150 hours and mine is very loose. About 1/8" to 3/16". I have a bad shake so I need to do this.
I had been having an issue with nose gear/wheel shimmy for a bit. At first, I thought is was just the wheel nut might need a tiny turn because I had just greased it right before the problem started, and on the VAF forums they had mentioned this. Tightened the nut 1 notch in the castle and put the cotter pin back in. Didn't notice much difference.
Second, I had also just put on a new nose tire, so I thought maybe it was out of round. Put back on the old tire, again very little difference.
Finally, today I was taxiing with a setting sun, and I could see my nose gear shadow. When the shimmy started I looked at the shadow and saw that it wasn't the wheel at all, but the entire nose gear assembly that was shaking. Went back to the hangar, put her in and drove around the other hangars until I could find a second person to lean on the tail so I could check the nose gear. Man did it wobble. I noticed about 1/8" to maybe 3/16" of a gap between the top of the 4 elastomers and the Elastomer Pad.
Van's says add 1 or 2 washers under the spring to tighten it up. NO MORE THAN 3 TOTAL WASHERS CAN BE USED! When it loosens up after 3 washers, then all 4 elastomers need to be replaced.