URGENT HELP - roadtrip suspension issue

[quote]I suspected a broken spring, but can't find a break anywhere.

.........I would think if the spring was the cause of that issue, the break would be pretty obvious. You might try tapping on the spring to listen to how clear it 'rings'?

I did hit a pothole today on a highway which may have bent the strut, would that cause this issue?

.........It just might.

Is it safe to drive with a bent strut, just until I get home?

...........Safe is a subjective term. If I'd checked ALL LH and RH front suspension nuts and bolts to assure yourself something wasn't snapped but still resting in place, and thus sure nothing was going to fall off, then sure, drive it. Slowly. Smoothly. How many miles to home?

The strut mount is not bent and upper and lower suspension arms look fine.

One other issue to note is that it was recently aligned and I noticed the two bolts holding the upper ball joint are about 5 threads tighter than the other side. Does the upper ballpoint have a torque spec? Can an overnighted upper ball joint cause this problem?

......I can't see how the two bolts holding the upper ball joint could compromise the ball joint function even if radically over torqued.

On your next inspection, pay special attention to the LOWER ball joint function and movement. They take the brunt of pot hole impacts.

From what you've told us, I'd suspect problem with your shock (strut). Possibly internal rather than visually bent.

Long distance troubleshooting, always fun.

Larry

Home is still 800 miles away. Good idea on the suspension bolts. I'll check the morning.

Even if a bolt is snapped, would that cause the strut/spring to compress and not rebound? The biggest issue is that the tire may rub the fender if the strut compresses in a bump and doesn't bounce back. The driving issue I noticed that keyed me to the problem was the tire rubbing when pulling into a gas station. The tires have never rubbed before, so I started to look around. Everything looked normal except the ride height was about half inch lower than normal, then I noticed the compress/no bounce back issue.

Correction, 700 miles to home. Primarily hwy (60 mph).

quote:

I'm currently near Jackson Wyoming. I can imagine there are lots of parts for Panteras in these parts.

Probably not, but the POCA roster lists three members in Jackson Hole, WY. One of which I know pretty well.

Contact me with a Private message with your phone number and I'll pass it on to him to contact you. Are you overnighting at Jackson?

or call me....

five five nine 281 three 4 nine 7 PST

Larry

How much time, and how many tools do you have?

If you can jack the car up, you can get the wheel off, and sway bar mounts off from both lower a-arms, it's not hard to get the shock & spring out.

Then you could swing the suspension, to ensure that's not the problem. But that still won't fix the shock & spring (if that's the problem), and you sort of need those.

Good luck. I hope Larry's buddy can help.

My suggestion would be much easier if you have been into the front suspension within the last 5 years.


Good luck

Rocky

I rebuilt the suspension a few months ago. I even had the springs off the struts. I have the tools and a crappy crank Jack that's in most new cars.

Jimlah; It sounds as if your retainers, or retainer ring has come apart, rendering your spring useless. Essentially its the same as when you took your springs off from around the shock absorbers, the spring is just floating free around the shock.
When you pull the front back up, you're assisting the shock, as the spring would, to become fully extended again: however, once you hit a bump, the shock collapses, and can't rebound to full extension.

You can't fix this on the road particularly if you need parts for it.

Pantera Performance is in Castle Rock, CO.

I would consider having the car flatbedded there and let him fix it for you. He certainly will have the parts.

http://www.panteraperformance.com/

Pantera Performance Center Inc.

1856 North Park St.

Castle Rock, Colorado 80109


303-660-9897

303-660-9159 Fax

becky@panteraperformance.com

The retainer and ring are intact. I'm going to pull the wheel off today and take a closer look to see if anything else seems out of place. I may also remove the spring assembly and see how the suspension arms articulate.

Pulled the suspension apart today. The suspension arms travel freely once the shock strut assembly is out. The ball joints are working fine as well. That leaves me to deduce that the issue is internal to the shock strut assembly. The spring is in good shape and the retainer rings are in place. The suspension is structurally sound (no broken bolts, etc). I'm going to drive it to Jackson today and if that works out continue directly home.

Thoughts?

I had to leave a phone message for my friend in Jackson last night. I also sent him an email, but I have not heard back from him from either contact.

It sounds like you're quite capable of the mechanical inspection and the idea that the shock has an internal issue certainly seems a reasonable conclusion at this point.

Wild idea number one for your drive back home.....

If you find the tire is rubbing too often due to road conditions you could -- perhaps--- fabricate a spacer from PVC pipe that might prevent compression that allows tire rubbing.

If you took a proper length of PVC and cut a full length longitudinal section from it, to allow it to just snap over the shock piston rod, it might stay in place and prevent compression to the point of tire rubbing. This technique has been used by some on the deck lid shocks to hold up the deck lid when the shocks are cold or failing. Could always add some Thai wire to make sure it does not slip back off.

Like I said, wild idea but sometimes any port in a storm is worth looking into.

Larry

Yes I know the iPhone dictation-to-text decided to use the word Thai instead of the word tie. I left it just because it looks so cute.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimlah:

Thoughts?

Replace the shock.

Or get some of those cheap rubber spacers at Autozone that wedge in between the coils of the spring to keep it from compressing until you get home.

Good luck,
Mike

Well, I made it to Jackson without issue. I pushed on today through Yellowstone and it's holding up for now. Sadly no high speed runs through the back roads of idaho like I had planned. I'll baby it tomorrow and might just make it home.

Hope you made it OK. Let us know the diagnosis when you get a chance.

Mike

Made it as far as Spokane, Wa. Final 300 miles is today. Ill let you know what I find out when I get the chance to break the parts down. As you know when moving, ill have to get all my tools and boxes unloaded prior to playing with my toys.

So, evidently you're not going to Colorado Springs!

Made it to Washington and to my new home. I moved from Colorado to Washington, so there was no reason to go back without any belongings in Colorado. A total of almost 1550 miles. It's sure nice to be done with this move.

Glad you, and the Pantera, made it in one piece.

Larry