rtm5003 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Hello all, I posted this to "The Garage" and got no response, so I'm helping it will get a bit more attention in the R50-specific forum... I recently picked up a 2002 R50 Pathy SE 4WD M/T with 112k on the clock. Loving it so far, but the suspension is mostly shot, so I've started building up an inventory of replacement parts for it... I've found a TON of valuable information on this site - so thanks for all of your useful input everyone! I decided to go with OME HD Front and MD Rear Springs along with KYB Excel-G's (GR2's) up front and Bilstein 5100's in the rear - these are all sitting at my house now waiting for install... I also purchased all of the required strut mounts, bearings, etc. from NissanPartsZone.com. (Also got some replacement bushings and end links for F&R sway bars and panhard rod. Poly bushings for LCA's and Trailing arms are next!!) My question is regarding the Front Spring Seat Rubber - 54034+B and 54034+A as shown in this diagram: Are these required, or do any of you just install the lift springs right on the strut with no rubber? Each of the upper and lower rubber seats is like $20, and I'd really rather not spend $80 if not required... More pics of these bad boys: 54034+A 54034+B Thanks in advance for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrariowner123 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 So that's what those little bits are on the bottom on my springs. (mine im guessing has completely fallen apart or was never installed when the suspension was redone) I've always wondered what those were and never looked closely enough on the diagrams i guess. My guess its a comfort thing, that piece of rubber would be the only thing that separates the spring, from the mount on the struts. If its an inexpensive part, i say go for it, but to be honest, i don't think i have any rubber on my front springs, and i don't noticed anything out of the ordinary, but then again, I've only had this car for two years or so, so i probably don't know what its like to have the rubber piece, if there is a noticeable difference. Im curious to hear what others have to say. Hope we can get you the answer you need, BTW: Welcome to NPORA!! -Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Those rubber pieces aren't necessary. I'm not even sure of their exact function, but if I had to guess, I would say they're probably there to prevent creaks or squeaks or to assist in keeping the spring stationary during assembly. I haven't had those pieces on my springs for 10 years and over 130K miles, and haven't had any issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Mine flaked off of the original springs when I replaced them with my AC lift springs. I didn't use any rubber on the new springs and I have yet to detect any squeeking or clunking from that. Now if I could get my strutes to stop toping out .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clkindred Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 There is a member here, "captandy" I think? who used rubber hose fed over the spring wire. If you want whatever function these things serve, then doing that would be way cheaper. As for myself, I am also running without those thingys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtm5003 Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 I was about 80% sure that they were totally unnecessary, but I wanted to get some input from folks with some experience. I appreciate the help. I know lowering springs are often wrapped in rubber tubing to prevent noise, so I didn't know if there was a similar idea behind these things. I've already dumped enough money into this project - I think I'll keep my 80 bucks. clkindred - I had thought about using a piece of black flexible hose, but then considered - if these things have no function anyway, why bother? Do you think it's worth the trouble? Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clkindred Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 If I were in my suspension again, I would do the hose thing, I thought about it when putting my lift on but I said F it. However it is a simple and cheap addition that might help prevent noise and to be honest, the less liklely chance I might want to tear into my struts because of some annoying creak or pop the better. If you can, do it. If you can't for some reason, don't sweat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow4me Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I just disassembled one of my factory 2001 strut assemblies today, 54034+B was not on there, only 54034+A on the bottom. 54034 is the only rubber that is on the top and it fits into 54040. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtm5003 Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 (edited) I just disassembled one of my factory 2001 strut assemblies today, 54034+B was not on there, only 54034+A on the bottom. 54034 is the only rubber that is on the top and it fits into 54040. Taking a closer look, there is a pretty tight fit between the OME HD Spring and the upper rubber seat (54034). I think wrapping this with any sort of hose would make it impossible to assemble. The bottom, on the other hand, is just sitting on the strut, so I will wrap the first coil of those with some rubber hose. Does anyone have any input on wrapping the rear coils as well? In case anyone needs OME coil dimensions (I'm sure they're here somewhere already): Front HD Coils - 5/8" OD Coil OD 6" - tapers to 7" 15-3/4" long Rear Medium Coils - 9/16" OD Coil OD 6" 14-1/4" long Edited March 31, 2012 by rtm5003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow4me Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 (edited) I was wrong on my previous post, there is the rubber sleeve on the top as well. Edited April 1, 2012 by snow4me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theexbrit Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 (edited) The rubber is just to stop any squeaking, you don't really need them unless it sounds like you have a troop of monkey's "eek eek eek" ing away under your fender. If you want to use the top rubber you can usually reuse the old rubber (54034) that sits in the metal cup under the strut mount. You need to reuse the metal cup (54036) that goes over the top of the springs as they don't come in the AC "kit". Nor do new rubber bump stops/boots (54050M), I had to get some of those from the dealer at $20 each.. @devonianwalk, did you replace the rubber bump stops/boots when you did your struts? I'm in the process of installing the AC 2" lift but the springs are way too long for the struts & I can't compress them enough to get them on the strut! Looking at the KYB website, it seems the struts they sent me are the standard OEM replecment struts with no lift at all hence the springs not fitting. See my rant post in thisR50 section. Edited April 1, 2012 by theexbrit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow4me Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 The springs will fit. Nobody makes a strut longer than the factory spec length. Gonna really have to try harder to compress those heavy duty aftermarket ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtm5003 Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 The rubber is just to stop any squeaking, you don't really need them unless it sounds like you have a troop of monkey's "eek eek eek" ing away under your fender. If you want to use the top rubber you can usually reuse the old rubber (54034) that sits in the metal cup under the strut mount. You need to reuse the metal cup (54036) that goes over the top of the springs as they don't come in the AC "kit". Nor do new rubber bump stops/boots (54050M), I had to get some of those from the dealer at $20 each.. @devonianwalk, did you replace the rubber bump stops/boots when you did your struts? I'm in the process of installing the AC 2" lift but the springs are way too long for the struts & I can't compress them enough to get them on the strut! Looking at the KYB website, it seems the struts they sent me are the standard OEM replecment struts with no lift at all hence the springs not fitting. See my rant post in thisR50 section. I've already purchased everything from 54034 and up - I wasn't too thrilled about reusing any rubber parts, as I'd rather do this once and not have to think about it for another ~60k miles (hopefully!) The 54034 rubber seats are only $15/each, so no big deal there. I would advise others to save their money on 54040, though, as these are just made of metal and are almost $40 a piece! We were talking specifically about the thin rubber rings that go around the springs - not the upper rubber spring seats, which are obviously required!! I purchased the KYB Boot/Bumpstop kit from Amazon, which is the recommended kit on the KYB website: http://www.amazon.com/KYB-SB129-Strut-Boot/dp/B001FY578K/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theexbrit Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I know you were talking about the thin rubber "tube" that goes around the base of the spring, that's what I was talking about when I said they're to stop any squeaks. As you said, you don't really need them unless you're getting a lot of squeaking from the front spring. The garden hose idea is great if you need to replace them. I reused the old 54040 as the steel part of it was still in good shape. There is a rubber mount (54034) for the spring inside the 54040, this should be replaced if worn. Mine were still in good shape also so I was able to reuse them as well. @snow4me, that makes sense about the strut, but my question is if the strut is the same length as the original one where does the 2" lift come from at the front? It doesn't matter how long the spring is, if the strut won't extend anymore then the longer spring will just make for a much harder ride because it's compressed so much more. It's not going to lengthen the strut by 2 inches. Maybe I'm missing something here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtm5003 Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 So, while we're on the topic - what about the rears? Here again we have an upper spring seat, but is the bottom of the spring supposed to sit right on the rear diff carrier/axle assembly with nothing in between? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now