Mounts/suspension and jarring impressions!!!
10-27-2001, 03:44 AM
#1
User
Thread Starter
Mounts/suspension and jarring impressions!!!
Guru's, Snow and others,
Snow's recent posts on suspension ride height ..... had me looking under Pcakes checking ride height,shocks wheels, brakes ad naseum... . Everything was cool, but, I didn't knock on wood. Recently, my teeth have been rattling when hitting overpass and bridge expansion joints. While I have a certain advantage over most people when it comes to road surfaces -since I work for the highway dept. I can hand or blade repair the asphalt surface then flat roll it with the blessings of both the state and traveling public-. However, smoothing/tapering the road surface does not fix my REAL problem.
Pcakes while not wheel hopping yet is really starting to hammer the road cracks which I suspect is not a good thing.
Snow, was the Great White doing the same thing? I never got to ask on your earlier posts cause you cleaned house. Did you have to rebush anything? Change shocks? Engine or
Tranny mounts?
Guru's would the best plan be to replace the mounts first as I believe that most of the jarring is being transmitted from the mounts?
Is it possible to replace the front perches with the later adjustable perches? Any Modification required? Does this affect the front end alignment or ride heigth? For that matter can I use the stock replacement shocks with the adjustable perches? Any wheel interference problems?
I will now humbly await the dumpsters of wisdom to arrive from around the globe.
Thanks,
John S. & Pattycakes
P.S. Snow glad to hear you are rolling again
Snow's recent posts on suspension ride height ..... had me looking under Pcakes checking ride height,shocks wheels, brakes ad naseum... . Everything was cool, but, I didn't knock on wood. Recently, my teeth have been rattling when hitting overpass and bridge expansion joints. While I have a certain advantage over most people when it comes to road surfaces -since I work for the highway dept. I can hand or blade repair the asphalt surface then flat roll it with the blessings of both the state and traveling public-. However, smoothing/tapering the road surface does not fix my REAL problem.
Pcakes while not wheel hopping yet is really starting to hammer the road cracks which I suspect is not a good thing.
Snow, was the Great White doing the same thing? I never got to ask on your earlier posts cause you cleaned house. Did you have to rebush anything? Change shocks? Engine or
Tranny mounts?
Guru's would the best plan be to replace the mounts first as I believe that most of the jarring is being transmitted from the mounts?
Is it possible to replace the front perches with the later adjustable perches? Any Modification required? Does this affect the front end alignment or ride heigth? For that matter can I use the stock replacement shocks with the adjustable perches? Any wheel interference problems?
I will now humbly await the dumpsters of wisdom to arrive from around the globe.
Thanks,
John S. & Pattycakes
P.S. Snow glad to hear you are rolling again
10-28-2001, 01:09 AM
#2
Burning Brakes
Join Date: Aug 2001
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John,
The first thing that springs (sorry) to mind is the shocks. You have the same symptoms I had, before I replaced all my Bilsteins. My RF shock was COMPLETE toast when I pulled it. Absolutely no damping action whatsoever - just flopped along for the ride. And a nasty ride it was.
The springs are such that it is hard (though not impossible) to get easily visible results with the classic "bounce test" for shock wear.
The PITA factor on pulling a front shock just to check it is kinda high, but, so is the price of shocks. At least, of the Bilstein variety - the Boges are dirt cheap. If P'Cakes has Boges, and you don't know how old they are, you might just want to buy a set of fronts and be done with it. With shocks, the age is just another part of the rated duty cycle - esp. on gas pressurised dampers. Molecule by molecule, eventually it gets past the seals, and leaves your shocks feeling, well, limp.
There's a bunch of other stuff that could be wrong, but if you see no glaring mechanical issues, it's often just as simple as replacing the shocks.
HTH,
Greg
The first thing that springs (sorry) to mind is the shocks. You have the same symptoms I had, before I replaced all my Bilsteins. My RF shock was COMPLETE toast when I pulled it. Absolutely no damping action whatsoever - just flopped along for the ride. And a nasty ride it was.
The springs are such that it is hard (though not impossible) to get easily visible results with the classic "bounce test" for shock wear.
The PITA factor on pulling a front shock just to check it is kinda high, but, so is the price of shocks. At least, of the Bilstein variety - the Boges are dirt cheap. If P'Cakes has Boges, and you don't know how old they are, you might just want to buy a set of fronts and be done with it. With shocks, the age is just another part of the rated duty cycle - esp. on gas pressurised dampers. Molecule by molecule, eventually it gets past the seals, and leaves your shocks feeling, well, limp.
There's a bunch of other stuff that could be wrong, but if you see no glaring mechanical issues, it's often just as simple as replacing the shocks.
HTH,
Greg
10-29-2001, 10:53 AM
#3
Drifting
Hi John
I had the same bridge joint and pothole experiences when i first got my car. It was definately bad shocks. Turns out all the Boges were the originals from the factory. They infact failed MD inspection. They were all leaking. Check for this too. I managed a to get a set of almost new Boges from a fellow lister who upgraded to a bilstein/eibach setup. The ride is much better now. Bridge joints can still be felt (were not driving lincoln continentals here), but now the car doenst feel and sound like its going to bust apart. When i get the chance, i too will probably upgrade to the Bilsteins too (and a whole bunch of other stuff). The stock setup is still better than anything else i have ever driven.
I had the same bridge joint and pothole experiences when i first got my car. It was definately bad shocks. Turns out all the Boges were the originals from the factory. They infact failed MD inspection. They were all leaking. Check for this too. I managed a to get a set of almost new Boges from a fellow lister who upgraded to a bilstein/eibach setup. The ride is much better now. Bridge joints can still be felt (were not driving lincoln continentals here), but now the car doenst feel and sound like its going to bust apart. When i get the chance, i too will probably upgrade to the Bilsteins too (and a whole bunch of other stuff). The stock setup is still better than anything else i have ever driven.
10-29-2001, 11:56 PM
#4
User
Thread Starter
Greg, John, Snow,
New stock shocks coming right up.
Snow, I'm going to check the adjuster tip contact area as suggested. Since I haven't been in that area YET is there any chance of removing the adjuster while TIG/MIG welding the divot and welding a small, flat "shoe" on the "TIP"(both sides) or would that seriously affect the accuracy of the follow on camber adjustment? While we are at it ...
Was it the camber adjusters, the shock adjustment nut or something altogether different that was giving you hell? I can't remember exactly what it was?
Any snow yet? How's the Great White? You missed the Airshow here in Midland but I figured the FAA had most everything grounded for awhile afterthe WTC Mess.
Thanks all, Later
Keep em' rolling.
John S, and Pattycakes
New stock shocks coming right up.
Snow, I'm going to check the adjuster tip contact area as suggested. Since I haven't been in that area YET is there any chance of removing the adjuster while TIG/MIG welding the divot and welding a small, flat "shoe" on the "TIP"(both sides) or would that seriously affect the accuracy of the follow on camber adjustment? While we are at it ...
Was it the camber adjusters, the shock adjustment nut or something altogether different that was giving you hell? I can't remember exactly what it was?
Any snow yet? How's the Great White? You missed the Airshow here in Midland but I figured the FAA had most everything grounded for awhile afterthe WTC Mess.
Thanks all, Later
Keep em' rolling.
John S, and Pattycakes