[2000 5spd] Rear Shock meets Pothole, Hilarity does not Ensue

[chucknorrisinator]

So I drove my beautiful, new to me, 2000 NB over a sizable pothole today and heard a clunk. I thought I had just bottomed out and it would be fine, then I hit another normal sized bump and heard the same clunk again. I thought maybe I had knocked the mudflap loose and it was clunking. I got home and checked under the car with flashlight after the mudflap appeared to be intact. Something is wrong with my driver's side rear shock. I'll post a pic in the morning when the light is better. The spring has come down further on the body of the shock than it is on the passenger's side.

Questions:

Reasonable replacement parts? Can I do just the rear or do I need to do all four?

Can I drive on it in the meantime, as long as I'm careful and don't push it too hard?

Anyone in DFW want to give a Saturday to direct this replacement? I'm a college student on a tight budget (especially with parts breaking on my car, lol), but I'd be happy to get you a beer and I'm mildly entertaining. I have some tools, but definitely not a torque wrench/ratchet, maybe some of the more specialized stuff needed to replace the shocks.

Thanks!

[Demon I Am]

It sounds like somehow the spring perch broke/bent?

I'd not want to drive on that, in case of total failure. Could be deadly on the highway.

I'd look on the board, or local to you (craigslist) for an OEM shock body. If you can get the whole shock/spring assembly that'd be easiest to swap. I wouldn't expect to pay more than $50 for a good used piece, most scrappers probably throw them away.

If I were closer, I'd be willing to lend a hand.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Take some pics, including the shock on the other side for comparison. If the shocks are yellow, you might have Konis, and the snap ring for the perch may have slipped.

[—tsingson—]

Pics are definitely going to be worth a thousand words in this situation.

[chucknorrisinator]

IMG_20150220_080626943.jpgIMG_20150220_080613639.jpg

The first image is passenger side (not the side the clunk was coming from).

The second is driver side. I found out (by seeking the wisdom of my old man) that the things in the spring are there to prolong the life of the spring after it starts to go bad. The clunking only happens on particularly bad sections of road (thanks Dallas!) I was able to recreate the noise last night by driving over bumps intentionally. I drove carefully today (~100 mi.) and only heard a few times in a construction zone south of downtown.

I'm looking at replacing all four shocks with KONI SRT's and TEIN lowering springs from AutoAnything. Commentary/advice appreciated.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Ok, nice work on the photos!

The things stuck in the spring should not be there. It looks like one has something in there the other doesn't. Am I seeing that correctly?

The first thing I would check now are the two nuts that secure the upper strut mounts to the car (inside the trunk) and the center nut that secures the shock to the upper mount. Sometimes they can work loose and rattle around like you describe. To tighten the center nut, you may need to put some vice grips on the shock's shaft (the shiny metal rod), but use a piece of rubber tubing sliced lengthwise to prevent the jaws of the vice grips from scoring the shaft ( that would be bad ).

[Ernie Luckman]

does it look anything like this? happened to me the other day. Hit a HUGE pothole.

10386759_10204568237099004_3939570694611241450_n.jpg

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=568188

[chucknorrisinator]

I'll check in the trunk in the morning. I grabbed my guitar and backpack out earlier and nothing was drastically out of place (like in Ernie's pic).

kfjesus- The blocks are in both springs; they're just not visible from the angle I took the pic from on the passenger side. My dad recalled similar spacers being in the rear springs on his '68 Le Mans.

[chucknorrisinator]

Would sideshow's old Bilstein's work? http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....d-spring-setup

They're NA, but I don't know if these are interchangeable.

[JamieH]

Those things in the springs are spring spacers/helpers. They twist in and out. Kind of nerve-racking to put in or remove because of spring tension. They're a band-aid always used to hide a larger problem. They work, but should never be a permanent solution. Basically, they need to go and the real problem discovered and solved.

You'll easily be able to see the driver's rear upper shock mount once the carpet and paneling is removed from that side.

For whatever reason the springs could be worn out, hence all those spacers/helpers. When you hit the pot hole, one, or more, of those spacers/helpers could have broken and fell out. If memory serves, they're usually made from cast aluminum, so a hard hit like that could be enough for the sudden hard compression to break them.

Is the car sitting any lower than before?

Just another thought.

[chucknorrisinator]

Jamie - The car doesn't appear to be sitting any lower than it did before. I suspect that you're right about the spacers.

The clunking has dulled, but become more consistent. Smaller bumps seem to be a problem.

Planet Miata had some Bilstein's they stripped off of an '01 that I scooped up for cheap (because college students trying to buy engagement rings don't have money for fancy, new shocks and springs). Really excited for them to come in and install them!