Broken front syncro shock

[tjet]

Anyone ever see a shock break like this?

[MarkWard]

Yes I have seen that. I recall there was a thread about it. The shock and suspension must move so that the shock sees linear movement. Likely your suspension is moving in such a way that the shock shaft is being forced off center. Bummer.
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[tjet]

Yeah. I think also the shock is either over-extending, or too stiff for my application (van is lighter than stock)

[Zeitgeist 13]

Your van is really lifted, so I suspect that the shock is fully extended at full droop. Either get some shock extenders or limiter straps that don't allow that much droop. I added extenders to my rears, but I never could settle on a plan for the fronts on my van, so I haven't lifted it up to the same level.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[tjet]

I do have extenders on them. I hope I'm able to remove it from whats left.

Yeah I should look into some type of limiting straps. To be honest, I shouldn't be all that supprised about this. I've been taking a shortcut to work through the desert almost every day (saves me about 10 min). I've been getting a little too bold on my speed lately while off roading. The "air time" has increased.

[Zeitgeist 13]

I'll bet it broke right at the last thread where the shock shaft enters the extender. I'm guessing the suspension geometry puts a side load on the entire length of the shaft and that's the weak point.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[tjet]

Do you think I should go back to the stock syncro shocks instead of ___?

_____has _____for 80 each

edit: I went ahead and ordered the front _____ I also ordered another pair of extenders from_______.

[tjet]

So I installed the Bilstein shocks in my Syncro to replace the broken one. The ride and feel is better now (vs the hd ome ones) I havent been off road yet. One thing I wanted to point out is that the Bilstein front shocks have a different thread on the top end, meaning that the new shock extenders wont fit. The new shock is on the left

So I had to remove my 40mm lift spacers.

This is how I was able to install 40mm lift spacers and 2" lift springs.

I cut the spacers in half and installed them last.

[tjet]

Autozone parking lot. Love those guys

[syncroanddestroy]

This happened to me with my shitty stock shocks with threaded extensions after a weekend of hard wheeling.

I welded the shock back together as a temporary fix (which ended up being a perminant fix for now) still holding together! Can't believe it to be honest. Hopefully it holds until I can fit some big coilovers

[tjet]

Nice.
Here's my broken one on the right. It snapped right at the extension. The shaft on these shocks is too narrow.

[jberger]

[MarkWard]

The shock shaft extender looks to be a poor design and a poor idea. You are putting side loads on a part of the original shock shaft it was not designed to handle.

I've mentioned this before, its likely the shock is not moving square to the suspension travel. The rubber mounting can only absorb so much of these out of range forces.

Assuming proper suspension geometry, a better design of that extension, would be to have the bottom of the adapter machined to extend over the stock shaft about an inch to reinforce that weak spot where the shock shaft is machined to a smaller diameter and then threaded.

A truly better design would be a custom length shock vs trying to extend a stock shock. The geometry still needs to be sorted.
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[tjet]

Yeah I agree the design could be better. It needs to be much deeper. As for checking the suspension travel, I was running out of daylight, so I concentrated on getting it all back together - along with the extra task of pulling all the lifting spacers out. The van is a lot lower now.

The good news is that I've discovered a really nice spring compressor. The only issue with it is that the Acme bolts are too long. I'm going to order a new kit & cut down the bolts. It will be small enough to keep in the van.