Bilstein Failure

[long_tall_texan]

Driving to the pharmacy this morning, I hear a CLUNK-CLUNK-CLUNK every time I hit any bump in the road. Get home and take a look underneath. Front left shock shaft has failed. These shocks are only about a year old. The shaft broke rigt at the stress concentration point where the shaft changes in diameter from small to large. 4 Wheel Parts will have me a new replacement shock on Monday morning. But I really did not want to tear it all down. Darn it!

What it looked like installed...

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Fail!

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[Ry' N Jen]

I'd be asking for a pair of shocks for replacement!

 

[Billwill]

Stupid question I suppose but were those the right lenght shocks to go with your lift?
Reason I ask is that I have been thinking of getting Bilsteins for my stock standard 2002 CRD because of all the good reviews I have had regarding Bilsteins but I am a bit "shocked" to hear about this failure.!

Edit to add: I have just seen the OPs post on Lost regarding this incident and I see that some owners are expressing concern over the quality of the Bilsteins; maybe I need to research a bit more before choosing a new shock...my CRD is stock standard and spends 95% of its time on the open road so I do not need anything fancy...just a smooth ride and reliability.!

 

[LibertyTC]

I am wondering if you contacted Bilstien directly if they would like to examine that shock to observe the stress fracture first hand.
I also run Bilstien shocks and hope mine stand up for more than a year!

 

[PDXGREEN]

looks like quality made in china craftsmanship and strength.

 

[Jo6pak]

Let's not over-react

For the record, I do not have Bilstein shocks, I do not work for them, I do not own stock in the company.
But, just maybe we are getting a bit too excited here gentlemen. I'm not really defending Bilstein, but let's put it into perspective.

How many are using bilstein shocks with their lifts? How many of them are literally beating the heck out of them while wheeling? And how many have failed?

I agree that a failure of a mechanical part is problematic, but it does happen. If the item is still in warranty it should be replaced by Bilstein for free.

JMO

 

[HoosierJeeper]

looks like quality made in china craftsmanship and strength.

Mine were made in the USA.

 

[JLRockies]

The company has been going through a rough patch lately with failures. They've been honoring their non transferrable warranty but it still brings teh suk when something fails.

 

[PDXGREEN]

I don't know if they get their material from China...BUT....a lot of trucking companies have had issues with landing gear on trailers this last year. Trailers buckling and falling on the nose and they weren't over loaded. They are made here in America but the metal comes from china. Everyone is suspicious and saying that China has been cutting corners on the ingredients thus causing the metal to be weaker. I don't know if its true or not but that's just roomers in the trucking industry, China has been cutting corners.

 

[long_tall_texan]

Well, I replaced the broken one Monday. Hope to never have that failure again. 4 Wheel Parts said they send all failures to Bilstein. They have been told that they examine every failure to see if it is a design flaw. They were very surprised that they failed. They said they very rarely have Bilsteins fail. They said it is common for Rancho and ProComp, but not for Bilstein, regardless of the model of the Bilstein shock (yellow or silver).