Installing OME Struts - Align bottom of strut?

[potatofries]

Probably a silly question, but I am replacing my front struts on 3rd gen with OME/Bilstein 881. I ordered them preassembled. When I put the top three bolts of the new strut in, the bottom does not align with the lower mount. Looks to be about 10 degrees off?

Have tried both strut assemblies in all configurations.

Have also tried mounting the top and placing a screwdriver through the lower part of the assembly and twisting, but doesn't seem to have any give.

What am I doing wrong??

 

[JZiggy]

I would suggest googling assembling struts without compressor method. It’s easy but you need to mark your cam tabs and be prepared to unbolt your balljoint.

Sounds like they were assembled incorrectly. You can fix it with this method.

 

[potatofries]

Thanks. I was actually able to squeeze a skinny socket wrench in the bottom of the strut and get enough torque to align it properly. One took a LOT of torque (like maybe 100lbs) while the second one moved pretty easily.

I would have hated to have to take off abd recompress the springs as I paid $150 to avoid that headache (and scariness).

Anyway, if others have this issue, they will rotate if you get something in the bottom where the bolt goes, but may take more brute force than feels comfortable at first.

 

[Skulking]

Thanks. I was actually able to squeeze a skinny socket wrench in the bottom of the strut and get enough torque to align it properly. One took a LOT of torque (like maybe 100lbs) while the second one moved pretty easily.

I would have hated to have to take off abd recompress the springs as I paid $150 to avoid that headache (and scariness).

Anyway, if others have this issue, they will rotate if you get something in the bottom where the bolt goes, but may take more brute force than feels comfortable at first.

I'd double check that the top nuts on both shocks are properly torqued after that. It's possible that you unscrewed them some as you rotated the shock.