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Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:08 am

I have a 71 super Baja IRS , OK here is the problem as i'm driving the rear end slams.. i mean loud! :shock: if i go over a speed bump just a little to fast it slams and i cant seem to figure out why. Ive got KYB Gas Adjust shocks , bus bump stops. nothings damaged or bent from what i can see but i still cant figure out why it does this. Some one told me that maybe the shocks were bad but i doubt cause it did this even when they were new. I do notice how over when the car is under load with about 2 or 3 passengers in the back it doesn't seem to slam. I am at a loss any suggestions on how to solve this problem would greatly help!

Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:24 am

Is your rear lifted? It may be lifted too far. If your springplates are sitting on the stops and you hit a bump, they will slam back against the stops. You should have a gap between the springplate and the stop. I run mine about 1/4" off the stops with 26mm short bars and mine only hit when I'm running it hard in the rough stuff.

Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:57 am

Shocks might be topping out.

Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:04 pm

Lotrat wrote: mine only hit when I'm running it hard in the rough stuff.

When you say "running it hard in the rough stuff" you mean all the time when the back half of your car is in the air??

Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:01 pm

Sounds like you have too much preload and not enough re-bound dampning to control it, back off your torsion bars a little or get a shock you can re-valve......

Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:59 pm

One of my swing-axle bajas also did this in the past. I had to re-index it one lower torsion setting to get it to stop. It was hitting the upper movement stop at the bottom of the torsion tube casting, afterwards my tires would rub with passengers in the back, so I wound up re-arcing the wheel wells in the rear fenders to gain additional clearance. Seems like it is always one thing, anf then another! It is possible to notch the bottom of the spring plate to gain additional clearance, but I have never resorted to that personally.

Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:04 pm

yes we did do a suspension lift in the back because it was sagging so we lifted it to compensate

Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:26 pm

baja kid wrote: Lotrat wrote: mine only hit when I'm running it hard in the rough stuff.

When you say "running it hard in the rough stuff" you mean all the time when the back half of your car is in the air??

Yeah. I guess you would know because you were behind me the whole time at the night run... eating dust and checking out my sweet chrome oil drain plug. The white KYBs really suck off-road IMO.

WOB, the easiest way to fix it will cost you some ride height. If it's really banging the stops, the stops will bend and a springplate could slip off... which is bad.

Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:15 am

blitzschnell racing wrote: Sounds like you have too much preload and not enough re-bound dampning to control it, back off your torsion bars a little or get a shock you can re-valve......

I have the same problem. The spring plates are hitting the stop. I've gotten used to it and its perfect when i'm actually loaded or have a passenger so i live with it

Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:37 am

After some close observation and creative thinking. I decided the cheapes way to do it would be to cut a little off the spring plate where it sits on the stop and use a limit strap. Would this work? any other suggestions? im looking for something good and cheap and i would hate to lose my clearence so easing off tension on the torsion would be the last thing id like to do. Thank you

Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:41 am

I had the same problem with my rail bottoming and topping out real easy while not running it real hard. It would get real bad when I would have a larger co pilot. The banging was very concerning to me.
I reindexed my torsion bars one spline and fabbed up bump stops and limiting straps at my limits, (then) made a 1/4inch notch in my spring plate and ground out about a 1/2 inch of my torsion housing were it would bottom out. Doing it this way if I ever have a problem like a strap braking or I loose a bump stop my weekend wont be ruined.
I can now pound through 1-2 foot whoops in second gear and hit the bottom of bowles 3 times as fast. No more banging and my rail rides like a dream compared to before.
Keep in mind that if you dont mount your limit straps with adjustable clevises they will stretch about 1/2inch.
This was one of the best mods Ive done so far to my rail.

Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:42 am

Duplicate post?

Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:43 am

If you have T1 CV joints, the max angle you should run them is 12*. If you are on the stops now you're probably at 15*. If you notch the spring plates the axle angle will probably rip your CVs apart. The extra travel will also pull your shocks apart if you are running stock shocks. Find out how much CV travel and shock travel you have left before you notch anything.

Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:18 am

I was just about to post a thread about this, I have the exact same problem. Even just expansion joints in the road, little bumps, etc make for some rather loud banging sounds, and doesn't make for a particularly enjoyable ride...

But now I have some good ideas on what is going on.

Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:12 pm

I have my stops and straps set up to work at the same points that my spring plates used to hit the stock stops on the torsion housing. The grinding I did in the torsion housing was just to clear the stock location of the stops and prevent banging. Not for extra travel.
With reindexing my wore out torsion bars one spline my spring plates sat 1/4 inch off the stock stop at unloaded ride hight and that is basically were I strapped it.
I am at around 14*-15* with this setup.T2 uppers and t1 lowers.
No clicking, binding or failures "yet".

Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:40 pm

Go bigger torsion bars with less pre-load.

Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:10 pm

If you are going to install limit straps just cut off the bottom stops. The straps are a much better way to go anyway and the stops just cause problems.

Mark

Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:08 am

The problem with straps is they stretch and it changes your limits, if your close to the edge on your CV angle, you need to replace them regularly, expensive. Your car shouldn't bang, removing the stops is a bandaid for a badly set up suspension. You need to figure out what is not set right to stop it.......Once you remove the stop you will not be able to put it back, it will break off all the time. Do it right, figure it out.

Sun Oct 18, 2009 5:04 am

:oops: well i feel stupid, i was about to tear into the car to ease off the torsion and notices that on shock was bad and the other was stiff.... i mean really stiff i couldn't even compress it more then 3 inches before it would shoot me right up. evidently the oil leaked out but its still gas charged. I changed the shocks and the thing feel nice now almost no slamming. :oops: i do have another question thought, above the shock mount there's a bolt that connects the body to the suspension i notices that the bolt broke off.... is there any way i can get it out with out taking the body off the pan? or could i just cut that little piece out so it wont be slamming against each other? :roll:

Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:02 am

There you go, you did it right and figured it out! Kudos to you