Gouged strut!

[~Rich~]

Well have a look at my front left strut!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/07/764.jpg

We are thinking the strut itself my have had some sort of internal failure resulting in the strut being able to drop too far, thoughts?

Cheers Rich

[DiscoJeffster]

Bump stops will prevent that. I'm thinking something has been flicked up off the wheel and ended up cutting a hole in it

[~Rich~]

Definitely the top suspension arm has done it.

[Bohica]

Definitely the top suspension arm has done it.

Something has cut in from the top. Something with a straight sharp edge

[TuffRR]

Mine did this to both front struts. From what i understand, there is an internal tab or something in the shock that limits extension. For whatever reason, this can fail which then leads to the strut over extending and the top arm hits the strut. On mine this also caused the mount that the height sensor is in to break off and lead to other issues.

[DiscoJeffster]

Well I'll be. Good call. Makes sense that the arm did that.

[~Rich~]

This part of the arm.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/07/766.jpg

[veebs]

Wow! - the car must be a metre off the ground by now? Or be showing some wicked "flex"!

[TuffRR]

Good thing to catch it early on too. Just imagine what that is doing to the CV angles and potential stress loads.

[BobD]

My left front dropped too far and over time damaged a fair bit of stuff. I didn't know until it was put on a hoist for other work. Of course, it only hyper extends in extreme conditions or on a hoist, not normal driving.

[cjc_td5]

My left front dropped too far and over time damaged a fair bit of stuff. I didn't know until it was put on a hoist for other work. Of course, it only hyper extends in extreme conditions or on a hoist, not normal driving.
Or if rods are used often? I have noticed that if I extend my rods to +60mm then go to off-road height, the front struts will top out on the stops on undulating sand tracks. This must not be good for the stops in the long term...

[~Rich~]

Semi temporary repair done, I filled the gouge with epoxy metal putty, filed back smooth and then stuck a 4.5mm thick rubber over the area to help give it some protection.
Also ground / filed the sharp edge on the arm that dug in. Hopefully that will prolong the replacement of the whole strut as it wasn't leaking any air.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/39.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/40.jpg

[TuffRR]

I'm not confident that the repair will really achieve anything. The issue is the over-extension and the effect this has on other bushes, cv's, sensor arm, etc rather than the cosmetic damage to the outer case. I would not be doing anything that causes the strut to top out (ie driving off road) until you replace them. I think it was BobD that had this happen to him resulting in a pretty expensive repair bill replacing a whole heap of bushes. Will be even worse if your CV lets go as well.

[~Rich~]

After spending heaps on my Power Steering last week I can't afford to replace both front struts, I thought about a limiting strap of some sorts but it would be dangerous, all my bushes are 100% while I am going 4wding this weekend I will closely monitor the strut etc.

[TuffRR]

After spending heaps on my Power Steering last week I can't afford to replace both front struts,

I know that feeling. Just replaced the steering rack myself. [bawl]