Broken shox revisited-cone or retain?

[ptschram]

I have been chasing a problem with breaking shocks. Two Blingensteins in less than a year, left rear, '95 Disco flipoff2 lifted a coupla inches, yadda, yadda.

Went wheeling last weekend. Although I didn't break anything, I did have aproblem with the left rear spring unseating after EVERY stinking obstacle!!!

There is no obvious deformation of spring perches, nor the axle housing.

I'm looking for thoughts on whther I should retain the springs, or if I should weld in some cones, and is this just dealing with a symptom of an as-yet-undetermined problem elsewhere.

I have a set of cones, but no MIG. Stick welder seems unwieldy for this job. If I go with retainers, who has good ones other than EE, I'm leaning toward the ones from EE but wonder what else is available.

PT

 

[KevinNY]

I like the little comment written on the quarter panel. I went with extended lower rear mounts OMEs and fully retained springs, no problems. While huge flex looks cool , I subscribe to the camp tht says if there is no weight on that tire it gets no traction anyway, that's what lockers are for. ie. my avatar

 

[ptschram]

Thanx for the comment, you know what is above what appears!

OK, whose retainers did you use?

 

[marc olivares]

i made my own, but the EE ones are good too.

shit anything works better than nothing, even hose clamps,
ask Lane (mightymg) abut hoseclamp retainers....he's a believer

 

[KevinNY]

Matt Browne made mine, www.overlandengineering.com

 

[ptschram]

I don't think hose clamps would work for this, given how far the spring kicks out.

 

[marc olivares]

you'd be suprised

 

[ptschram]

OK, lemme put it this way. I don't wanna go redneck, Whiskey Tango and use hose clamps. Hows about some pics of the ones you made??? If my steel hadn't all been stolen, I coulda cobbled something out of scrap.

 

[Monty]

Hose clamps do work and I've had them hold up, even though the factory lower retainers gave out. The hose clamps held up to a lot of flexing but in the end, the weak link was the factory lowers. I couldn't see spending the dough EE wants for theirs so I got mine from RTE.

 

[ptschram]

I couldn't see spending the dough EE wants for theirs so I got mine from RTE.

I didn't know RTE made retainers, all I have seen are their cones. Got pics?

 

[Monty]

Don't have pics and they aren't on their site. RTE's lower is similar to stock but waaaaay thicker. The uppers are pretty much super thick flat stock, one on top of spring perch and the other inside the coil, clamping them in place. IIRC, they were 40 something shipped and they've held up fine so far with smallish tires, 245's.

 

[rovermech]

I have a 96 disco with the full flex 2" rte suspension with rear cones, been wheeling this combo for almost a year. I did break the bottom mounting stud of off the left rear shock once, but ended up being my fault as I over tightened the polly bushes on the shock. No problems since. I use old man emu shocks all the way around, But I belive the rears are of a nissan application to get longer travel.

 

[KevinNY]

This is what Matt made.

 

[Steve Rupp]

whatever you do, come up with some way to retain it. Cones are bad news.

 

[tpk241]

Can someone post the "bad news" about cones .. I have rear cones fitted with dropped rear shock mounts and haven't had any problems with it. It made an obvious difference to the axle twisting ability of my truck.

Maybe my shocks are not as long travel as some of you guys, I am running OMEN45F & N46 ...

 

[ptschram]

Can someone post the "bad news" about cones ..

Wheels that aren't on the ground do nothing to propel the vehicle. Unretained springs can cause instability in off-camber situations as the vehicle weight can shift uncontrollably.

 

[roverover]

Retained vs unretained

Sorry I have already uploaded the pics in gone 2 far post but it is 2 unretained (coned) trucks going down a steep decline with 4 wheels on the ground (driving) and 2 retained trucks with wheels a couple of feet off the ground and people further retaining the truck from flipping.

Either method has its place but here where we drive on steep undulating terrain I feel it is best to have the wheel on the ground A 100 lb wheel on the ground should be less likely to flip than if that wheel is way up in the air IMHO.

 

[ptschram]

ANYBODY HAVE ANY COMMENTS ON WHY THE ARTICULATION (downward travel) ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE IS GREATER THAN THE PASSENGER???

Damned caps lock, sorry.

 

[KevinNY]

If your springs are "handed" then the drivers is slightly longer, maybe 1/2".

 

[ptschram]

If your springs are "handed" then the drivers is slightly longer, maybe 1/2".

Nope, Rover Tym. Also, even when static, if I jack the truck up and support it by the frame, the driver's side droops much more than the passenger side. I just replace the trailing amr bushings thinking this might have something to do with it, but no dice.

I was really shocked when I dropped the shock absorber when replacing them and the axle dropped so far. If they'd only fall this far when doing coil conversions on Rangies!

Curiously, the Pro-Comps were much more robust than the Blingensteins.