Rear damper fixing

[StoatWithToast]

Hi,

Tried to fit the rear shocks back on at the weekend - fun all round as the bodywork means getting in with spring compressors is almost impossible. Gave up in the end.

BUT my dad and my wife both can't believe the top of the shock is held in place over the lotacone with nothing more than a nut.

All diagrams say it is only a nut, but can anybody confirm this doesn't need a washer?

Cheers,

Dave

[john.p.clegg]

Dave

Yep,it's a nut-special 026 D 0011Z and unobtainium,the way I fixed mine was to use some stainless lock-wire wrapped around a brush stale through the split pin holes,winding the damper rod up via the brush handle while with the left hand (R-H Corner) slowly letting the body down to compress the spring....not easy...

John

[oldelanman]

Hi Dave,
If you have the original rear dampers the special nut that John refers to has a shoulder on the bottom which centres the damper shaft through the lotocone mount and is castellated for a split pin. Replacement damper inserts have a smaller diameter rod (metric Vs imperial) and use a plain nyloc nut particularly because adjustable units have the adjuster in the centre of the rod so a split pin can't be used. I believe that most replacement dampers are supplied with a top hat spacer collar which goes under the lock nut, mine had none so I got some made up.

Regards,

[Allison]

Dave, all
yes just a simple nut does the trick quite happily but I've not come across these top hat spacers - never seemed to need them.
There are differences between shock absorbers - particularly in the nut which contains the shock absorber into the cylinder. The Spax was no problem but with the Konis I had to get some shims made up so the shock absorber was firm and didn't rattle around.

You should be ok with standard spring clamps so long as you use two (not three) and have standard diameter springs - lowering the car onto the suspension just doesn't seem to work!

The other option which we have on the rally car is to go for a Spyder chassis with reinforced rear turrets and narrow springs. I assemble the springs to Lotocone off car then bolt the Lotocone into the turret. Won't work with the standard springs as you can't get to the bolts. Another point is to cut yourself a hole in the rear parcel shelf so you can get at that top nut without removing the rear screen. I use speaker covers to camouflage the hole.

Peter

[Uboat]

Hi,
Me too had problems to fit the damper rod.
The way I did it was to first compress the spring, then fit the spring to the strut, then place the top plate on the compressed spring and then push the rod through the top plate and finally I raise the strut bolted to the wishbone to get the rod through the lotocone. However I found it impossible to fit the top ttr spacers and still get the rod all the way through as it is very difficult to get a good grip of the rod. Is there any way of doing this?

I also believe that the guy who invented damper adjustment by the top of the rod is no genius, as you need to remove the back seats as well as the parcel shelf in order to adjust stiffness.

/Ulf

[andyelan]

Hi Dave

Probably too late for you now but with standard suspension the trick is this. When taking the suspension strut off the car, put the spring clamps/compressors on before jacking up the corner, then once the springs are off, leave the clamps in place untill you are ready to re-assemble the suspension, only then remove them once the weight is back on the wheel. If you don't do this the problem is that the springs are so long in their free state compressing them back to a suitable length for refitting is really tricky. Also, if the clamps are kept in the same position as they were before the springs were removed from the car, then you know they won't be in the way when time comes for re-fitting.

As far as the damper rod is concerned, I found that pushing the bump stop down and pulling the rod up through it was sufficient to hold the rod untill I coud get the nut on

Regards
Andy

[512BB]

Ulf, All,

The way I thread the damper rod through the lotocone to get it far enough through the cone to get the nut on, is to do as Andy does, with spring compressors and a jack under the strut housing, steel part, but then I cut up a wire coat hanger, or pref here's one I finished earlier, and feed that through the split pin hole, on koni's anyway, then double the wire up, and feed both lengths through the cone. Start jacking to raise the strut and damper as far as you can go, pulling the wires through the cone as well. When you cant go any higher with the jack, bend the wires round a sturdy pair of pliers or metal bar and pull up the rod. You only need a couple of threads to show through the cone to be able to get the nut on, and as Roger says, most nuts have a shoulder on them that centralises the rod, but not all. Simples. Works every time.

Leslie

[reb53]

Or, as a variation on a theme, you could do what I've done on all the rear dampers I've had over the years.
Drill and tap a small hole into the top of the damper shafts. Thread a piece of rod about 50cm long and bend a simple handle on the end.
When it's time to pull the shocker up into place you put the rod through the nut, down through the cone, screw it into the shaft and pull away. It's strong enough that you can pull, push, and wriggle it every which way until the top of the shaft comes up through the cone, at which point you thread the nut on and smugly wonder why so many people have a problem.....

(Mind you, I can see you'll have a problem if you don't have a drop head like me).

Cheers
Ralph.

[StoatWithToast]

Thanks!

These are TTR units with just a locknut.

We managed to fit them yesterday, but adjusting them will be fun! We need to replace the parcel shelf anyway as it broke on removal and had slight water damage to the wood, so we'll put access slots in.

They are also set differently the one that went in the passenger side was really resistive to being pulled out, went back in more easily. The drivers side life's a lot easier (with just the weight of the upright). I guess I have to adjust them both to one end of the settings to match them (I really hope that's the case and not that they are broken!)

Also managed to fit the MM CV joint conversion yesterday too; it's starting to come together (only taken 7 months so far!)

[69S4]

They are also set differently the one that went in the passenger side was really resistive to being pulled out, went back in more easily. The drivers side life's a lot easier (with just the weight of the upright). I guess I have to adjust them both to one end of the settings to match them (I really hope that's the case and not that they are broken!)

I had one of the std non adjustable dampers seize up on me a couple of years ago and the handling was err, interesting! Not only that but the ride over road bumps was literally teeth jarring; I hit some potholes and the transmitted shock banged my teeth together.

I replaced both with some Spax adjustables and just guessed the settings - somewhere in the middle of the range but making sure they were both the same. There didn't seem to be a huge difference between max and min though - not compared to the effect of adjustment on the WP damper fitted to my CCM trail bike where the range goes from just short of solid down to "is there any damping at all?" over 13 clicks.