I am at my wit's end, trying to seat the front strut into the steering knuckle on the passenger side. The driver's side went in without a problem. The passenger side knuckle slides up the strut fine until the last 1/8" when one edge of the knuckle touches the lip of the strut before being fully seated. The result is a small ridge inside the pinch bolt hole that prevents the bolt from passing through. I have tried smacking the knuckle with a dead blow hammer from all angles. Wiggling and cursing at it does nothing as well. I have slid it back down and tried 3x more, and each time the same point of contact prevents me from declaring the job done and grabbing a cold beer.

What else can I try? I have a spreader on the way, but doubtful that will help as the angle that the strut enters the knuckle, but only at the very tail end. Someone, please give me that magic tip to make this work.

 

Am I missing something? Those all look seated to me.

 

That’s the frustrating part. If you look down the bore you can see the ridge of the strut. That little bit prevents the bolt from slipping through.

 

I had a similar issue with mine and I discovered that the bottom of the bolt attachment tap had moved up slightly during the process of getting the shock down into place. I just used a punch and shoved it through to open the tab slot and that worked fine.

 

this comment right here! Thank you! I used a punch to rest on the ridge and was able to tap the ridge down. You were right that the tab must have gotten caught outside the slot and bent up. Pinch bolt through and now I can wrap up the job. I’d buy you a beer if I could.