Shock failure questions

[jekquistk5]

I killed one of my bilsteins 5125shocks on the last wheeling trip and trying to figure out why. It's leaking oil out the bottom and I can not get it to compress the last 6". It just stops. The shaft appears not to be bent and the body is perfect with no dings. Both my bump stops are 1/2" off the spring pads on both sides and the shock that went bad had about 1/2" more of up travel then the side that is still good(thought they were equal but measured today for giggles and I guess not). It has never bottomed out from what I can tell mud/dust on the shaft about 1" from the bottom.

There is a pinhole indent in the shaft but when I ran a paper towel over it it did not catch so I doubt it would mess up a seal. The wheeling I was doing was trails not bumpy dune running.


So what do you guys think went wrong? I can move my upper mounts to allow more up travel but the bumps should stop it about an inch shy of bottoming out.

 

[76zimmer]

Hey Jess, after having a shock arrive with the reservoir broke off (5150) I'm not impressed with the Bilstein stuff...looks like a couple spot welds is all that held the reservoir onto the shock body...so what I'm getting at is faulty workmanship/assembly? Not sure if B would do anything about it.....seeing as its in good condition overall they might?

 

[jekquistk5]

It may be worth a call to bilstein but the shocks are cheap enough at 80 bucks. I'm not to upset in buying a new one. I just don't want it to happen again.

 

[ccarley]

Might be worth a call to ask Bilstein if they have an idea of what happened. Very odd that you can't get it to compress the last 6"; unless maybe the inner separator piston leaked fluid, and it's somehow hydro-locked at that point.

Good luck!

 

[jekquistk5]

Might be worth a call to ask Bilstein if they have an idea of what happened. Very odd that you can't get it to compress the last 6"; unless maybe the inner separator piston leaked fluid, and it's somehow hydro-locked at that point.

Good luck!

It could be. The gas is allowing the shock to extend fully just stops 6" short. When it does stop it feels like it's running into something but could be hydro lock like you said. Hopefully I'll have a few minutes tomorrow to call bilstein.

 

[jekquistk5]

Well called bilstien and they were very helpfull, but they only carry a 90 day warranty on "off road" shocks. Anyways the dude said that most likely the bottom seal dried out from the shock sitting so long(about 8months) and cracked letting oil leak out. The amount of oil that has leaked out correlates to where the shaft just stops during compression. He said just make sure I keep the shocks upright while in storage to help preserve the seals.

Gonna order another shock and adjust my mounts and run it see what happens.