I just bought a 1985 Subaru GL hatchback. The guy who had this car bifore me changed the left strut. Now there's not really any mounting at the top of the strut, it just kinda sits there, and is fine with the weight of the car on it. But if the car is raised, then the strut falls out of its little bucket there. Here's pics to explain what I mean:

 

This is the left side in normal position: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1673&stc=1

 

Now if the car is raised it falls down like so:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1672&stc=1

 

This is the right side for some sort of reference:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1674&stc=1

 

So I don't drive the car raised up, but if I'm offroad or hitting a lot of bumps, is this lack of top mounting going to start causing problems?

My guess is yes it's going to start causing some problems, and if it comes dislodged while driving at 60mph could end up being extremely dangerous. (Imagine your strut falling out enough to get jammed up someplace else, say through the side of your engine, tire, etc.. that may be extreme but you never know) Plus it will start hammering the heck out of the mounting points. I may be wrong but if it's not bolted down at the top then it's essentially not doing any good anyways. Bolt that sucker down one way or another.

i agree, thats a major part, that basicaly holds your wheel on. i have to imagine its not doing anything when the wheel goes down, just free travel.

very dangerous. you need a new one of these:

 

http://www.partsamerica.com/PartDetails.asp?SourceArea=&SourcePage=SEARCHRESULTS&MfrCode=MON&MfrPartNumber=902931&PartType=1352&PTSet=A

What has happened here is that the rubber has broken away from the mount. With the part that Mick show'd ya you can fix this problem. You haven't driven it like this have you? Can be very scary if you have, cause lotsa vibration and pretty much feel like the whole front it is going to fall out, (basically has already). I kinda find it a little funny though, cause the same thing happened to my Brat a couple weeks ago on it's last weelin trip.

Dang. This is that $100 hatch I got a little while ago. I traded it to my friends here (nice to see you, Andrew!) for a motorcycle. The guy I got it from said he had welded some sort of collar onto it or something as the old one had rusted out and broken. Seemed solid and drove OK when I had it but I never jacked up the car. Andrew drove to Minnesota and back with it like this!

 

They're working on it out in my garage. Hopefully we can get it put right before they drive to Belize.

All that needs to be done here is to replace the strut top. This requires a spring compressor and a new or used strut top.

All that needs to be done here is to replace the strut top. This requires a spring compressor and a new or used strut top.

Hi Ken~!

 

Good to see you back:)

ummmm notice something wrong here guys like the top doesn't have the rubber showing like the normal ones do like his right side one?

 

for instance:

 

this is the left side

 

 

and this is the right side

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so what is wrong with this picture?

 

 

and glad to see you back Ken was wondering where you went off to

our 4wd conversion sedan blew out a strut cap baja'n. we replaced it and it happened again. it turned out to be a bad strut which was tearing out the strut cap

The difference in the pics is that the one side has the rubber/plastic plug and the other side doesn't. It doesn't affect the integritiy of the strut at all.

 

Good point Miles! A strut that has too much travel or is worn out will allow more stresses on the strut top which could result in failure.

so the girl was sure vibrating a lot over 60mph. after I posted this, I got the wheels balanced and aligned, and now there's little vibration at 70mph. After thought and observation, I've come to realize the strut doesn't move at all on roads. The previous owner seems to have welded a collar onto the top of the housing so the strut top would have a place to sit, and it does sit, snugly. I found a prototype collar in the car. I'm still not sure this is going to work well if I go way off road but if thats the case I'll just jimmy something to stop the strut from dropping.

 

But in the mean time, the cars developed some squeaking, so I've got to look into wheel bearings and axle shafts.

 

the headlights noticed in thread http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22798

were connected up wrong. the passenger outer headlight was burned out so the guy just changed the connectors. its been corrected.

 

after fixing the squeak next up: paint job.