First, I apologize if this has been covered, but my searches yielded no results...

I have a 2001 Outback and replaced the struts last year. The original coils were loaded onto new front struts. Instantly I started hearing popping from the front end while turning all the way to lock in either direction. The car often pulls (sometimes horribly) in the direction of the last turn.

I believe the sound is coming from the front suspension coils. I jacked the front end up and had a friend turn the wheel from lock to lock, while touching the coils, the popping noise coincided with vibration in the coils. I feel like they are not turning freely and may be binding in tight turning.

The end of the coil terminates in the perch at the correct spot, and the top is not accessible visually or by feel while installed.  It appears to be installed correctly.

I am curious if any one has any ideas on how I can fix this, my intuition points me to:

1) possibly these struts were installed incorrectly, or swapped sides?
2) strut mounts have failed, or were torqued incorrectly?
3) the struts installed were for the wrong vehicle, perches not aligning? (Non OEM part?)

Any help would be appreciative, thanks in advance.

Sounds like the Cone washers were installed upside down.

 

There's a cone shaped washer at sits on top of the upper spring plate, the small end of the cone points up toward the bearing in the strut mount.

If the cone is installed upside down, it hits outer race of the bearing and causes the strut to bind.

Sounds like the Cone washers were installed upside down.

 

There's a cone shaped washer at sits on top of the upper spring plate, the small end of the cone points up toward the bearing in the strut mount.

If the cone is installed upside down, it hits outer race of the bearing and causes the strut to bind.

Interesting... I will have to tear into it tomorrow and take a look.  Can the cone be inspected while installed?  Is the cone washer between the upper coil perch and the shaft nut?

 

Thanks a ton....

Gotta take it apart to actually see it, but you can easily tell once the strut is removed from the car.

The upper mount should spin freely. If it doesn't spin, it's because something is binding with the mount, and that's usually the cone washer.

Gotta take it apart to actually see it, but you can easily tell once the strut is removed from the car.

The upper mount should spin freely. If it doesn't spin, it's because something is binding with the mount, and that's usually the cone washer.

Awesome, I'm literally tearing it apart in minutes, so I should know soon.  I have a stupid question, do I need an alignment after yanking the strut?

absolutely correct, the conical washer was under the spring perch, not on top.  Thanks for the help