Bil's 5100 and rattle/noise/rough ride

roadrnnr said:

What am I missing? In this pic it looks like the washer goes under the nut.

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BigRed4x4 said:

So at the 13:05 mark these guys drop the washer over the piston rod and then tighten the nut down...


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SevenPointSupp said:

So, I took my truck back to the dealership today. Unfortunately, I didn't try to take pictures beforehand. I described the noise to the service advisor and provided him with another copy of the installation instructions. I told him that it appeared to me that there was possibly a washer under the nut, but wasn't sure. He called later in the day to tell me that the tech found the sway bar was loose and tightened it down. He also said the tech told him that the instructions were followed during installation. After picking up the truck, it sounded much better going over speed bumps. However, there were still some lesser sounds at times.

When I got home, I finally used a camera to take some pictures. Does it look to anyone else like there is a washer under that nut? I tried to clean the area around it to get the best picture I could. If it does look like a washer under there, I'm wondering if this picture would be enough evidence for the service advisor. I doubt the tech is going to admit he screwed up. I feel like I need something more conclusive. If I took it to another shop, I wonder if they have any tools/methods to provide me a definitive answer without taking it apart? I already showed the service advisor the picture of BigRed4x4's truck after the strut punched through the upper seat.

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Ken226 said:

It sure looks like theres a washer under the nut.

I can clearly see a shadow, cast by the nut. If the nut was tightened against the spring seat, there wouldnt be space for the nut to cast a shadow.

Finding a "tech" who has a firm enough grasp of mechanics to understand why the washer needs to be under the spring seat, rather than putting the washer where hes accustomed to seeing it (under the nut), may be impossible.

You should resign yourself to reading through the various threads here on the subject, buying the needed tools, and doing it yourself!

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SevenPointSupp said:

Thanks for trying.

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Ken226 said:

Finding a "tech" who has a firm enough grasp of mechanics to understand why the washer needs to be under the spring seat, rather than putting the washer where hes accustomed to seeing it (under the nut), may be impossible.

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SevenPointSupp said:

^^^^^^^This

I took my truck back to the dealership after the service advisor told me that they were going to take one of the struts off to exam it. That led me to believe that everyone (advisor, service manager, technician) had already discussed this. About an hour later, I got a call from the service manager asking me to explain why they need to look at anything. I then went round and round with him trying to explain the need for the washer to be underneath. He told me he was going to have to call Bilstein, even after I had provided them with Bilstein's email to me. He then put a technician on the phone and I tried to explain over and over to him where the arrow on the instructions points to where the washer should be. They then sent me several videos that they took with their borescope. They aimed the camera straight down instead of at an angle and were clearly trying to prove that there was no large washer sticking out past the sides of the nut, even after I attempted several times to explain that the washer was smaller in diameter than the nut. I did get the tech to admit that the shop really didn't have any experience installing Bilstein's there.

At this point, the service manager said they would take one strut off to examine it and would charge me to reinstall it if it had been installed correctly. My confidence level was pretty low at this point, so I got a ride to the dealership with the hope of getting there in time to watch them take the one strut off. When I got there, the tech was on his lunch break. What was odd was that they were already starting to remove both sides when I thought they were only going to inspect one side. About an hour later, the service manager brought me out back to where their spring machine was. Two techs brought both struts out and took them apart to show me that the washer was under the spring seat. They didn't offer up if they had already made the correction, but they had plenty of time to do so. I was starting to wonder if I had been wrong. At least I could see that it was now correct. I ended up just paying for a new alignment which I didn't protest as I had been prepared to go somewhere else and possibly pay to have the struts reinstalled correctly.

I felt vindicated the next day when I took some new pictures showing that there was clearly a difference between the "before/after" pictures.

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SevenPointSupp said:

That is correct. First two before and second two after. Although I did not get the last pictures with the same exact angle, there no longer appears to be a washer and the nut looks tightened all the way down flush with the upper seat.

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