bottoming out...

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:17 pm

so i had my first 4wd trip over the weekend up to bribie island. car went great (appart from a slight overheating issue because of a drive in the soft sand at high tide), and went everywhere. plenty of looks and a yell of "go the suby!" while driving along.

anyway, with a bit of weight in the boot, and a nice old bump, i'd get a huge thud from the back of the car.

common problem?

for the record i have kyb gas shocks and king springs. there also appeared to be only 8-10cm of shock absorber shaft visible

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:59 pm

Yeah pretty common in L series when you load them up and go bouncing offroad. Are the shocks and springs new?

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:08 pm

not so much no - well from what i can gather. well mightnt have a lot of k's on them, but a few years old for sure.

i assume the only bump stops are in the shocks? (not that i know if there are or arent ones in there - havent taken them off to look)

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:37 pm

bump stops on the arms as well as my rides on it most of the time but i do not get a bang whens it bottoms out

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 9:22 pm

where abouts are they? unless mine have been perm removed, i have nothing that at all looks like bump stops or where they'd bolt/attach on to

GOD · Post by **GOD** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:00 pm

Wagons have them hanging down from the body, and they hit a circular plate on the trailing arm.

Can't remember if it's front or rear or both where there is also a yellow foam rubber bump stop on the strut.

Dane.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:05 pm

i've got a sedan - i'm sure there's no circular plate around...confused!!!

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:20 pm

get some off a Wagons and fit them .
how can u run a car with out the bump stop on the struts as the strut wood not last to long and u wood conpress the spring to much with out them .

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:33 pm

i just went and checked my car - there are no rubber stops on the struts and definately nothing on the arms or vehicle body (the body is lifted anyway, so i guess a body bump stop wouldnt help much)....but damn! i guess that's an oversight by the previous owner (and me for not double checking that).

looks like i have some work to do

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:42 pm

if u put rubber stops on the strut it will not get hemmed .
and cheap way out .

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:46 pm

yeah that's what i'll do.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:44 am

well i've been looking for bump stops to put on the struts (the front shocks dont have any either!!!) so i went to pedders to pick some up (from any old car - i dont care - so long as they fit) and they tell me that the shocks on the car arent designed to be the bump stop system. they said exactly like what GOD said - there's round plates or cups that are the bump stop. there DEFINATELY isnt anything remotely like that on either the front or back arms etc.

so now i'm just as confused as when i started. will putting bump stops on the shock shafts really be ok? of course it's better than nothing...

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:09 pm

if it was me i wood be putting bump stops on the shock shafts as it wood not be bad for the shock shafts and as it will stop the spring birning up.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:11 pm

yeah that's what i'll be trying to do.

what does everyone else do? what height bump stops are the best/most suitable??? any recommendations??

GOD · Post by **GOD** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:22 pm

twilightprotege wrote:yeah that's what i'll be trying to do.

what does everyone else do? what height bump stops are the best/most suitable??? any recommendations??

This is what the wagon setup looks like -

Maybe the sedans didn't get the stops mounted to the body, since sedans aren't designed for carrying loads. Anyway, I'm sure you could add the little yellow stops on the struts, which would be better than nothing.

Dane.

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:18 pm

i wood try to do the same as the pic with the block in the struts and it will tack most of the load off the struts .

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:47 am

thanks for that dane - yeah definately nothing like the 3rd pic on my car. i'm going to fulcrum today to get some shock bump stops for the front and rear

Wilbur · Post by **Wilbur** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:38 pm

You need wagon springs. It was on my list of things to do, but never got to it. And bump stops. Try asking for strut mates.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 10:20 pm

yeah got the bump stops. they are on the rear now, but waiting to do the fronts - waiting until i make the higher spacers for between the shocks and the mounting point (and a spacer that's correctly offset). i assume the wagon springs are either stiffer or taller? i dont particularly want the rear of the car to be any higher as it's already high enough as it is imo. once i redo the exhaust (got all the bits) and "upgrade" to 15" wheels with 215/75/15 tires (about 1" more diam than the 27x8.5/14 on there), the car will have HEAPS of ground clearance - well certainly enough for where i want to go with it

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:31 am

u will have to post some pics of it so we can all see .
i wood like to know that "15"wheels u are going to use as i are thinking of putting "16" on my when i get it lifted as it is cheaper for tires .