RCE Tarmac 2 - top nut adjustment

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Resurrecting this thread for my new (to me) Tarmac 2.
I believe that OP was indeed talking about the external hex part on the top, not the internal 2mm hex (Allen key hole) for the rebound click adjustment.

Looking closely at the top of the shaft, the threaded portion and the external hex are one piece, so when torquing down the top nut what you don't want spinning is exactly that one piece part. Holding it steady with a deep socket seems like the correct approach, with the strap wrench method being an improvised solution. This was also my experience with my BMW rear shocks and also matches a few online guides on KW adjustable coilover installation for other makes.

The front external hex is 9mm, while the rear is 8mm. The top nut is 17mm on both front (re-using the stock one) and rear (using the two jam nuts RCE provide). My 17mm pass through socket will work fine with a deep 8mm socket inside it to get the rears torqued, but for the front the 9mm socket is a little too big. My passthrough sockets have a small lip holding a leaf spring that pushes on the retaining BB. I drilled that lip to 1/2" (the largest drill bit I had on hand) and then ground it some more with a Dremel, and now the 9mm deep socket fits through it. My passthrough socket set is a cheap one from Harbor Freight, and I only ever used it for suspension work like this so I'm fine with a bit of tool mutilation.

@Racecomp Engineering can you confirm that this is indeed the case?

[Racecomp Engineering]

That should be fine, just be careful.

- Andrew

[MrSkubi]

Here's KW tech document for their camber plate installation if anyone want's confirmation that using socket on top of actual shaft instead of strap wrench is proper torquing technique for those parts.
https://docs.kwsuspension.de/eah68510179.pdf
It's actually the same what Ohio Enthusiast has shown in post #15
Quick update from me regarding removal of KW 22mm top hat nut: It was easier for me to use o2 sensor 22mm socket instead of pass through one due to longer handle on first one. The amount of thread locker on shaft threaded part was crazy for one side and with short handled pass through or regular 22 open wrench it felt like it's not going to move.