Topic: Trying to figure out what's wrong, possibly a bad shock?

[blackdiamond]

For a while I've had that strange feeling that something is different about the way my 4Runner drives and that it doesn't feel right.  Tonight I made a short trip to the store and finally took the time to do a little detective work to see if there was anythign obvious.

It feels like I'm floating a bit going down the road and it seems to pull/wander more that it did previously.  It's not anything that scares me, but something is certainly different.

Everything seems to be tight (I didn't put a torque wrench on anything), the springs don't appear to have any obvious issues other than I tightened up the front springmount bolt on the drivers rear spring, but I don't think it was anything new and certainly wasn't loose (just not tightened all the way to the mount).

I pushed on all four corners of the truck and adjusted the 9000 shocks up and down and it seems like the drivers rear shock isn't responding to the adjustment as much as the rest and the corner feels much softer than the rest.  The shock doesn't appear damaged and I don't seen any evidence of oil leaks.

Does the shock sound like a reasonable reason for what I'm feeling or should I keep looking?

 

[junya92toy]

Keep looking, a bad shock will cause a ride comfort problem. Id look into worn TRE

[blackdiamond [OP]]

Keep looking, a bad shock will cause a ride comfort problem. Id look into worn TRE

TRE?  You'll have to spell it out.

[88_Pathy]

tie rod end..

[Rocksurfer]

I've had some trouble with the adjusters on 9000's, try turning them all to the softest setting. If they all seem the same at that point then you may be right about the shock. I got a hold of a new adjuster and it fixed the problem for a while and it came back. I then went to full air adjustment and never had another issue until I sold the truck they were on.

[blackdiamond [OP]]

When I looked the TREs looked fine and I checked a few more things for tightness and nothing jumps out other than the shock.  I adjusted all the shocks to very soft and though the body roll has increased as expected, but I don't feel the things nearly as much that made me think something was wrong.  I'll be playing with the shocks more and see how things react.

[zembalayan]

When I looked the TREs looked fine and I checked a few more things for tightness and nothing jumps out other than the shock.  I adjusted all the shocks to very soft and though the body roll has increased as expected, but I don't feel the things nearly as much that made me think something was wrong.  I'll be playing with the shocks more and see how things react.

Do you have another type of shocks to try? I know that you didn't care so much for Bilsteins, and you may have sold your last set, but it might be worthwhile to try something different for comparison.

[blackdiamond [OP]]

Do you have another type of shocks to try? I know that you didn't care so much for Bilsteins, and you may have sold your last set, but it might be worthwhile to try something different for comparison.

If I get bored I may swap them left to right after playing with settings a bit more.  I don't think anything is going to fall off, but I'd like to know what I'm feeling.

[Digwoods01]

ya good idea

[blackdiamond [OP]]

I finally disconnected the bottom end of the suspect shock and it appears that it isn't adjusting properly.  It felt like it compressed the same at 1 and 9 and I'm fairly sure that I could hardly compress them previously when set at 9.  I didn't feel like disconnecting the other side for comparison, but there's only one corner that doesn't feel different in the bounce test after a shock adjustment.

Should I just order a new one or go for a new pair?

[Rocksurfer]

When that happened to me I just went to the local 4x4 shop and they gave me an adjuster from one they had put the air adjust upgrade on. Worked fine with the new one.

[blackdiamond [OP]]

I stopped today at Bayview 4x4 and Truck to inquire about getting another shock and the owner watched my short demonstration of how it's not working and said he'd have one in tomorrow for me.  I asked how much and he said it would be under warranty.  I've done a lot of business with him, but was very clear that the shocks were not purchased from him.  I was excited that he was so willing to help me out with the Rancho warranty.  I'll probably have to wait until Friday to get it and swap it out.

[Rocksurfer]

can't beat that deal.

[NorCalToy]

With the older ranchos I had on the front of my truck (only 5 position adjustable) turning the setting to max made it almost impossible to extend the shock...but still fairly easy to compress

[blackdiamond [OP]]

With the older ranchos I had on the front of my truck (only 5 position adjustable) turning the setting to max made it almost impossible to extend the shock...but still fairly easy to compress

I put the new shock on today after it sat in the garage since last Friday and I immediately noticed a huge difference in compression resistance when I put it on.  The adjustment does seem to effect the extension primarily, but the compression was much harder than the other one that must have blown out somehow.  The owner at Bayview 4x4 said this was the third one he'd seen with a similar problem and he had a call into the rep to inquire.  In any case, it'll be interesting to see if it solves everything that didn't feel right to me.  Hopefully it does since it put my air soft "guns" to work installing it.

[954toy]

nice. glad you got it. can't beat the freebie!!!