Adjustable strut rods making terrible sound 74 Swinger

OK, based on his comments sure sounded similar to my problem, except for the squeak vs rattle.


Tightened to spec, same rattle. If the QA1 strut rod end fits into the LCA loosely, then what does it tighten against to keep it from rattling? The strut rod shoulder presses against the strut loop on the LCA and the head of the bolt from the other side is all that it tightens against. Sorry, don't understand that. I will admit ignorance here, but I tried working with it and it just did not get happy.


I actually replaced everything on the front end at the same time, including getting Dr Diff front disc brake spindles & calipers. There is a little rattling from the driver side but most comes from the passenger side. As the OP said, bouncing the car does not produce the noise. In my case, when the car is in motion at low speeds I hear it. Coming to a stop the car sounds like a rattle trap. Everything seems tight. Verified the brake pad tabs were firmly against the caliper slide so they would not rattle. That was the first thing I checked.

A "squeak" and a "rattle" are caused by two different issues. Squeaks are generally caused by friction, two parts sliding against one another. A rattle is caused by something intermittently hitting something else, two parts coming into mechanical contact and then separating. Both can be caused by a loose part, but it's two different issues.

You're thinking about the QA1 strut rods all wrong. The double adjuster goes through the LCA, the shoulder of the double adjuster sits against the LCA and the nut on the other side sets the tension of the shoulder of the adjuster against the LCA. You can literally install just the double adjuster by itself with the LCA on the bench and torque the rear nut and never touch it again, it's not part of the adjustment process. Now the strut rod barrel spins on the other end of the double adjuster and the jam nut sets that. But the shoulder of the double adjuster against the LCA is unaffected, only the torque on the nut changes that tension. And properly torqued that double adjuster will not move or spin and it certainly shouldn't rattle unless it's completely loose.

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Based on your description, I seriously doubt it's your strut rods making that noise. But since you changed everything in the suspension at once, you will have to through the entire suspension one part at a time to figure out where it's coming from.

No one knows but you! LOL

I didn't say I knew what was making his noise. But he doesn't have any idea if he has the same problem, and he shouldn't assume it's the same as the OP's because their descriptions are completely different.

You certainly have no idea either, just like you don't understand that a teflon lined heim joint that's under tension shouldn't make any noise. Once again, just because you can't do it doesn't mean it can't be done. 100k street miles with adjustable strut rods, and mine don't make noise. And they shouldn't.