Short Shock

[onions]

Being a decent sort, my good lady wife bought me a set of rear shocks for my birthday in July last year; just the standard Armstrong £10 jobs. She sourced them herself (not sure where from) and had them delivered.

When I came to fit them I couldn't help noticing that the threaded end of the shock seemed a little bit shorter than the ones I was taking off and the bushes were smaller than the outgoing ones, but since I had damaged the old shocks in the process of removing them I had to plough on and fit the new ones. About 4000 miles later the offside shock pulled right through it's bottom washer and lost it's bottom bush, so I bodged a repair to get me home and replaced all the bushes and washers with the right ones. It was a real pain trying to get the nuts to grip the thread on the shocks because they were so short, but it did the job. Until yesterday. Now the nearside shock has done the same; washer missing and the bush pulled right up around the nut meaning that the shock could move freely up and down through it's mounting.

So on neither occasion has the nut come adrift, I have just lost the washer. Any suggestions of what I am doing wrong? Are the shocks the wrong ones? Could a lack of travel in the shocks be causing this? Changing a rear shock is hardly a tricky operation so I can't believe it's beating me like this.

[moose]

onions,

Sounds like they could be the wrong shocks..

I used the cheap Armstrong shocks on my truck when i first got it (as each conner had a different shock oil and gas ) and these shocks lasted well for the price and i used them a lot offroad.

Is the rest of your suspension standard ? do you use it offroad or give it beans over speed bumps ? that could be maxing out the rear travel.

Some where like paddocks should have Armstrong's on the shelf...

[onions]

I've not really off-roaded it hard in over a year (I don't have a spare car any more, so I don't have the luxury of having the Disco up on axle stands for a week at a time) and I don't think I hammer it over the speed bumps too much, but I do have to go over loads of the beggars to and from work. I think I'm just going to get me a new set - for the sake of £20 it's not such a big deal. I'm more concerned that it's my poor workmanship that's causing the problem.

[moose]

Make sure you dont over tighten the shock where it mounts on to the axle, other than that i cant really see where you might go wrong.

[clbarclay]

I didn't have any porblems with the armstrongs on one of the RRC at home, certainly the bush setup on them was better than on the procomps that replaced them.

How big was the hole in the washer that fits agaisnt the nut?

IIRC armstrongs like all good dampers have a sholder what the bottom washer is clamped against by the nut, the other washers and bushes have a larger internal diameter than the clamped washer so they fit over the sholdered section. It could be something the wrong washer was fitted at the bottom against the nut with a larger internal diameter, alloing it to deform over the nut. The internal diameter of the washer at the bottom of the joint should be close clerance over the threads.

[lrfarmer]

have the hole worn bigger

mine have on my truck, putting new ones one at the mo, not the main reson i'm doing it but helped me make my mind up

new onces are a good way to go.

[onions]

Thanks for all your input chaps. Since I needed the car urgently and I have completely lost faith in the shocks that were on I got the good lady wife to repeat last year's birthday present by getting me some gas shocks (at her expense).

Things I have noticed are: the threaded section is about 6mm longer than the old one making it a good bit easier to get the bottom nut on; the supplied washers were a lot stronger than the one (!) that was left; there was no play between the top bush and the top mount of the shock on the new one (the old one was moving around freely); they're a good deal more expensive, a good bit firmer and have helped with my wandering steering.

In short - I had the wrong ones on in the first place.

Now to do the radius arm bushes.