OME suspension problem
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:11 pm
To make a long story short, I'll just start with yesterday. I drove from Price, AZ, to about 70 miles northwest of there near the UT/AZ border. Same place I had been backpacking in June, if you saw that post. I had to drive down a dirt road about 15 miles, no biggie. They had had rains and flooding a week or so before, so many sections of the road had washouts, and one section just ended up in a 5' dropoff-someone created a bypass around it that only a 4x4 could take. I'm pretty positive I would have scraped the underside if I didn't have the OME installed. Made it to the trailhead & took my short 7 mile hike to a place called "The Wave" (pictures will be posted in another thread whenever I get to it). Came back to the car and started driving out the same way I had arrived. One section of the road is the harshest washboard I have ever driven, and I really thought the road to the Racetrack in Death Valley was bad. It was so bad that my windshield wipers turned on twice, meaning that it jarred the car so hard that the lever shifted down to the ON position. Just past this area, I noticed a horrible clunking sound coming from under the car. I stopped, did a quick looksee under and around the PF, but found nothing. As I started to go again, same horrible noise. I knew something was wrong, so I rolled down all the windows to see if I could pinpoint the location. It was definitely coming from the front driver's side, so I stopped again and did a very long check of everything on that side. All the nuts and bolts were tight & in place, nothing dangling or broken, etc. I stopped 2 more times wondering what the hell it was. I knew it had to be suspension related, so I stared at all the guts under the well for a few minutes, then ran to the other side to see if I could notice anything different. Bingo. The top of my shock post was a good 1/2" above where it should be. If you look at the following picture, taken when I discovered the problem, it should be fairly obvious to those who have installed the OME:
The top of the shock where the washer is should be level with that top part of the mount with the 3 bolts. I debated pulling off the wheel, but realized there was nothing I could possibly do to fix the problem. So, I drove out the rest of the way on the dirt road, then hit the next town, some 60 miles distant. I was able to get a couple different mechanics to look at it, but none of them had obviously ever dealt with shocks before. I knew I was screwed when one of them said "boy, those springs sure are tightly spaced." I decided I'd cut my trip short and head back to Salt Lake City, stopping in Bryce Canyon since it was on my original itinerary (though I had to take the pavement to get there rather than the great dirt road I had planned). Made it into Salt Lake this afternoon in time to stop by my local installer. He knew what the problem was right away, and the way he explained it, it sounds like there is a problem with the OME hardware or Nissan hardware. Since I didn't install these myself, I can't say for certain. So, for those of you who have installed the OME, what do you think? I guess there is another washer gizmo that isn't visible on the underside of the shock post. I was told that the bushing or whatever popped its way through that washer. What I don't know is if this washer was part of the OME kit, or if it was reused from the old suspension. I'm getting it fixed on Tuesday, which isn't soon enough since it now sounds like a $2 ghetto car in the throes of death.
Anyway, sorry to be such a windbag again, but just wanted to let everyone know there is a problem. I'll know on Tuesday what exactly that problem is. If it is OME, I'll be contacting them to let them know. Even if it is a Nissan part, I'll still let OME know about it so that they can include the extra parts necessary. By the way, my local installer will be removing both front assemblies and fixing both, most likely heavy duty washers pulled from other OME kits he has on hand.
The top of the shock where the washer is should be level with that top part of the mount with the 3 bolts. I debated pulling off the wheel, but realized there was nothing I could possibly do to fix the problem. So, I drove out the rest of the way on the dirt road, then hit the next town, some 60 miles distant. I was able to get a couple different mechanics to look at it, but none of them had obviously ever dealt with shocks before. I knew I was screwed when one of them said "boy, those springs sure are tightly spaced." I decided I'd cut my trip short and head back to Salt Lake City, stopping in Bryce Canyon since it was on my original itinerary (though I had to take the pavement to get there rather than the great dirt road I had planned). Made it into Salt Lake this afternoon in time to stop by my local installer. He knew what the problem was right away, and the way he explained it, it sounds like there is a problem with the OME hardware or Nissan hardware. Since I didn't install these myself, I can't say for certain. So, for those of you who have installed the OME, what do you think? I guess there is another washer gizmo that isn't visible on the underside of the shock post. I was told that the bushing or whatever popped its way through that washer. What I don't know is if this washer was part of the OME kit, or if it was reused from the old suspension. I'm getting it fixed on Tuesday, which isn't soon enough since it now sounds like a $2 ghetto car in the throes of death.
Anyway, sorry to be such a windbag again, but just wanted to let everyone know there is a problem. I'll know on Tuesday what exactly that problem is. If it is OME, I'll be contacting them to let them know. Even if it is a Nissan part, I'll still let OME know about it so that they can include the extra parts necessary. By the way, my local installer will be removing both front assemblies and fixing both, most likely heavy duty washers pulled from other OME kits he has on hand.
. Good luck with getting that straightened out. And as you remember, I can attest to a gawd awful noise when those dust shields aren't installed. :-/ .