Axle Damper: Replace or not worth it?

[moga]

Aggie, my mountaineer, is near and dear to my heart. However, she has had saggy butt syndrome since day one and I have no more patience for seeing her in that condition. To my disappointment, there wasn't much difference in ride height after replacing the shocks and rear springs. Now I plan on replacing the stock shackles with Warrior 153s to see if I can't recover the missing ground clearance that way.

While I'm at it, should I replace the axle damper too? If I'd known that such a thing existed when I put in new shocks, I would have had it done then. It was only recently when I bled the brake lines for the first time that I beheld the weird shock absorber thingy connected to the rear axle. On one hand, I know that the quad shocks don't impact the ride height, so it won't benefit Aggie that way. Yet on the other, I worry that I may leave that base uncovered which doesn't make sense given how far I've gone to correct the issue so far. It can't hurt, right? What about how she hits bottom kinda hard when going over speed bumps at normal street speeds (~30 mph)? Will replacing the dampers help with that at all?

Also, does any other manufacturer beside Bilstein make them? They're kinda pricey at $180 for a pair. I'd rather get another make to cut down on the expense if at all possible.

She is strictly a daily driver if that at all matters.

 

[moga]

OK. After spending a couple hours reading about the suspension system and conducting an inspection of the rear end this morning with the benefit of said research, I've decided to forego replacing the damper and just focusing on springs and shackles. The darn driver's side spring is nearly flat, and the passenger side barely has any recognizable concavity to it. The leafs are obviously the problem. They were bought from JCWhitney and are apparently turkeys. I don't even think they're the right width. Plus, there isn't even an overload spring at the bottom of the pack! I don't have the time to rummage around at a salvage yard for a direct replacement and I don't feel like taking my chances ordering a used part sight unseen by the interwebz. I'm just going to do the WAR-153 + AAL for now until I get around to doing a boneyard search. I want to replace my 02s and put in a 2m radio in the coming weeks so that'll tie up my time + funds for a little bit anyway.

 

[moga]

Just for kicks I put out a wanted to buy notice on junk yard dog and some place in IL responded with an offer of $340 shipped for a used pair of springs.

$340?? LMAO. Not in this life time, buddy.

 

[Maniak]

For that price you could get a nice set of brand new OME springs (Old man emu).. they ride nicer than stock at they have stock and 1.5" lift springs nowadays (been a while since I talked to them).

~Mark

 

[410Fortune]

paperweight

 

[moga]

paperweight

What is a paperweight?

Anyway, I got the warriors installed. Who ever said that PB Blaster is your friend couldn't be more right. This vehicle spent the first eight years of its life on the South Shore of MASS and I surely was worried about the effort it would take to get the old hardware off. It turned out to completely be a non-issue.



BEFORE:

AFTER:

The pictures are not taken from the best angles and they have too much contrast but I think they still show the improvement in ground clearance. All in all I'm pretty pleased so far with the increase in ride height that came from changing out the stock shackles. Got a solid two inches out of the Warrior 153s but unfortunately the driver's side is still about .75" lower than the passenger side. The next move is add a leafs to shore up the jive turkey JC Whitney springs. I just don't think they have the proper rating for this vehicle but I can't coin up for a new pack at the moment.

Piece of crap spring pack. I wish I knew when I bought em.

Thanks for all the replies to this thread. This has been a fun exploration into working on the Mountie for myself. I now know that its only the beginning. Not only does it save me $$$ but also there's a certain satisfaction to be had by doing the work for myself.

 

[techieman33]

410 fortune was saying that the 5th shock is a paper weight. It's really a toss up, about half the people say they can feel a difference, and the other half can't.

 

[moga]

410 fortune was saying that the 5th shock is a paper weight. It's really a toss up, about half the people say they can feel a difference, and the other half can't.

Roger that.

 

[sean99]

What about how she hits bottom kinda hard when going over speed bumps at normal street speeds (~30 mph)?

Hitting speed bumps at 30mph might be a little rough on the suspension.

 

[moga]

Hitting speed bumps at 30mph might be a little rough on the suspension.

NOT any more.

The speed bumps down here aren't the type that you'd find for instance at the airport parking lot or at the mall; a short but high bump make of concrete of 8-10" in width and 3-4" in height. Ours are made of asphalt and the hump is typically spread out over about two feet or so. As mild as they were, they were enough to make the bumper hit the axle though.

 

[ws65]

From what I've read on here, the fifth shock helps with stability for any sudden manuvers you might have to do at speed. I just changed out all 5 shocks from stock (96k miles), what a difference! Anyway, I did the fifth shock just as insurance for what I mentioned above.

 

[fugereb]

Replaced axel shaft dampener

I replaced mine last week on my 2000 EB with 120K miles on it, made a huge difference to the rear end stability. Most noticeable when going over curbs at an angle and the tightness of the rear end at freeway speeds when making quick lane changes. Best $30 I ever spent. $29 bucks from Rockauto, a monroe part.

 

[SoNic67]

I did replace mine too. It helps with positioning the rear end on sudden curves (side-to-side).
Why? Because the rear end is held in place only by the leafs. On V8 you get some extra links to help with axle warp, but sideways movement is still possible - and that is damped by this shock. Some side movement is damped also by the main shocks (because of their angle), but that is not enough for a 4 door.
In picture is the Monroe "Magnum Axle Shaft Damper" SC2958 (has equal valving on compression and extension and 'Micro-Cellular Gas Design' that allows unit to be mounted horizontally).
It is totally worth the small effort and money.

 

[moga]

After moving into a new home and starting a family earlier this year, I'm finally getting around to doing the leaf springs on the Mounty. Going to order a set of 5560 F springs directly from Ford. That's the only way I know to take the guess work out of the equation. Also going to replace that dampener while I'm under the chassis poking around.

Another question about Aggy. The OEM exhaust has a little resonator between the muffler and the tail pipe. The connection between the muffler and the resonator has rusted and is making noise so I'm in the market for a replacement system. Must an aftermarket exhaust keep true to this arrangement? I'm in the final stages of deciding between a Gibson and a Mac Cat Back system to replace the OEM and neither system features the extra resonator. I would rather forego an extra canister anyhow in the spirit of recouping lost energy if possible. Is that kosher? What does the hive say?

 

[moga]

The radio install turned out sweet BTW. Went with a Yaesu 7900 dual band hard wired to a Larsen 2/70 5/8 wave. The radio face plate hangs on the windshield on a suction cup mount next to the GPS module. Stuck a little scanner antenna on the roof too while I was cutting holes. Another Larsen jobbie.

 

[mikepier]

I did replace mine too. It helps with positioning the rear end on sudden curves (side-to-side).
Why? Because the rear end is held in place only by the leafs. On V8 you get some extra links to help with axle warp, but sideways movement is still possible - and that is damped by this shock. Some side movement is damped also by the main shocks (because of their angle), but that is not enough for a 4 door.
In picture is the Monroe "Magnum Axle Shaft Damper" SC2958 (has equal valving on compression and extension and 'Micro-Cellular Gas Design' that allows unit to be mounted horizontally).
It is totally worth the small effort and money.

I spent 2 hours yesterday trying to remove mine. The bolt at the frame came out fine, but the bolt at the axle was actually "fused" to the metal bushing of the shock. So as I was trying to loosen the bolt, the bushing was coming out with it, so it was actually "spreading" the mount apart. So I gave up and sawzalled out the bolt, and the nut that was welded on the mount ( Did not even realized it was welded on to the mount after I tried to loosen it with a wrench. Obviously it was not going to get loose!) I then hammered the mount back to its original position.
So I ordered a new shock from RockAuto. Does anyone know if it comes with replacement hardware, or do I need to get a replacement nut and bolt? The bolt says 10.9 on the head and I'm pretty sure its metric thread.

 

[koda2000]

The Monroe axle damper I bought did not come with any hardware. If you're changing the nut and bolt you don't need to get a metric replacement, just something that will fit in hole/bushing. I suggest you get a grade 8 bolt and nyloc nut.

 

[mikepier]

Just replaced the axle damper today with replacement hardware from Lowes. I think it was a 12mm X 1.75 bolt.

 

[SoNic67]

@mikepier - that 10.9 grading in metric is equal to grade 8 in SAE. Using a random bolt might not be the best idea, especially if it has some "play" in the holes.

 

[Turdle]

The bolt should be a "shoulder bolt" which fits tightly into the metal sleeve bushing. If the bolt inside the sleeve is threaded it will "fuse" to the sleeve sooner, also, the threads will not have as much strength as a solid shoulder.