AST top mounts on LEDAs

[stevie_b]

I've finally got around to fitting the AST top mounts onto my LEDAs.

I remember others saying that the nut can foul the anodised part of the mount, so after I fitted mine I just rocked the steering back and forward to full lock to check and that was already enough that the top of the nut put two dents into the ring on the mount. Can anyone confirm that I have fitted everything in the correct order and it is just poor design of the mount/wrong nut that is giving rise to this damage being caused...

I have got the nut, then the anodised mount, then a collar type thing then my LEDAs as shown in the picture below. I can't see how I could have got these in the wrong order...



I'm left with the two pieces pictured in the row below the nut, mount, collar, strut left over as 'spares'. One is a top hat which I guess is for the spring size on a standard Williams shock, which I won't need as I have the correct top hat for the Eibach springs on my strut already. The other part is some kind of plastic spacer thing that looks like it might marry up with that top hat, but it doesn't locate into anything on mine so I have left that part out too. Does that sound correct? Am I just going to have to live with dents/anodisation being removed from the ring inside the mount, or is there a solution to this problem (I think the consensus when I asked over a year ago was that I already had the 'improved' nut design)?

[Wobba]

Any help?

[stevie_b]

Maybe - I think I have concluded I am missing an orange, or is it a satsuma?!?!

I have a top hat on my Ledas already (as they use larger diameter springs), so don't think I need the one that came with the ASTs. The plastic spacer thing seems to slot into that, so I don't think I need that either. The metal sleeve thing I have used and that seems to slot in nicely into the Leda top hat, and then the top of that locates nicely into the anodised mount. That all seems fine and dandy. The bit I am having trouble with is the nut fouling the top of the mount. I don't really see how I could have got that wrong as it just screws down againt the mount, so the distance is fixed. I think either the nut should be taller, so the hex part sits higher in the mount and won't foul it, or the hex part should be smaller or something. There was discussion in the past about the 'correct newer design nut' so does it look like that is the one I have from my pictures? It is mainly cylindrical with a 21mm nut on just the top section, which has slightly chamfered edges to the top and bottom of each of the six points on the nut. The points of the nut still slightly push into the anodised ring on the mount and cause 'dents'. This is just during trial fitment and rotating the steering between locks, so I'm sure if I drove it round a lot I'd end up with a fair bit of damage from multiple dents.

[Wobba]

That nut is the old design. The second version failed for me as the thread inside the locking nut didn't go down far enough to get purchase on the strut thread.

I am currently using another version obtained from Cliokongen. Only using one though at mo as I damaged the thread on the other side and need it fixed.

[Wobba]

I know someone else chamfered the old nut design so the underside of each pointy bit was not touching.

[stevie_b]

OK, I may give that a go - it is not fouling by much. Do you have a pic of the alternative nut design that didn't have enough thread and I will see whether it looks like that might work. I'm 90% certain that when I ordered them I specifically mentioned that I had heard there was an improved nut design and I would need that one and they confirmed that was what they would be sending me!

[Coops]

watching this with interest as i believe i have the revised ones and they are perfect on the FK's, however, leda's will be going on this year at some point so will see how it goes!