Air adjustable shock absorbers

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Mon Oct 01, 2018 1:21 pm

Ouch! So the pin sheared off? At the base (where it meets the shock) or at the threads? The shocks need to tilt on the lower mounts as the suspension goes up and down, so I guess overtightening the pin would reduce the amount of flex in the bushes.

The strength of the shock mounts *is* potentially an issue- air shocks have a reputation for breaking mounts on regular cars. Anecdotally it happens when they're used to lift the suspension rather than just to compensate for extra load, but they do put extra stress on the mounts.

I figure our shock mounts can probably handle it- the upper mounts are common to all L300s, including the long-wheelbase 4WD commercial vans which are rated to take far more load than ours. L300s are abused as delivery vans here, and they don't have a reputation for the shock mounts breaking- and I don't think the air shocks add *that* much extra load.

But I might have just invoked Murphy's Law on myself...

sk66 · Post by **sk66** » Mon Oct 01, 2018 2:27 pm

At the base where it meets the shock... looks like it was a questionable weld as well.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:22 pm

Hmm. Dodgy. Will you try for a warranty claim?

sk66 · Post by **sk66** » Wed Oct 10, 2018 8:08 am

I just bought another set... the cost is pretty low and I figured the hassles of shipping and fighting over modification/unintended application are probably not worth it.
But the weld broke very cleanly w/ the appearance of not much penetration... I definitely suspect it was at least a contributing factor. I might send a letter/pic just to see what they say.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Wed Oct 10, 2018 12:35 pm

You mentioned that overtightening the pin might not have helped. On mine the lower nuts are tightened so there are about 2 threads exposed beyond the nut. Mine came with regular nuts (not nylocs) so I used some thread lock.

: ShockLower.jpg (330.71 KiB) Viewed 29143 times

Note that the upper bush is more compressed than when first installed: when I installed them, both rubber bushes were under similar tension, but once I put 40psi into the shocks the extra pressure compressed the upper bush a bit more, and let the lower bush relax (but the lower cupped washer isn't loose).

joebillhill · Post by **joebillhill** » Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:53 am

Man those pins are a pain to get out! I ended up hack sawing off both ends then using sockets to be able to push the remaining metal out for anyone looking for a different way/ only has access to a C clamp..

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Wed Oct 17, 2018 2:59 pm

joebillhill wrote:Man those pins are a pain to get out!

Indeed. You could almost say "

Growlerbearnz wrote:it's more difficult than it looks

joebillhill · Post by **joebillhill** » Wed Oct 17, 2018 10:15 pm

Oh I'm in total agreeance Growler. I'm just saying for those without a vise or zen-like patience there is the hacksaw

sk66 · Post by **sk66** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:01 am

joebillhill wrote: ↑Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:53 am Man those pins are a pain to get out! I ended up hack sawing off both ends then using sockets to be able to push the remaining metal out for anyone looking for a different way/ only has access to a C clamp..

When I did the replacement shock I just cut off one side of the pin and used a gear puller to push the rest through. I have a few different ones, but even a small/cheap one (~$10) should be able to do the job. It was muuuch easier than wresting with the vise (I also used a cutoff disk/grinder).

lrp374 · Post by **lrp374** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:19 am

I just found out Rock Auto has these and I ordered a pair shipped to Kamloops for $112 CAD including duty, which I'm really happy about. Even supposed to be here before Xmas.

lrp374 · Post by **lrp374** » Sat Sep 19, 2020 1:01 pm

I discovered this week that my air shocks have failed. I installed them in March and only have a few thousand km on them. The top broke off which is the opposite end to sk66. I'm not sure how they welded it together but if that's all that's holding then it's no wonder they don't last long. Rather than by more I decided that nothing is lost to try and weld them and so far they work fine. We'll see after they spend some time on corduroy back roads. I've attached a couple of pictures so you can see the original 'weld'.

lrp374 · Post by **lrp374** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 2:27 pm

Well the other shock broke @ the top on the weekend exactly the same as the first one. I could have taken another picture and it would have been exactly the same. The good news is the first one is still holding and I've welded this one so I have 2 'good' shocks again. See how long they stay in one piece this time.

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