Coilover Carnage!
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I run the truck every week for at least 100miles off road on all types of terrains. The weather in Death Valley has been formidable and I have taken full advantage of it by exploring trails that are difficult to access or are very infrequently visited. This has put a lot of wear and tear on the truck especially since I make day trips of 500mi + adventures most others would break up into 2 or 3 days.
This time around I had a catastrophic failure of the QA1 shock itself, I have emailed QA1 two weeks ago when this happened and no response so far, looks like I will be moving away from them due to non existent customer service. The shock itself sheared as I was cruising down the Saline Valley Rd in Death Valley, I heard a loud pop and the front left of the truck dropped and sounded like a flat tire.
This is what I saw after jacking up the truck and removing the wheel that was entirely in the wheel well.
Drivers side front sway bar link was also missing. I lost it a couple months ago and did a quick trail-side fix which lasted over 2,000miles, but this time there were no parts left to fix the sway bar.
Jounce bump stop took a little impact and completely folded itself up to the upper control arm mount which tells me that this design is not appropriate as a bump stop. Straightening it out, reinforcing and re-welding the bump stop might be done later this summer.
I walked back up the trail approximately 200 yards and found the coil spring that shot out after the shock sheared. Top perch was also laying in the area another 50 yards up the trail.
Its 103F degrees outside and I am 45 miles from the nearest pavement and cell phone service, no one in range of my CB, and the 5watt HAM is not strong enough to get a signal out to the Park Service repeater 30 miles away to call for help. With kids in the truck it was time to do some fun trail-side repairs to be able to limp the truck back to pavement. I put the coil back on the shock, drove the lower perch up as high as I could until the coil was jammed in the upper bracket and lowered the truck onto the temporary setup.
37" tire came off and went up on to the roof rack, one of the 35" donuts was put on the front drivers side. Bump stops and the 3" body lift kept the truck high enough to clear the inner fender but driving 45 miles on an unformidable Saline Valley Rd was not an option.
This is the passenger side view of the truck with the 35" spare.
Many arm chair philosophers from the early days of this build told me that the difference between 37s and 35s is minimal and would not be felt and is futile in my application, so this is what real world difference between 35s and 37s looks like.
I limped the last 45 miles of dirt at 20-30mph to the pavement, the same trail I usually run 50-60mph. Total of 234 miles home from the spot of the busted shock. We made it home but can only imagine what the vehicles passing us were thinking when they saw the lobsided truck.
I have several more QA1 shocks laying around that I bough when they were dirt cheap on eBay, 20 minutes later the new shock was in and my coilover setup was as good as new, also picked up new sway bar links and replaced both of the front ones.
I have done two more trips since the incident and noticed that the upper bracket became loose from bending the inside of the truck frame from the emergency repair to get home. So this weeks project will be to take the coilover out, remove the top bracket, grind and sand the bracket and the frame and weld the bracket on so there is no more play.
Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
