Tokico shock set-up question

[John Greenslade]

I installed new Tokico shocks and springs in my shock towers last night and have what may be a dumb question. There does not seem to be anything holding the shock cartridge stable in the shock tower. I added some oil to the tower as suggested in my rebuild book, screwed in the new "Gland packing nut", depressed the coil spring and reassembled the strut tower. The spring doesn't seem "tight" and I am curious what prevents the entire shock cartridge from moving instead of just the plunger. I am assuming when I reinstall the shock tower in the car that the weight of the vehicle will compress the spring and shock, but as the cartidge is not held firmly in vertical place will it not move up and down - slamming into the tower base- as one goes over bumps. The original 240 set-up shows a shock bearing, o-rings, and other items that would hold everything firm. I am assuming the use of the new cartridge eliminates the need for these items - they weren't in the cartridges I removed- but it still seems to me there will be play in the cartridge inside the shcok tower. Trust this makes sense.

[gramercyjam]

If your new tokico shocks can move up and down in the strut after tightening up the gland nut, something is wrong. How much can they move? An inch? two inches? The correct tokico shock will not move up and down in the strut when installed in the strut. Sometimes, a spacer/washer is required between the shock and gland nut to take up the slack, but that is maybe only 1/16" thick. Perhaps you got the wrong shock model number for your Z?

 

--John

[CruxGNZ]

You probably have the right Tokico's. What I have found is that there is 2 or 3 different gland nuts. Each one is different, by that I mean each one will allow more or less room inside the strut tube when the gland nut is tightened down. I would use some large washers placed inside at the bottom of the strut tube to raise the cartridge up to allow the gland nut to hold the cartidge in place.

 

!M!

[Guest Anonymous]

240 set up(?) You want that cartridge firmly secured by the gland nut and if no more than a 1/2 inch is slopping around with the gland nut tight, use spacers as Matt sugestted. There were some gland nuts that had a thick washer inside to take up the slack...

[Heavy Z]

If you have alot of slop I'd check first to make sure you have the right strut cartrige for the Z. If you do, another fix is to cut some 1 1/2" exhaust pipe and use that as your spacer.

 

Heavy Z