BLOWN SHOCK!!!!!

[davidg410]

Me and my friend dropped his eclipse 2" with tanabe precido super downs, my friend is poor and doesnt have a job so he didnt get new shox with his drop. Well, when we installed the front passenger shock we left the dust boot off because it was acting gay and it was too hard to get it to stay on cuz of the shox being pretty much gone..(63k miles on original shox)...Well today we walk out to his car and notice that there is a dent that is protruding from the hood, so we pop the hood the entire shaft of the shock has blown up into the engine bay and dented the inside of his hood. Im pretty sure that was cause by a big pot hole and since his shox were stock they were pretty much fully compressed by the drop and couldnt take the bump.....His dad hasnt seen it yet but we called him and im pretty sure he was tryin to blame it on the dust boot not bein on there. Could a dust boot prevent a 62k mile 2" dropped shock from doin that...and is it normal for it to be that crazy when it blows and actually throw the rod into the hood???

[tnord]

the only way i can see the dust boot causing this would be from the following situation:

debris got on the piston shaft because there isn't a dust boot resulting in a gouge on the shaft, this caused the piston to leak all of it's oil and become completely unfunctional

i've had a shock loose all of it's oil and nothing of the sort happened, so i'm not too sure what to tell you

[The Punk Genius]

But if the scock was totally compressed and you hit a pothole.......There is no give there, that could force the shock up through the schock tower, but I would think you would notice that when it happened. I imagine there would have been a rather loud noise along with the shock coming through the shock tower, I could be way off base on this though.

[HippoSleek]

It's either the dust boot or a REALLY thick anodized washer that goes on right below it (depends on the engineering).  These little devils are load bearing, as more than a few people I've talked to have discovered.

If you go back in your mind, you will recall that the shock rod/shaft is thicker near the tube/chamber. &nbsp;About 1/3 of the way up, it tapers off (right where the dust cover/washer sits). &nbsp;You will further note that the next peice of metal that could stop that tapered section *might* but up at the top mount. &nbsp;You will note that this would cause the top 4-6(?) inches of the shaft to protrude (unless it is stopped by the hood). &nbsp;When you first put it all back together, there isn't enough weight to push the shaft through the mount, but the first time it compresses it slides right up <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('>

I'd double check all four corners too, since this can happen anywhere you didn't get the stuff put together in the right order/complete.

It's a tough break, but not as uncommon as you might think.

[davidg410]

i wasnt in his car when it happened, so i really dont know if he heard anything or not.......i think we may have put a small bushing that was supposed to go on the top of the tower between the lil bronze plate and the bolt back down underneath the tower, but i would think that would just add more bushing to keep it from goin through the tower.....hmmmm........anybody else got ideas?..........hipposleek,,you may be right about that load bearing

[HippoSleek]

This is not from a Nissan, but I happen to know of an online catalog:

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/catimgs/13SR30_J10.gif

The part you missed is either #9 (above dust cover) or #11 (if that car doesn't use that extra washer design). &nbsp;That's a strong little washer, especially when combined w/ the dust cover. &nbsp;I would bet lots of money that is your problem. &nbsp;BTS: you wouldn't likely hear it hit (I don't know anyone who has - but I do know other victims).