Suspension aid?

[ACZL]

Had a Chevy 3500HD SRW pass me locally yesterday and saw something kinda odd on it's susp. Attached to the rear spring shackle and axle itself was a some kind of coil over shock (at least that what it looked like to me) and was mounted on top of factory spring. Is it some kind of sway or overload device? Didn't see anything attached to the axle forward.

[demiles]

burningman wrote:
Wow, did you guys read the ad hype about that thing in the link?
It’s entertaining, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard such miracle claims!

They work well. One of the better solutions for suspension enhancement.

[bucky]

Looks to me to be only an added shock absorber. I see no load carrying attributes in the design. I'm sure the cost exceeds the benefits by a wide margin.

[burningman]

Wow, did you guys read the ad hype about that thing in the link?
It’s entertaining, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard such miracle claims!

[Groover]

"Heck, I've busted shock mounts just by hitting a pothole with no coil over spring before. "

My point exactly. It is the shock loads that are hard on things, not the steady loads. At least, steady loads within reason. One the other hand, on the typical half ton pickup that is only rated to carry around 1700lbs an extra few hundred pounds of lift would go a long way towards keeping the headlights pointed the right way with a full load in the back. I don't think that any sane person would ever suggest that you put the full weight of "a load a pickup truck will carry" on any supplementary springs. If you have busted shock mounts just by hitting a pothole you must either drive a lot rougher than anyone I know or the Michigan salt is sending your vehicles to an early grave.

[SidecarFlip]

Groover wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Installing any coil over shock and expecting it to assume an overload condition is asking for trouble. Shock mounts, in general, are not beefy enough to carry weight. Shock mounts are built to carry a shock and absorb the shock stress, not carry a load all the time.

It's a cheap out way to increase load capacity while stressing something that isn't designed or built to carry a sustained load.

Sustained loads don't hurt anything. It is load variations over about 50% of yield strength that cause metal fatigue. The combination of shock absorber action and weight carrying may well increase the likelyhood of this happening. My personal experience with load carrying shocks is that I ran some on my 1970 Impala for about 170,000 miles with no ill effects but they were only carrying a couple of hundred pounds. That was enough to make a big difference on a sedan with a soft suspension. After market shocks that are much stiffer than the factory ones may well do more damage than steady lift from springs.

Your Imp and a pickup truck are 2 entirely different animals. The 1/2 through bolts isn't rated to carry a load a pickup truck will carry and not fail. Heck, I've busted shock mounts just by hitting a pothole with no coil over spring before.

[ACZL]

goducks10 wrote:
Was it this?
https://activesuspension.com/

Am pretty sure that's what it looked like. Thanks.

[goducks10]

Was it this?
https://activesuspension.com/

[Groover]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Installing any coil over shock and expecting it to assume an overload condition is asking for trouble. Shock mounts, in general, are not beefy enough to carry weight. Shock mounts are built to carry a shock and absorb the shock stress, not carry a load all the time.

It's a cheap out way to increase load capacity while stressing something that isn't designed or built to carry a sustained load.

Sustained loads don't hurt anything. It is load variations over about 50% of yield strength that cause metal fatigue. The combination of shock absorber action and weight carrying may well increase the likelyhood of this happening. My personal experience with load carrying shocks is that I ran some on my 1970 Impala for about 170,000 miles with no ill effects but they were only carrying a couple of hundred pounds. That was enough to make a big difference on a sedan with a soft suspension. After market shocks that are much stiffer than the factory ones may well do more damage than steady lift from springs.

[transamz9]

ACZL wrote:
Had a Chevy 3500HD SRW pass me locally yesterday and saw something kinda odd on it's susp. Attached to the rear spring shackle and axle itself was a some kind of coil over shock (at least that what it looked like to me) and was mounted on top of factory spring. Is it some kind of sway or overload device? Didn't see anything attached to the axle forward.

It is an axle wrap damper. Has nothing to do with load carrying. It helps dampen the axle wrap under a hard pull sort of like a traction bar.

[SidecarFlip]

Installing any coil over shock and expecting it to assume an overload condition is asking for trouble. Shock mounts, in general, are not beefy enough to carry weight. Shock mounts are built to carry a shock and absorb the shock stress, not carry a load all the time.

It's a cheap out way to increase load capacity while stressing something that isn't designed or built to carry a sustained load.