02WRX Struts on 94ss CLUNK

[Damon]

Okay so I put a set of wrx struts on the rear of my 94ss and it seems they changed over the top hat but did not put the shim in. Does the shim go directly under the nut or do I have to remove the whole setup and use a spring compressor and tear down the whole setup?

[PhyrraM]

You will most likely need to compress the spring to get the tophat off. The washers/spacers go under the tophat.

[log1call]

Don't try taking that nut off without a compressor on the spring. The weight of the car will be enough to prevent you being hurt but you will have trouble geting the nut back on anyway.
Compressors come in a set of two for just a few bucks these days. Get a set of those (with the money you are going to save by doing it yourself), take the strut out, and the job will be simple and safe. Once you have them you will have them for years and it will make jobs on the suspension simple.

[ericem]

I made the same error. What I did was get washers bigger then the threads and screw it down. I think I put 2 or 3 washers on each tophat in the rear. You need to find the right size though. Should be larger then the hole the shaft goes in.

[Damon]

I'll take a look at it this weekend. I need to replace a ball joint too while I'm getting dirty.

[Primeza]

I put two 9/16" washers above the tophat, between the tophat and the top nut. It seemed to me the right way to do it because my stock struts had a smaller washer in the same place. You might need a different washer because mine were KYBs. I would think the shaft would be the same in which case they should work. The KYBs do have a larger top nut.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=39225