6mil928

This is an odd problem not sure if anyone has ever had this happen. I was driving fast on a bumpy road last week and all of a sudden the car bottomed out. Driven the road many times just as fast and never had a problem. I didn't hit a pot hole or any thing just the bottom out all of a sudden. I figured my oil pan was toast so I watched all my gages intently. Nothing no problem I was so relieved. But then I had to make a turn and it sounded like Satan just came out of the engine compartment. Pulled over to check things out and found my driver side front about 4" lower than normal. The wheel is now inside the wheel well. Needless to say straight driving was fine just cant turn more than 1/4 turn of the wheel or the tire rubs bad. Finally got it in the garage(That was a whole lot of fun!) jacked the front of the car up and found the perch nut all the way at the bottom of the shock. I haven't started the tear down yet but it looks like the threads are still inside of the nut or at least the threads that were in the nut. Do these nuts fail? Do they back off? I check my height frequently and have seen no change prior to this. Not sure if it matters but I do have the Eibach and Boge set up.

Mrmerlin

Posting some pictures would assist in a better diagnosis

On Boge shocks there are 2 collars one is press fit to the shock body and the other outer collar is the adjuster.
With the correct lower spring perch if the outer adjustment collar were to come unscrewed and fall off of the bottom of the inner collar then the spring perch would fall onto the inner collar and be held from falling any lower.
There is a possibilty that the lower spring perch isnt the correct size for your shock, or that the perch has been deformed enough to fall past the inner collar.
If you can get the outer collar back onto the inner collar ( you might have to use a spring compressor to do this) you should be able to screw things back together, then safety wire add a setscrew to the outer collar so it wont move

6mil928

I will merlin. Just throwing this out there to see if it has happened to anyone else before. Are you talking about loctiting the thread the collar spins on? If so how would I adjust the ride height? Thanks for the help.

6mil928

Yep I did grease them when I installed them so they wouldn't sease up.

fraggle

My rings have a setscrew so they won't move. I have a devek setup so yours is probably different, but the concept is the same.

dr bob

I'll propose that the aluminum lower ball joint failed.

6mil928

Doesn't appear that way. No steering problems but the nut that adjusts the ride height is definitely off the threaded sleeve or the sleeve split. Gonna take a picture and post it in a minute.

6mil928

Ok guys here's some pics. Taken with the wheel on and car jacked up.

jon928se

Looks pretty clear to me.

The adjuster nut on the shock has come off the bottom of the threads. The spring perch has hung up on the upper A arm. Don't drive it like this DOH!. In fact you're going to have to be careful just raising the car toget at stuff to avoid explosive release of the stored energy in the spring.

My advice would be to put spring compressors on the spring as is with the wheel on the ground. If this isn't possible due to access problems use ratchet straps instead as they may be easier to thread into place.

Once you have the spring secured you can raise the car, carefully as the wheel/spring unloads. Take the wheel off then see if you can get spring compressors on the spring.

Once you have it all safe You'll need to remove the shock from the spring/strut and examine the threads on the sleeve on the shock and on the inside of the adjuster nut to check they aren't damaged. Report back with what you find.

jon928se

Reviewing my previous post I suddenly realised that I can't see the threaded shock sleeves (or even part of them) that I would expect to see on non Bilstien shocks.

Is this the cause ? the sleeve has disintegrated ?

dr bob

OK, raised my curiosity level a few clicks. What kind of shock is that? The label isn't like any I've seen. As Jon asks, is the inner threaded sleeve still up on the tube somewhere?

Getting that old assy out is going to be fun. While it may be possile to jury-rig some kind of compressors with the spring in place, it still won't want to come out with the upper control arm in place. You might get the spring short enough, but the threaded rods for the compressor will always be in the way.

Thought:
Remove the brake caliper and hang it inside, out of the way. Car on stands, jack under the bottom outer end of the LCA, unbult the LCA brackets at the body end. Slowly lower the jack so the LCA is free. Put something under there to hold it from flapping, like a milk crate. Remove the bottom shock bolt. Now the two nuts that hold the UCA at the body end. These are a chore to get to with the engine in the car, but it can be done. With the bolts out. the UCA can move enough to get the assy out.

Option: If the pressure on the spring isn't too much, you MAY be able to take off the top shock nut and let the jack-supported LCA down slowly. Then reove the lower shock bolt and wrestle the pieces out.

The spring has the potential for a lot of stored energy. It can kill you. As a teenager, I saw the results of a neighbor kid trying to put Caddy coils in the front of his GTO. Broke his arm, and put a BIG hole in the front of mom's Maytag in his garage. Cheezy compressors and jury-rigged containment straps can move you into the Darwin Awards candidate list, an award always give posthumously.

stolarzj

Those are the Boge/Sachs struts. What is that red washer at the bottom, that looks like the plastic washer that is suppose to be on the strut shaft, not sure how it could get all the way down there. It appears that adjuster nut worked it's way out bottom. Guess I will need to watch that, I just changed all the struts.

Mrmerlin

for anyone else, there is a threaded collar on the shock body, (These are Boge shocks) and the adjuster has come off of it..
The real issue is why the lower perch has also come past the inner collar,
If the correct parts are fitted then the lower spring perch is also held captive with the inner collar so this means that the lower perch has deformed enough to fall past the inner collar OR the wrong lower spring perch was used

stolarzj

Were the struts that came off it Boge?

6mil928

No they were not. They were Bilstiens I believe. I converted them over with parts from Roger that I believe came from 928 Int. Also if I remember correctly the perch will pass over the threaded sleeve. I think that was asked as well. I'll post more once I have it apart and actually have all the facts. By the sound of it this does not happen very often. One note I did grease the threads to make it easier to adjust the ride height would that cause any problems?