redneck1545 Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) I'm almost finished with my coil-over install. I have stripped and painted all of the front suspension parts and springs. I ran into one more question and hopefully Johnc can chime in here and give some input. When I measured the length to cut out of the strut I used the old gland nut on the upper strut tube housing. The nissan glad nut is longer in depth as well as has more threads than the one Tokico provides. With the addition of a 1/8" thick washer at the bottom of the strut tube I can get the needed "crush" on the strut within the housing when the nissan gland nut is torqued down properly. The Tokico gland nut does not screw in as far and is not as long as the nissan one I used to measure. When I screw in the tokico gland nut the strut has about 3/8" of play before its seated in the top of the gland nut. The tokico gland nut has a recessed grove that fits fairly tight to the circumfrenece of the tokico strut and prevents any wobble on the top side of the strut once it is torqued down. In hindsight I could have cut off about an additional 1/4" ish of the top of the strut tube housing and taken up this extra slack If I would have used the supplied tokico gland nut to do my measure ments with. But now that the tubes are already welded and painted I've settled on simply adding a spacer at the bottom of the strut housing to take up the slack. My question is in regards to which gland nut to use. Would it be better to use the old nissan nut and my 1/8" washer I had planned on in the beggining, or would it be wise to use the tokico supplied nut with the proper grove for the strut itself and fab up a larger washer and have the assurance the strut will not wobble in the housing? The strut will sit about 3/8" higher in the housing if I built a spacer for the bottom of the strut and use the tokico nut. Edited January 18, 2012 by redneck1545 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneck1545 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 No opinions? O, Johnc where art thou??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzydicerule Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Are you using a Ground control kit or one you pieced together? Im interested to see How this rides and handles, im looking into do either the Illuminas or Bilstein P30's and either a GC kit or piecing my own together (leaning towards the latter on both) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneck1545 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 I pieced together my own kit. I just dont like to buy something in a kit just because all the leg work has been done before by someone else and they are selling a "kit" to ease the install. All of these parts can be bought for cheaper off of racing websites and they are all made out of the same material. You have a much higher freedom of choices with piecing together something on your own such as choosing spring lengths/rates, sleeve lengths and anodizing color, and the best part is its CHEAPER! I have about 450.00 in my setup because I bought second hand struts, springs, and sleeves with brand new top hats and camber plates from techno toy tuning. The GC "kit" only includes springs, sleeves, and perches. I only have about 150.00 wrapped up in those parts. The ride and handling will be the same as anyone else with that particular spring rate setup 250/225 lbs with tokico HP struts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I've had to deal with this same issue. I would use the Tokico gland nut since it is made for your inserts. Save all gland nuts because they are hard to find when you need one. If you need more space, many struts cartridges have a little cup welded to the bottom of the cartridge (tube). I have had to grind that little cup down to create the proper length to make the strut tube, cartridge and gland nut all work together. The converse is true as well: I've had to put fender washers or even cut sections of steel tube in the bottom of the tube to add to the length. It all needs to fit and fit tightly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Use the Tokico gland nut as Keith mentions. I save old gland nuts and put them in the tops of empty struts I have lying on shelves or when I send struts out to the powder coater. If you ever dent the top of a strut its a buttload of work to get the dent out and fix the threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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