Beep_09

Hey, so we didn't quite finish tonight. The front right CV joint came off when doing that one ...which should not have happened. So, I am getting two new CV joints tomorrow to do the front. We did finish the rear and dropped it down...............but it is still way way too high. Is there a settling period or something cuz I am kind of worried. They are USDM pinks and KYB struts off an 06 WRX TR. I'm really worried that the ride height is still so high. I mean I can fit my whole hand plus some in there and there should only be like 2-3 fingers tops.

Anyone please tell me what the heck is going on. Do I just need to drive on it some to settle them in to the proper ride height?

Beep_09

Thread Starter

I'm sitting on 225/45/R17 O.Z. Prodrives and I just measured from the ground to the fender arch.........wait for it.......29 inches

stan_t

Take pictures. Are you sure the struts are not Forester fitment? Tophats bolted down all the way? No, it will not settle much, something is not right.

Stan

__________________
Shocks > struts.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

Don't have time right now to take pictures...heading off to the Pacquaio fight but yes something is not right. We definitely made sure we bolted everything down tight. Yeah the suspension came out of a wrecked 06 WRX TR and they have the USDM pink springs on them. Everything looks legit on the suspension.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

Did I need to swap the tophat from the forester onto the WRX suspension? I thought they were interchangeable so we did not. It seemed very straightforward and no real issues until we dropped it and then...no drop.

fircrest

No need to swap tophats, I say get the fronts installed then snap some pictures. Then hopefully we can diagnose something for you. How did it look on the WRX?

Also, were these a complete take-off as in you never took the hats or springs off? Did you just take them off the WRX then install on the Foz?

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Giant 29er - 04 FXT MT - 61 Studebaker Lark

Beep_09

Thread Starter

I bought them off of Craigslist, but from what the guy told me they sat lower than stock wrx ride height on the wrx they came from. And yes they were complete and we did not mess with them. Just a straight swap from the FXT struts to these.

I should be able to throw some pictures up this afternoon hopefully. We have to change the front CV joints before we can finish the front suspension.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

Beep's JBP FXT Build

Pictures posted on my journal...don't want to duplicate efforts. You can see how high it looks. Buddy is coming over now to finish off the CV and front suspension. It snowed a butt ton last night, so this should be fun in a cold garage.

fraktal

did you compare the lengths of the strut assemblies before install by chance? are you sure the wrx stuff is assembled 100% correctly? like stan said, something doesn't sound right.

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2004 FXT Stg2 6MT DCCDPro R180 5x114.3

Meeners

Wait... U didn't swap the front suspension yet? Of course it's sitting high... Swap the front suspension.

stan_t

Front suspension doesn't have much to do with it. Something isn't right, it should be good 2-3 inches lower. It looks like stock Forester suspension in that shot.

When you swapped the suspension, did you have the whole rear in the air or did you lift one side, swap, then do the other side? I wonder if something is binding, not allowing the car to rest on the suspension.

Stan

__________________
Shocks > struts.

crxgator

maybe the strut is bent causing it not to lower completely? you did buy it from a wrecked car...

jstawgn

Make sure the swaybar end link are not flipped during the install? It happened to me before and cause one end to sit high like that.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

I had the entire car up in the air all at once w/ a jack stand on each corner. Both sides are sitting at the same height even though i only shot a picture of one side. Should I look up the serial number on the strut...would that tell me if it is indeed a forester strut?

Beep_09

Thread Starter

I'm not 100% positive. To my untrained eye everything looked in order.