adapter of your original bag? I am just presuming that your replacing it due to the original bag faulty? You should be able to screw the hex off that one and put it onto the one your intending to use?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 07:17 pm, by: Ben Lippa(Blipman)
My original shocks did not have that screw in hex piece, the threaded part on the original shock is just part of the mold of the top of the bag... you can kind of see it in the pic of the original above but it's a bad angle.... certainly nothing which separates.
I thought that might be the case (why have a hex head otherwise?) but it looks like it's all part of the one unit and not separate, I guess when Suncore rebuilt the new unit they might have just painted over it which is why it looks like all one piece.
Thanks for the offer Rich, I'm still waiting for a reply from Suncore, I'll see how it goes. Did you get my email regarding lights?
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 08:48 pm, by: Brendan Horton(Vip)
On the standard Celsior air struts, that hex piece screws out for sure, I know because I have done it before, not too sure about the suncore ones though, but standard ones 100% screw out.