Those of you with megan coilovers please chime in

[Jason@SportsCar]

Originally Posted by 1.5

I would never do that with a daily, again. I already learned my lesson when I blew a shock because I shortened my shock so much it had less than 1" of droop. Miles now has blown his shock twice doing that. I just want to try and help deathbeard before he goes through the same pains lol

I have never seen a shock failure due to lack of droop. Sounds like you need to figure out what the actual point of failure is, or upgrade.

[1.5]

Well by that I mean like when your wheels leave the ground and then droop back down to earth, if you have the shock short enough, the shock valve tops out before the wheel touches the floor. This constant smacking of the shock valve against the top of the shock causes the o rings to pop out of place and then the fluid poors out.

Both Miles and I have had it happen where the top o ring blows, both times were set so short. You could hear the shock topping out on some bumps too.

[Autocross72]

Couldn't you just raise the spring perch? That is why it is on a threaded sleeve. I didn't have this problem when I installed my Megan coil-overs on my 2008 lb, but your components look different than mine.

[Autocross72]

I just read in one of your other threads that you removed the sprin perch, which is why yours looks different than mine. You can't blame Megan Racing for poor products if you don't install it as it is supposed to be installed.

Also, your rear axle WILL hit/rub your gas tank if you go too low in the rear on a LB. I couldn't believe that Toyota engineers would designe a car that would even have the possibility of the rear axle coming in contact with the fuel tank, but when I installed my coil-overs I indeed confirmed that, that is the case. There is a thread on here some where where we discussed it. Just a heads up.

[Jason@SportsCar]

Originally Posted by Autocross72

I just read in one of your other threads that you removed the sprin perch, which is why yours looks different than mine. You can't blame Megan Racing for poor products if you don't install it as it is supposed to be installed.

Also, your rear axle WILL hit/rub your gas tank if you go too low in the rear on a LB. I couldn't believe that Toyota engineers would designe a car that would even have the possibility of the rear axle coming in contact with the fuel tank, but when I installed my coil-overs I indeed confirmed that, that is the case. There is a thread on here some where where we discussed it. Just a heads up.

Are you serious? You say you cant blame Megan if someone installs it improperly, but then you turn around and hammer the Toyota engineers because you found if you lower the car to much the axle hits? Don't do that. When you put after market parts on you take your chances.

[1.5]

We don't stay within the confines of what Megan deems "max low."

I follow the frame to ground asymptote, ever approaching to the point where you can't tell there is a distance between them lol.

[1.5]

nice find.

There seems to be the never ending disagreement between how to properly set shock body length. I have heard from a few suspension gurus on my civic forums and from Jeff @ MI and they agree that shortening the shock body too much reduces the amount of available droop. Doing this causes the shock piston to "top out" and this is what is causing all of us to blow the top o ring.

Now there are those like Seth and Jason who say that we need to shorten our shocks more and customize them to be even shorter. This again is going to cause the shock to "top out."

I don't know if there is a "sweet spot" or if you guys are just lucky your shocks have not yet blown, or if it also is due to our respective terrain but why such the disconnect?

[seth_man]

the upper seal being "shocked" by the valve stack hitting the upper cap seems very unlikely to me, the valve stack has a "shock absorber" or "bump stop" built in, between the valve stack and the top cap is a rubber disc to stop contact and dampen the movement when the shock is fully extended.

The top cap is to the left, in the center is the "bump stop" and to the right is the valve stack.





IMO the biggest problem with all the cheap coilovers is material quality, every leaking or "blown" set i have seen has had the same problem, poor quality plating on the shafts. the chrome comes off and dirt gets into the top seal destroying the seal and letting all the oil leak out every time the shock is extended. this particular megan shock has fairly low miles on it, 15,000 ish. the chrome flaked off the shaft and that was the end of it.

[Jason@SportsCar]

Originally Posted by 1.5

nice find.

There seems to be the never ending disagreement between how to properly set shock body length. I have heard from a few suspension gurus on my civic forums and from Jeff @ MI and they agree that shortening the shock body too much reduces the amount of available droop. Doing this causes the shock piston to "top out" and this is what is causing all of us to blow the top o ring.

Now there are those like Seth and Jason who say that we need to shorten our shocks more and customize them to be even shorter. This again is going to cause the shock to "top out."

I don't know if there is a "sweet spot" or if you guys are just lucky your shocks have not yet blown, or if it also is due to our respective terrain but why such the disconnect?

If your shocks are failing due to lack of droop that is a quality issue. Don't use cheap parts and save the droop for the off-road guys.

[1.5]

Wow detective Seth lol awesome cross section view!

That makes sense as well. I guess it can be a number of things happening that could cause leaking and blown struts. So maybe I need to just let my shocks blow again and then rebuild them with some quality parts.

Even with that rubber bump stop, I imagine the amount of force being generated by gravity pulling down on the torsion beam and complete rear suspension, is so great that the little rubber stopper probably isn't soaking up all that force.

[seth_man]

well the resistance from the shock itself is going to slow gravity down almost totally, if there is no pressure from the spring i dont see how they can rebound that fast. even with alot of weight on the shock the valves dont allow the oil to move that fast even set full soft.

[1.5]

That is what I thought as well but I dont know what oil they use and I hear there are drastic differences from some of the better quality fluids vs the lower quality fluids which I am sure is what Megan opted for.

I inspected the shock itself when it blew and the rod looked brand new, hell the shocks were only about 1 month old when that shock went bad. Now I have been on them for about 4 more months with no issues the only difference is that I lengthened the shocks drastically.

I just am afraid of further shock adjustments. I fear if I touch it I may end up with another puddle of shock oil in my driveway.

[DeathBeard]

quick update...went to the machine shop today and they cut 30mm off the bolt in the back making it shorter, the 150mm length spring is still too short

[monchito18]

wow... I may just keep using 2" lowering springs and KYB struts xD

[DeathBeard]

Why?

[1.5]

My shocks now have been holding up more than fine since I lengthened mine and I'm on about 6 months. My 130mm springs stay in just fine and with my new wheels I'm running with all rear hardware and no zip ties.

Deathbeard, a few days or weeks after this thread started, Mr miles had his second shock failure and again he rides with his settings super short like you. Food for thought; only people riding with super shortened shocks are posting blown struts? But yet super short springs with a lengthened shock body operate fine?

[mr_miles]

I'm not entirely sure why the second shock blew. I didn't hear it tap out anywhere, and I wasn't driving aggressive at all. In fact, that was one of the most calm drives I've ever had, thanksgiving day with no cars seen for almost 150 miles(maybe that's my problem lol). I am however, going to shorten the threaded base if Megan ever sends me my other warranty shock back. and then even after that, I'm going to thread the shock body up a little bit just to give me that extra inch or so of droop, to be safe, and include some sort of droop thing so the shock cant top out again.

This is also why I'm debating going to cantilever suspension in the rear. Might as well go full custom so if I break something I can fix it immediately, instead of riding broken for MONTHS like I am. We paid a fair amount for these setups - and they should be able to be adjusted either way. If they shouldn't be able to be set super low like 1.5 and I used to have them, they should include longer jam nuts or shorten that bolt all around for every application. It doesn't help that Megan includes no directions or warnings about this anywhere, and if you ask a Megan rep, you get mixed answers. I had mine set so low partially because I thought I needed extra shock travel for shock safety. If I would have known that Megans were known for blowing O-rings, I would have set them a little different, and to not top out.

I think a lot of people think that for this reason, and it's one you hear all the time.
"if you let a shock ride partially compressed they wear out faster and break" so naturally I would think "try to keep the shock at as close to fully extended as possible!"


Rant over. :)

[1.5]

Yea miles I agree with you and what Seth says makes sense. We did pay a lot for these but unfortunately maybe not as much as a Cusco or silk road set up though and unfortunately for us as consumers, our cheaper coilovers have cheaper parts. These cheaper parts just can't handle the stress that we may be trying to put on them. Unfortunately the Megan tries to instil confidence in us that their setups can handle lows like we run when they really might not be able to.

I just plan on having the shocks rebuilt and revalved with some higher quality parts in the future.