ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Model Specific Suzuki Forum => Suzuki XL-7 (Gen. 1 Platform) 2001-2006 => Topic started by: ktec on December 12, 2017, 12:23:52 PM
-
Anyone have any insight as to why my OME (105S) front struts with RRO spacers + OME Springs are blowing apart with hardly any abuse?
https://youtu.be/8Ub5uBE7pUM
-
With hardly any abuse huh??? You're most likely topping the struts out.
OME struts were designed to be used with OME springs and no spacers - when you add spacers you create a situation where the struts have reduced droop and may become fully extended.
Feel free to confirm my suspicions by contacting OME directly - you should be able to find contact information at www.arbusa.com (http://www.arbusa.com).
-
Thats right, light duty use.
While I do have the rro spacers they may actually be helping as i think the issue is not over extending but bottoming out.
Whatcha think
-
Assuming stock suspension (apart from the OME stuff and the spacers - I don't think it's possible to get the OME struts to "bottom out" assuming they are being used with OME springs, and the original bump stops are in place and in good shape.
Compressed length is not that much greater than stock that it would be an issue (I have the measurements somewhere around from when I fitted mine) and also I would not expect the engineers at OME to get a detail like that wrong.
-
In my experience, usually what kills struts like that is topping out aka over-extension of the strut. I experienced this on my 2001 Vitara with the Calmini 2.5" lift. The springs were too stiff for the weight of that rig so the struts were right at the end of their travel, at rest. All it took to kill my first pair of struts was a 120km round trip on a heavily pot-holed gravel road. I lowered the front end and the next pair of struts lasted longer, but it was still topping out on the trail every now and then. The struts aren't really made to sustain that kind of topping out. This is especially true if the front swaybar is removed, because the swaybar will fight the downward action of the wheel in the air because of the pressure created by the one on the ground. The best way to remedy this without putting the swaybar back on, is to make up a pair of limiting straps similar to what the desert racers use- basically a glorified seatbelt between your a-arm and your frame that gets tight just before your strut would top out. This way the front suspension will hang on the strap instead of the strut, and your struts will thank you.
-
In my experience, usually what kills struts like that is topping out aka over-extension of the strut. I experienced this on my 2001 Vitara with the Calmini 2.5" lift. The springs were too stiff for the weight of that rig so the struts were right at the end of their travel, at rest. All it took to kill my first pair of struts was a 120km round trip on a heavily pot-holed gravel road. I lowered the front end and the next pair of struts lasted longer, but it was still topping out on the trail every now and then. The struts aren't really made to sustain that kind of topping out. This is especially true if the front swaybar is removed, because the swaybar will fight the downward action of the wheel in the air because of the pressure created by the one on the ground. The best way to remedy this without putting the swaybar back on, is to make up a pair of limiting straps similar to what the desert racers use- basically a glorified seatbelt between your a-arm and your frame that gets tight just before your strut would top out. This way the front suspension will hang on the strap instead of the strut, and your struts will thank you.
I had same problem, and now run limiting straps on both ends. struts have lasted more than twice as long.