8 replies to this topic

[Yams]

I purchased a set of both front and rear GAZ adjustable shocks. I purchased these because the car is quite low, and i was running GMAX shocks all round.

 

To my surprise when i compressed the GAZ shock it didn't re-emerge. I checked around online and apparently this is ok?

I didnt change any height on my hi-los, but now I've got a problem that the car is too low, to the point it was rubbing on the arches after just a few minutes of driving...

 

I thought the shock absorber had no impact on the height of the car? I had them as stiff as they could go, as i wanted to minimize the suspension movement, as i did get a little rub when i cornered sharply at relatively high speeds.

 

Can any shed some light on this for me?

 

Many thanks

Yams.

[Alex_B]

My bet its the hilos you have are set to the height they are running at, however the old dampers you used bottomed out thus kept the height of the car high enough not to rub, now you are using these dampers they are shorter, thus not bottoming out and allowing the car to sit lower, I would adjust them up so you avoid the rubbing and set the dampers softer than max 

[Yams]

My bet its the hilos you have are set to the height they are running at, however the old dampers you used bottomed out thus kept the height of the car high enough not to rub, now you are using these dampers they are shorter, thus not bottoming out and allowing the car to sit lower, I would adjust them up so you avoid the rubbing and set the dampers softer than max 

 

This is what i dont get, my old GMAX dampers were not bottoming out, it was actually a quite pleasant ride, i just thought it'd upgrade them, and this get the lower ones. Now it seems like the lowered ones are almost bottoming out... Before the ride height was right where i wanted it, and now its easily got an extra inch lower with the new dampers...

 

i'm going to adjust the height of the hi-los tomorrow, hopefully they'll be ok after that.

Edited by Yams, 27 April 2014 - 10:10 PM.

[Ethel]

Difficult to see how a damper would make it sit too low, unless it does have a faulty valve. Gas filled dampers will usually extend themselves when unloaded - they have to be gas tight to keep the gas in, and pushing the piston rod inside the damper reduces the volume so the pressure has to go up.

[Alex_B]

well the dampers wont have any effect on the ride height, aside from bottoming out limiting travel, or having the wrong damping rate causing slow uptake of the suspension. 

is it possible the knuckles have failed causing the suspension to sit low? is it sitting low on all 4 corners ?

[Yams]

Difficult to see how a damper would make it sit too low, unless it does have a faulty valve. Gas filled dampers will usually extend themselves when unloaded - they have to be gas tight to keep the gas in, and pushing the piston rod inside the damper reduces the volume so the pressure has to go up.

 

yes i thought this too, however looking at previous topics relating to this i found on google apparently the shock absorber doesn't have to re-emerge after, i thought it did though?

 

well the dampers wont have any effect on the ride height, aside from bottoming out limiting travel, or having the wrong damping rate causing slow uptake of the suspension. 

is it possible the knuckles have failed causing the suspension to sit low? is it sitting low on all 4 corners ?

 

I don't think it's the knuckles, as i replaced them when i did the hi-los, as well as the cones. The cones and stuff have settled as i did them about a year ago now. It is low on all 4 corners after i replaced the shocks.

 

Even when the dampers were about mid way on the stiffness they didn't re-emerge after compression.

[Alex_B]

I would say refit the Gmax dampers to isolate whether the issue is damper or shock absorber assembly (Cone and trumpet) 

[Ethel]

basic, shockers that are unpressurised won't. If they are filled with inert gas they soon wouldn't be if it could be squeezed past the piston seals.

[Yams]

I would say refit the Gmax dampers to isolate whether the issue is damper or shock absorber assembly (Cone and trumpet) 

 

 

basic, shockers that are unpressurised won't. If they are filled with inert gas they soon wouldn't be if it could be squeezed past the piston seals.

 

 

ok guys i figured it out.

 

I'm going to sound super dumb here but here goes...

 

basically i had tightened the shock too much (it was too stiff) so on a bump it would compress the shock, but not release it back down. In other words the shock got locked at full compression, and seemed to also hold my suspension there. When i jacked the car up, the whole back end lifted even though i was only jacking from the back offside subframe.

 

I clicked them 35 times to the softer setting. At about 15 clicks the shocks began to release.

 

Test drove it for about 15 mins and it was fine. Thanks for your help chaps :)

Edited by Yams, 27 April 2014 - 11:22 PM.