Oh wait, are your collars resting ON the O-rings? The O-rings should be inside the collar (you push it up so that the O-ring ends up somewhere inside). The O-ring should only be used to stabilize the collar, but the collar itself should rest on what remains of the welds from the spring perches. So technically you could have it setup without O-rings. It looks like your collars are actually resting on top of the O-rings - am I right?