Worn Shocks/Struts - Extra Stiff??

[DrFishbone]

Has anyone had their factory shocks/struts wear out on their SC and them end up super stiff? My wife's 93 is super harsh with or without firm ride on (which works fine as far as I can tell). It does seem to be firmer when the "firm ride" is selected, but the ride even with the ride function off is extremely harsh and hasn't always been that way. The problem seem to be in the rear of the car, especially noticable when going over speed bumps! I'm a little confused since usually when a shock/strut goes bad, it has a leak and is bouncy. Can these go from working fine to "sticking" without ever having a bouncy ride?

Sometimes when going over slight bumps in the road, it's so harsh that I hit my head on the headliner.

I haven't taken anything off yet or even tried bouncing the rear of the car by hand...I'll do that tonight when I get home.

 

[TbirdSCFan]

Its not really stiff, rather its bouncy. When the rear shocks go, there is a "WHAM!" like sound when you drive over sharp bumps. Fortunately, the rear shocks take about 10 minutes to remove so they're easy to test.

 

[DrFishbone]

Fortunately, the rear shocks take about 10 minutes to remove so they're easy to test.

Yeah, for real

When I say "bouncy" I mean there is little damping going on, in other words, the springs just bounce the car up and down until they're finished. The kind of bouncy you're talking about is when there is too much damping by the shocks (because of them sticking or getting locked up or whatever) and the car bounces on the tires/isolators/mounts, right?

So anyway, you're saying an SC will not be my definition of "bouncy" when the rear shocks go bad? It won't be like: "BOINGY BOINGY BOINGY boingy....." after hitting a bump...it'll just "WHAM" and that's it? Hehe...talking in onomatopoeic vocabulary is rather enjoyable.

 

[99GSXR750]

I took mine out to replace the lower shock mounts, and realized that they were frozen or at the very least too stiff.

 

[thirdbird]

I had always wondered if the little adjusters in the top of those things could be turned so that the shocks were in a tighter range.
I mean with the actuators off, turning them a turn or two one way or the other...

 

[Duffy Floyd]

I experienced what you described when the rear shocks leaked oil. What is happening is you are hitting the internal jounce bumper inside the shocks causing the harsh ride. When I took off the shocks they had leaked so much the first 2 " or more inches of travel of the shock rod had no resistance in either direction.

Replaced the shocks....all better now!!!!

 

[slowpoke]

i never did like the stock struts or shock for this car. i got shocks and struts for a 92 t-bird sport. im pretty happy with these.

 

[1owner89]

My front shocks got bouncy but one of my rear shocks seized up making a very harsh ride. When I took it off I could put all my weight on it and not compress it at all unlike the fronts I could compress very easily. It's time to replace anyway.

 

[DrFishbone]

I had always wondered if the little adjusters in the top of those things could be turned so that the shocks were in a tighter range.
I mean with the actuators off, turning them a turn or two one way or the other...

I've wondered the same thing. I'm not to sure how the auto-adjust shocks work internally.

 

[TbirdSCFan]

I've wondered the same thing. I'm not to sure how the auto-adjust shocks work internally.

Rotation of the inner shaft from soft angle to the firm angle changes the size of the dampening valve. Its about 30 degrees. One side of the stem is flattened to keep the actuator bracket in a precise orientation. This is why when you snap the actuator in place it will grab and twist the inner shaft into the soft position. If you then turn the key on, put the switch on firm, and take the actuators back off without turning the key off, your shocks will be in the firm ride setting and will stay that way.

If you rotate the inner shaft past the 30 degree angle and keep going... it will go back to soft. If you contine to twist even more... it will go back to firm. The shock is not adjustable beyond one setting or the other. Tokico sends a cap with numbers 1-5 on it, but the cap is irrelevent and is only included because they also sell a truely variable shock and include it for reasons I can't explain. Its a source of confusion. But know that the Tokico Illumina II has ONLY 2 settings.. normal and firm and thats all.

 

[thirdbird]

Thanks for clearing that one up!