jhoeppel

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/65932/lowershockmount.jpg"></center><p>
While changing my Haldex juice today, I noticed that the mounting bolt for my right-side rear lower shock appears to have a much greater gap than the one on the left side.

I replace the sway bar links a few weeks ago, and torqued the bolts to the same 110 Nm (81 lb-ft) with the wheels on the ground. I rechecked the torque on the right side again today and it appears Ok, but the gap between the <b>suspension arm</b> and the <b>shoulder of the big bolt</b> is 29mm on the driver's side and 35mm on the passenger side.

What's up? Would the TT wizards suggest removal and re-installation of this bolt?

~john

TToneSpasm

I noticed a jack stand in your pic. Did you have both sides on stands when you took the measurements? I would guess that when torqued it wouldn't account for the diff, but it might be worth a look.

If the measurements were taken with both wheels on the ground (or both wheels off the ground), then have you checked to make sure one side isn't cross-threaded?

jhoeppel

I suppose the right side could be cross-threaded, but given the warnings about this I hand-threaded both bolts in pretty far with my fingers before snugging anything up.

I guess I'll have to pull that side apart and redo it to check for sure.

TToneSpasm

John: Measured mine on the ground from just inside the head of the bolt to the inside of the metal bushing housing at the bottom of the shock. In both cases it was 41mm.

Your pic shows you measuring from the inside head of the bolt to inside of the rubber bushing that fits inside the metal housing at bottom of the shock. Try measuring metal to metal and see what you get. Interestingly, I measured one side from the inside head of the bolt to the inside of the rubber bushing and the diff is 6mm, which coincidentally is equal to the diff you got.

Are you sure you are taking the same measurement on each side? Please don't be offended by the question... I recently took a hammer to a breaker bar to loosen a bolt and then realized I was tightening it ha ha duh.

jhoeppel

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/65932/lowershockmount-both.1.jpg"></center><p>
Not entirely sure where you're suggesting I measure so I measured again, wheels on the ground this time using the same spot on the metal shock housing. I show both sides in this (new) picture. You can see that the measurements are different side to side, about 5 mm difference. And it's clear in this picture that the rubber bushing of the sway bar link on the right side is not seated fully flush to the shock.

I'm thinking I need to disassemble the right side and carefully reassemble it to make sure the bushings are all seated right and hope the numbers match this time.

Thanks for your advice and measurements.
~john

TToneSpasm

Driver side looks good. I agree with you that the link bushing on the passenger side doesn't look like it's seated properly against the shock.

Milpower

inside the hole stopping the bolt from going all the way through. Debris of some sort?

Just a thought.

jhoeppel

I'll find out next weekend when I disassemble, I guess \_Q_/