What's up with my old Spax dampers?

[Brock]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a thought about what's up with these old adjustable Spax dampers? They have Armstrong steel covers at the top. The spring isn't straight, and therefore rubs on the cover. The dampers are marked G310 (with no "R").

I presume if I compress the spring, I'll be able to turn the top collar to unlock it and the spring will come off.

I see nothing like this on the interwebs apart from complete Armstrong units.. I see no Spax (or similar) with such covers. The spring rubbing tells me something doesn't match. How do newer Spax dampers mount at the top?

They feel fine on the road and they don't have all that many miles.... but these curved springs are really bugging me.

Maybe it had a hard bottom-out at some point....

Thanks!

Addendum: Is the lower mount supposed to rotate freely in the A-arm? It was quite wedged in there when I removed it and I had to remove the aft lower arm. I wish I had the manual, but it's on the coast.

[alanr]

Looks to me like the problem is the spring not the damper? Do you believe it to be the correct length spring?
That spring looks very long to me, too many coils in it that is why it is having a bananna effect.

Alan.

[Brock]

I found a photo of an original Armstrong unit for Elan... Looks the same.

Disassembly is a head scratcher. Compress the cover until the retainer can slip out.... with a death defying setup.

The covers (and maybe the springs!) are dated 2/69.

[h20hamelan]

People have made a jig, for compressing.
I spend my time looking at the “photo gallery” expand to maximum (think its 500 pics per page) and just remember where you left off.
Almost the best waste/use of time available.

[Brock]

Yeah... Like this but with more leverage.

[alanr]

I fitted Spax adjustable front dampers when I replaced the originally fitted Armstrong dampers a couple of years ago and here is the tool I made to do the job..It worked well.

Alan.

[Brock]

Thanks!