Strut Stop

[Ben Swann]

I found the answer when I checked the rear strut mounts in the '87 4000 quattro.  The rear stop has the rubber part I was looking for. I believe it is called a spring seat.

This is a good way to take up that excess travel often found at the top of the strut assembly.  I have not found any 4000's or coupes that don't have the travel.  There seems to be more or less depending upon if the strut bearings are new or not.  Over time there is more space due to the rubber having been compressed.

The rubber part of the rear stop, or whatever it is called will keep the strut in place if the car is lifted or becomes airborne.  In the case of the coupe, when the car was jacked up, the strut sometimes came back down off center.  The inspector called that.  It probably throw the alignment off temporarily too.

I will be installing these on all my 4k's and coupes from now on.  I'll get the part number from the dealer.

Ben
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ben Swann 
  To: quattro at audifans.com 
  Cc: Ben Swann 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 12:55 PM
  Subject: Strut Stop 


  I just had an '86 GT Coupe fail inspection due to the excessive space that exists between the top of the strut tower and the stop that keeps the assembly from falling out if the car is lifted or would get airborne.  AFAIK this space is there on all of the 4000 series cars, and I pretty much got into an argument with the inspector who said this was normal.  He insisted that it was due to worn parts - the strut bearing had become compressed.  I am pretty sure this is not the case and regardless of using new or used strut bearings, they all have this space and in some cases I have installed some sort of rubber spacer to take up the slack.

  As I rummaged through my garage for a solution, I came upon a set of stops that were clearly intended to eliminate the excess space.  I installed them and the car passed.

  Now my question is, where did they come from?   I consulted with my dealer and all of the 4000s, coupes and even later 80 and 90 series cars used the same stop:

  part number: 811 412 319

  You can see this as part 26 in the diagram:

  http://perso.club-internet.fr/prelais/Web1/quattrokate/Subgroups/frontaxle.html

  I looked at the rear strut assembly  and saw there may be some variations - parts 19 and 20:

  http://perso.club-internet.fr/prelais/Web1/quattrokate/Subgroups/rearaxle.html

  Can someone tell me where I got these nice rubber stop spacers?  They fit as a rubber collar that goes under the stop with a lip at the top that the stop fits into.  Nice rubber bumps at the bottom alon the outer ring.  When the strut retaining bolt is tightened, this collar squeezes down eliminating the gap.

  Did I perhaps have a set of stops I got from the rear of a car I parted out?

  Ben