HELP needed! Rear Shock replacement - bouncy / lose after new shock

A

anon1000

Member
Location
United States
Newbie here.

Seemed like easy enough of a job to replace the leaking rear shock on 2004 FX35. Bought two KYB Excels from Amazon and went to work, removed old shocks, verified leaking and then put on the new one, and removed the old bushing and mounting bracket / dust cover and mounted those on the new shock. lower is tightened to 66ft lbs and uppers are tightened to 22. Next step, test drive. Not good, whole car felt lose and bouncy, exactly like a broken shock, except that it was way better before.

So, wheres the mistake? I tried to use an impact wrench to tighten the top nut, maybe that is too loose? Looks like that should be torqued to 33 ft lbs, but no idea how to hold the rod from spinning, dont want to use the vise. Would it cause to act that way if the top nut was a little off torque spec? I thought it simply tightens back against a bushing. Only other ideas I have is that the mounting bracket is not right (is the ledge suppose to point outwards (so you can see it) or that the bushings are worn and need replacing, but even with the leaky shock, the ride was firmer and tighter than it is now.

Any ideas appreciated.
 
not tightening the top nut would cause clunking and knocking sounds. What your describing is a dampening issue. Im guessing you were use to the old worn out shocks. I know for a fact when out shocks get worn they get harsher. So putting new shocks in got the new feeling back

---------- Post added at 06:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 PM ----------

oops i read it wrong, just use a vise ive done it before and retighten the top nut
 
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Sounds like you got everything installed correctly. The top of the rod is a allen key hole. Stick an allen wrench to hold the rod from spinning while you tighten the nut. I would check the tires for uneven wears. If you have not had an alignment done, I would look into getting one too.
 
I installed those on my car, not much difference than the OEM I replaced, no too much bouncing, I tightened everything with an impact wrench and did not put much care on torque values.

Check the KYB manual, maybe there is something to check during pre-installation, even though I do not remember any.


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Viperi said:
how man miles were on your old shocks? its time to chnge mine next year. blah.
Click to expand...

You are gonna laugh..but I even have it on paper..shock damping action is good from local infiniti...144k miles and it really was good..key on was..not anymore. I might have gotten used to harsher ride, Indaily drive a GTR..

tires are new too, alignment I do need to do once the front struts are done.
 
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