Coilover problem

TN-CTD · May 22, 2012

This sunday I took my new to me jeep riding and the driver side coilover blew the hose out of the resi when fully compressed. Might have been from having to much oil and pressure but we put the hose back in along with the snap ring and rode the rest of the day. Do I need to rebuild the coilover now or just add more oil and get the pressure right this time? Also happened to drive side air bump, spat oil out of valve but the other three work great ??? They are 14inch FOA coilovers and 2.5 foa air bumps

al1tonyota · May 22, 2012

TN-CTD said:
This sunday I took my new to me jeep riding and the driver side coilover blew the hose out of the resi when fully compressed. Might have been from having to much oil and pressure but we put the hose back in along with the snap ring and rode the rest of the day. Do I need to rebuild the coilover now or just add more oil and get the pressure right this time? Also happened to drive side air bump, spat oil out of valve but the other three work great ??? They are 14inch FOA coilovers and 2.5 FOA air bumps

The FOA parts is the problem! My buddy has some of those 2.5 bumps the first set blew the tops off tearing his new corbeu seat! They sent him a new set the tops haven't blown off but they leak he has to fill them before every ride he only runs 100psi in them the same pressure the first set had! Hope you have better luck with them!

BUG-E J · May 22, 2012

FOA=

uke: Get whatcha payfor.

TN-CTD · May 22, 2012

bought the jeep with foa stuff on it

patooyee · May 22, 2012

TN-CTD said:
bought the jeep with foa stuff on it

Replace it now before you waste any more time or money. I did and am very happy that I did despite the huge loss. I wouldn't wish FOA on my worst enemy.

Neal3000 · May 22, 2012

patooyee said:
Replace it now before you waste any more time or money. I did and am very happy that I did despite the huge loss. I wouldn't wish FOA on my worst enemy.

Dayum!

JRowe · May 22, 2012

This is the jeep he is talking about.

http://www.hardlinecrawlers.com/forums/index.php?topic=16824.0

First ride out and this happened. Previous owner said they've been on it for 2-3 years now.

He's not looking to buy all new coilovers, bumps, etc. Just wants to know if it needs to be taken apart and rebuilt, or if it can be refilled and charged.

Or know what might have caused this to happen (other than FOA apparently being the shittiest shocks on earth)

TN-CTD · May 22, 2012

thanks jrowe

wizzo · May 22, 2012

if it was me i would check the pressures on all the shocks and bumps. make sure they are within the range of what FOA recommends and honestly i would probably tear them down and make sure the oil level is what foa wants also. i'd rather spend the time and know what i have then take a gamble on having the same problem down the road. foa has a rep on pirate, he's on pretty regular, i would start by contacting him about oil qty and nitrogen pressure specs

patooyee · May 22, 2012

Its hard to say what happened. Sounds like too much oil. I can't imagine that anyone would be dumb enough to actually pressurize the shock high enough to cause that to happen from pressure alone. It sounds more like it hydro locked as a result of too much oil leaving not enough space to displace it to as the shaft traveled into the shock. It could have just been that the previous owner didn't beat on it hard enough to compress the shock that much or they did and you just got lucky by being the one it gave out on.

As for leaking on the bumps, that is standard for FOA. I still have my FOA bumps on mine (until I can afford to replace them like I did my shocks) and I have to refill them at the beginning of every day of riding. They leak from the valves, the bulkheads, and the machined grooves for the snap rings. As soon as I fix one it starts leaking from somewhere else.

You will want to pull them apart and refill to FOA specs so that you are sure it doesn't happen again.

BUG-E J · May 22, 2012

Call jimmy at eor. Get fox ones on the way. Sell the foa's for half what the foxes cost. Think of it as a buy one get one free deal and roll out.

crawlin85cj · May 22, 2012

Sell em to a west coaster and call up Rocky at WOD for a set of Radflo shocks. They have them for a good deal and it's a good shock. If you wanna step up and get the best he can hook you up on KINGs too.

mitaker · May 22, 2012

crawlin85cj said:
Sell em to a west coaster and call up Rocky at WOD for a set of Radflo shocks. They have them for a good deal and it's a good shock. If you wanna step up and get the best he can hook you up on KINGs too.

X2 on the King's also had good luck with SwayAway coilovers as well. Bottom line is you get what you pay for