Strut reassembly questions

[sheetsofsound]

Putting the front struts together. Three questions:
1) Should the bump stops ride up and down on the shock absorber shaft?
The old ones did. The hole in the top of the new ones is way too small and would need to be cut open in order to fit. It is not even close to the shaft diameter of the new shock.

2) Should I lubricate the cone and/or dished washer?
I haven't heard anyone suggest this, but there was dried out grease on both sets of cones I dismantled.

3) The new bushes are poly. I read someplace that they will squeak if not lubricated. What lubricant, if any should I use?

Thanks for any input. I did a search on these topics and came up with nothing that answered these questions.

[FI Spyder]

Answer to 1: Doesn't matter, it works when shock compressed which be at the top so if it stays up there that's fine.

Answer to 2: If you are using bearings they should take the weight. I would grease them any ways. If you aren't using bearing for sure you should grease them.

Answer to 3: Some poly comes pre lubricated. I lubricate it any ways with some clear (translucent) synthetic grease I got from local auto parts store (comes in a tube for use in grease gun).

When you put on the top nut on the strut (the one you had trouble taking of the one) use Loctite to keep it there.

[sheetsofsound]

Thank you for the quick response. Another question:
Any suggestions for holding the dished washer while tightening up the nyloc nut to the specified torque? A screwdriver isn't going to do it.

[darrellw]

Thank you for the quick response. Another question:
Any suggestions for holding the dished washer while tightening up the nyloc nut to the specified torque? A screwdriver isn't going to do it.

Large pair of channel lock pliers. Do the final torque with them on the car and weight on the suspension, that helps.

[saabfast]

To tighten the top nuts I just use the battery impact driver that I use to remove them. I also have never used Loctite with Nyloc nuts but probably would not do any harm. Mine have never come loose (rebuilt twice over the years) but maybe I don't drive it hard enough.

[mak]

For the top nut, I made a C Spanner from a section of angle iron, cut back one side to leave the depth of the slot plus 0.5mm, cut back either side to leave two 'teeth', cut a round section out for your socket and you have yourself a special tool.