Hey, I recently put some new Koni coil over struts on the front of my 82 Rampage, and i have been having troubles with my upper strut mounts. I bought the KYB upper strut mounts and bearings, but the new mount doesn't seem to work with the hat... I don't know the technical name for the part, but it's the steel disk thats on the very top of the strut mount and the main strut rod nut holds it down, and the "hat" moves with the struts when you turn the steering wheel... I hope i made sense, . The problem i'm having is the new strut mount seems to be to thick in the rubber part causing the "hat" to crush against the new strut mount plate when i tighten the main strut rod bolt down, making the hat not turn anymore with the mount. I cant even get the hat to seat against the bearing coller to torque the nut down.. I put the old strut mount and bearing back on in the meantime until i figure the problem out, but the original nylon bearings are worn out and i don't want to run them to long. The local shop didn't even want to do an alignment, because it has side to side play with the car jacked up in the air. I even ordered another set of strut mounts from Napa because 1981 to 83 had a different part # listing, but when i went to pick them up they were identical to the KYB ones i got. Has anyone else had any problems with there strut mounts in there L-bodies? The original mounts on my car don't seem to have a very thick rubber bushing on the strut mount and thats the problem i'm having with the new mounts, they are too thick and the hat doesn't have a deep enough dish to it to reach the bearing coller. I took pics to help explain myself better, but i cant seem to upload pics on my crappy internet. I noticed the newer L-bodies have a different looking hat then the ones on my 82, so maybe i need the newer ones to work with my new strut mounts. I also tried using the new bearing on the old mount, but they didn't work...
I swear my 82 Rampage is the blacksheep of the L-bodies, because every time i go to replace something it's different...