Front Shocks, Lower Mounting

[Steve Faithful]

Gents
I'm at the tail end of my RAM build and have just noticed that my front SPAX shocks are not seated correctly to the lower rubber mount. I know this was not the case when they where originaly fitted, and although I have had the car up and down on the jack , it has not been more than a few Hundred Yards on its wheels.
have tried to buy shock mounts with fully bounded steel inserts, but can not get the correct size ( original jags have top mounts designed like this but the internal hole is to small for the lower mounting bolt)

is this a common problem ?

and can I cure it by adding washers either side of the lower mount to try to add some side load to the rubber mount ?

any one solved this problem in another way ( with out buying new shocks)?

Regards Steve.

[mylesdw]

Not quite sure of the exact problem, here is a picture of mine, any help?

[bitsilly]

I bought a second hand rolling chassis and changed the spax bushes to poly bushes. I had to use the spax metal inner insert though as the poly one was too long for the lower wishbone gap. It was a doddle. If you were stuck you could easily file or grind the poly supplied insert a little.
Ward sell them as a kit, can't see how anything else could be much stiffer for a light car and you'll have to take yours apart to add the washers anyway.
Perhaps yours were never sitting right and forced themselves out? My original ones were one piece so can't see how they could go out of shape without being duf.
Sorry but dont understand the problem very well and am beginning to whitter

[Dave Williams]

do you mean that the lower bush is not in line with the lower wishbone (i.e. when you look thro the wishbone hole the shock bush hole isn't in line). Means that getting the bolt thro the wishbone and bush is a bit problematic... havin said that they've been like that for 15yrs but are still ok..

[Steve Faithful]

Gents

Thanks for te info
Will look into Poly Bushs.

to explain the problem further -
the lower metal ring in the shock is nolonger aligned centraly with the lower rubber insert which is bolter to the lower wish bone, ie the rubber sticks out more one side than the other.

on Myles's Pic shows the lower bush is silver not black , is this a washer ?

Cheers
Steve

[mylesdw]

Originally Posted by Steve Faithful

on Myles's Pic shows the lower bush is silver not black , is this a washer ?
Steve

No, it's not a washer, must just be the bushing material that came with the damper, I have not changed anything in this area.

[russell_ram]

I meant to reply to this yesterday but forgot!

The reason the front damper lower rubbers 'walk' out of the damper is because of the slight offset (fore/aft) between the top and bottom damper mounts. As you ride over bumps, the damper tube walks along the rubber bush. It would happen at the top of the damper as well, but it's restrained by the plates that mount it to the chassis. The only fix for this is bushes bonded into the damper eyes. You have no way to do this succesfully as a DIY-er. Throw the damper away, it's too short anyway if you have the RAM advised length and a decent ride height (=low) and get a pair of dampers with rose jointed ends, and fit with some small spacer tubes to make up the difference. I can supply the specs I used if you want them. The ride/noise is not affected significantly enough for you to worry about.

You will have exactly them same issue at the rear, but here you can use thin spacers to line up the top and bottom mountings.

Russ

[dingocooke]

Mine uses stepped poly bushes which locates the shock, and solves it.

[bitsilly]

Russel, could you explain the length of the dampers issue a bit more? Are you saying the Ram advised set up is too high?
Thanks
Ed

[mylesdw]

Originally Posted by bitsilly

Russel, could you explain the length of the dampers issue a bit more? Are you saying the Ram advised set up is too high?
Thanks
Ed

This interests me too. Mine has a standard set-up and I would say it is too low. There is only about 4" under the oil cooler and it is quite easy to clout it on an uneven road. I was wondering about fitting some bump stops so that the suspension will bottom out before the body hits the ground.

Does anyone know what the design ride heights for that chassis are?