Hi, solman989. The gap between the chassis frame and the felt washers should be 3mm or so. And the bottom of the bearing cap should extend only about 0.5mm below the chassis frame. If that's what you have set up with your Gyro SE then you're good to go.
I had the same concern with the force required to lock down the record clamp when I first used my Gyro SE. Didn't seem like it was doing the springs any good by having to be extended so much each time I used the clamp. I'm afraid that it's a bit of a design flaw; the friction clamp works great for non-suspended turntables (I use mine with a mmf-2.1) but not so great with suspended 'tables. The solution is to get yourself a threaded Orbe clamp and spindle upgrade. It works perfectly and allows you to get just the right amount of pressure on each record.
The Orbe clamp upgrade isn't cheap, but in my opinion, it's one of the best investments you can make for your turntable. If you plan on keeping your Gyro SE around for a while the cost per year/month/day doesn't seem so bad. You can get them from Artech Electronics: http://www.artech-electronics.com/us/
Regards,
Tom