Proof that LST shocks are not invincible

[X]

I was doing a little driving today. Nothing extreme, just 1 1/2 - 2 foot high jumps. Luckily I was able to get in a few tanks of driving before I did this:

I landed a jump and notice my rear right side was sagging. As I come closer I notice that the spring was missing. At first I thought the shock rod flew out but then saw that it sheered at the rod end and flew up into the shock body. Luckily I found the spring and spring retainer. I have a spare shock rod but I don't have a spare rod end and unfortunitly IRC shows to be out of stock of them. Gues I might have to switch back to stock shocks for a while.:stressed:

 

[Bad67bird]

lol ive landed like that and i broke the shaft smooth of at the housing,while they are great ,your right they are not indestructable...

 

[SunkenMetal]

Ouchy....

If a thread is cut on a lathe using a single pointed tool it makes threads with sharp corners witch creates stress risers so it can be broken rather easly it hit just right..

If the threads are rolled or formed meaning the material it has a radius on the threads. This is much stronger as a radius distributes stress much better... thats why all aircraft screws nuts and bolts are rolled threads...

pretty cool pics...

 

[Jeremy]

Even more proof that the LST's are not for me .. Thanks X ~!

 

[AoD]

Titanium rods for shocks might not be for you SJ Nice LST carnage bud. Another reason for me NOT to do that mod.

 

[Grumpy1822]

To be fair, those are IRC's not LST's. I don't know if the shafts are any stronger, but they are different. Are the rod ends on the IRC's metal? Lsts are plastic. Metal ball ends would add stress to the shaft. Plastic ends would just pop off or break. I have popped a few off myself. I have some extra ends ( plastic) if you need one shoot me a pm.

 

[X]

They are plastic rod ends on the IRC LSTs. Grumpy you got PM.

 

[MTBikerTim]

My friends and I bend and break shock shafts on the LST2 shocks on a regular basis. We break the tini coated and stock shafts too. The reason they break is mainly down to hitting things (logs posts and rocks) with the lower spring retainer. The retainer is so big due to the size of the spring and it is really stiff so it has a lot of leverage over the shock shaft when things hit it. They bend when the upper part of the hits something which seems to happen to the stock shafts as I don't think we have bent any tini ones yet.

The advantage of the LST shocks is that they don't bend on big jumps. Also there is only one shock per corner so less maintenance and the LST shocks are really easy to work on. It will be interesting to compare the hpi big bores to the LST shocks.

 

[Bankrupter]

Is that housing plastic? Like the Aftershock shocks. Or alloy like the LST? Looks like a plastic shock in the pic.

 

[X]

Is that housing plastic? Like the Aftershock shocks. Or alloy like the LST? Looks like a plastic shock in the pic.

Please excuse the bad pictures. The truck was still fairly dirty from driving it. The shocks are metal caps and housing.

 

[Grumpy1822]

I would like to see if the HPI big bores are stronger. The stockers arent. I've bent a crap load of those. I think the CENs are the strongest from what I've read, but the LST's give a much better ride. They absorb most of those small bumps even with thick oil and stiffer springs.

 

[Shaun]

ya i cant wait to see how well the big bores perform... from what i heard john schultz was running them at the last event and they were awsome.. sorry if i mispelled the last name lol and great pics by the way but I'm sorta surprised as i thought the Lst's were alot stronger then that!!!

 

[Bankrupter]

pics are fine... just the one is misleading. How do the lower cartridges hold up when one goes? Is this the 1st one you've broke? Good job BTW lol and thanks for the share.

 

[X]

This is the first one I broke and I have to admit I have been doing a bit more jumping lately to see how far I can take these. Just the broken rod and needing a new rod end due to the fact that it busted off just inside it. Other than that just minor stuff like sand getting stuck in the threads and the occasional scrape to the cap is the only issues I've had.

 

[Chris]

I hope nobody said these shocks are indestructible!!

They're *really* strong and smooth as AstroGlide, but certainly can be broken.

On that note I've had my S-25 a good 15-20ft in the air without busting my LST2 shocks. I've worked real hard at landing straight though. hehe

Hit something crooked and you're gonna break *something*!

 

[X]

Update, Thanks to a donation from Grumpy1822 with some free rod ends (rep added to you by the way) my truck is back up and running. Lets see how long it takes for me to break something else!

 

[X]

And to follow up on my previous post, I finally broke something else. I was doing back flips off the trees in my yard when I landed on my wheelie bar and it did this:

Probally a good reason to get extended TVPs so I can mount them in front of the shock tower.

 

[Dreadnaught]

that part being bent wont bother your shock movement. i have had a bent on since the first week i had mine installed, and i haven't had any problems with it yet.

 

[Jeremy]

Should pound out easy tho

 

[Blazer X]

that part being bent wont bother your shock movement. i have had a bent on since the first week i had mine installed, and i haven't had any problems with it yet.

I sold dread my shock kit...I bent that same piece a half dozen times. It's nothing a hammer can't fix. IRC should put "hit here to straighten" on there lst shock kit.:duh:

 

[X]

Yea it will definitely bend out. Although I could see that if you hit it hard enough you could pull in on the screws holding the shocks and bend the back piece as well. It made kind of a odd mark on the front of the piece, like it whiped away most of the IRC logo. Its amazing how far that wheelie bar bends!