bagged maxima with AIM kit?

well unfortunetly AIM is the only company that makes a kit for this Maxima im working on. ive havnt got to the back yet but they look ok in the box, the front has me fucked tho. it didnt come with anything but the assembled airstrut, a bearing, and a cut piece of tubing for some kind of spacer. the stem fits the stock upper strut mount but isnt long enough to get and threads on the nut. and it cant use the stock thing anyway because the strut needs to spin (hence the bearing) and the stock mount wont allow it to spin. if anyones ever played games with this POS before lemme know..

dave you got pics of the pieces?

Edited: 2/16/2006 12:08:28 PM by ih8bumps

what year maxima?

Edited: 2/16/2006 12:23:03 PM by ih8bumps

ditch the spacer if you don't need it...Its only for clearance problems...

I went through the same thing with my sentra. You can either make new upper mounts with some 1/4" plate and just get a bearing to go between the upper bag plate and your new mount or you can save yourself alot of headaches and just juice it.

Thanks for the replys..Bill I was thinking about the plate idea, but I dont think itll work well because the strut needs the rubber mount like the factory has to be able to move due to camber changes.

Here are the pics. Try and understand what Im referring to here, its kinda hard to explain..

Ok first off, heres what I got, strut, bearing , spacer:

Here it is with the stock plate on top of the strut shaft. As you can see, the shaft is way too long and the spacer is way too short to do anything. I can make a new spacer so thats not a problem really..

Heres the shaft sticking thru. As you can see (or not see) there arnt any threads coming thru, the shaft isnt long enough.

Thats not a big deal either, it can be fixed by cutting down the stud on the bottom side of the mount, pictured here:

And with the bolt plate off you can see it more clearly..

This is the biggest problem that I dont have a solution for yet. The strut shaft is keyed, and the rubber mount is keyed, so neither can spin independant of one another..

The keyed areas are fine and dandy for the stock setup because the actual strut shaft can twist independant of the body and allow the car to turn. Well this shAIM strut is all one cast piece, nothing can spin anywhere. The threaded end is loctited into the shaft so that cant spin. And the stock rubber mount is encased inside the metal so it cant spin either. So how is the car going to turn?

The only thing I can come up with is to drill the keyway out of the mount, then have a bearing on either side of the plate and tighten it down. Problem is I dont have a 2nd bearing and as you can tell by the pics there isnt much room for a bearing, barely enough for the nut..

Lemme know what you guys think.

yo what up dave alfred from downlow customs. i had a vw that i did that came in with the same kit. to remedy the problem and get it lower i took the assembly to a machine shop and had them shorten the shaft and retap it. its just pressed onto the shaft so they press it off, and shorten it then press it back on then the spacer fit corectly and let the bearing spin free and didn't put all the weight on it and break it

actually that won't solve your problem after rereading. can you round out the hole and run the bearing ontop of the spacer so it goes between the black plate and the strut assembly?

Edited: 2/16/2006 3:47:40 PM by AVTekk

werd alfred, good to see ya.

ya like you read, it still wouldnt turn. im under the asumption that the weight of the car is supposed to be on that bearing, right? it doesnt matter whether the bearing is on top of the spacer or under it, the weight would still be on it. but ill probably be running it on top by the mount as ya said. but then i wouldnt be able to tighten the nut on top of the mount, tightening it would make the shaft bind. it would need another bearing under the nut. i guess i can double nut it and leave it 'loose' but i dont wanna do that, and it would probably make a bunch of noise when you drive.

I don't see any pics? and a s10 forum password box keeps poping up...