We've had a few of our A4/M6/M12 differential strut customers call to ask how to adjust the 4 differential strut rods on our product because they were confused about a couple of things, so we wanted to publically post the strut rod adjustment procedures here so that everyone has a chance to reveiw them.

First and formost- Please follow ALL of the installation instructions we include with each kit EXACTLY as we describe, otherwise you'll assume the risk of differential damage/gear whine if over-tightening of the strut rod group occurs. Some folks have called us and stated that they thought "since some is good, more must be better" when tightening the strut rods! This obviously deviates from our original installation instructions and once they did, they soon found their gear sets whining shortly after and some had even broken the actual case of the differential itself by severely over-tightening the strut rods over and above what we specify. DO NOT DO THIS!

Here is an exerpt from our installation instructions regarding proper differential strut rod adjustment procedures and sequence:

Strut Rod Pre-Load Adjustment-
Please follow the pre-load adjustment instructions EXACTLY as we describe here to avoid any possible differential/transmission damage with this products installation.
1. Adjust all four strut rods to a static ZERO-lash first by HAND until they are JUST snug, making sure they are PULLING THEMSELVES TOGETHER during your adjustment procedure.
2. The proper adjustment sequence is: pass. upper right, driver upper left, driver lower left, pass. lower right.
3. After ZERO-lash adjustment is complete, tighten each respective strut rod IN SEQUENCE 1 full turn past ZERO-lash in ½-turn tightening increments, in sequence until 1 full turn is reached.
DO NOT adjust the pre-load rods tighter than 1 full turn past ZERO-lash or differential damage/gear whine WILL occur. Once ZERO-lash has been completed for each rod, DO NOT further adjust to ZERO-lash as you proceed through the adjustment sequence even though pre-load rod may “feel” loose before final tightening is completed. These steps are ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL!
4. Lock down each respective pre-load rod jam nut at each Hiem joint stud.
Follow this step for all four main strut rods in prescribed sequence and when you are complete, each respective pre-load strut rod should have tightened up smoothly and evenly.


If you've recently installed our differential strut and the differential whines shortly after, you've over-tightened the strut rods and we suggest you loosen them and re-adjust them again properly...

You can rest at ease in knowing that we performed a LOT of engineering on this product before it was ever released to the public over two years ago and we've traveled down every conceivable road that you may/or may not encounter in the future regarding it's proper installation and/or use in a multitude of applications. When it's installed/adjusted properly, the kit is VERY effective at preventing differential/transmission damage in HP use with NO negative effects on the driveline in any fashion.

Hope this helps for some of you folks, so motor on!


Best Regards,
DTE

 

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Guys, can this be adjusted if it's already on the car?

 

Bump for you Phil

 

Yes.

 

Yes, it's dead trivial. Once it's in the air adjustment should take quite a bit less than an hour, if you're taking your time.

 

Last time bump for everyone.