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Old Man Emu Shocks come loose?

kamalsrana

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Joined
Aug 23, 2010
Messages
166
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kenya
Hello,

Just wanted to find out if anyone has had the same problem.

I had my full suspension OME kit fitted by a well known Co in Oxfordshire. It was fine for about 9 months then, I started to hear noises, rattles and squeaks from the driver side.

I took the vehicle to many different mechanical gurus, and they even tested it on one of these machines which do a vibration and bump test while under the vehicle and they found nothing.

2 months ago my son bounced the driver side of the veh up and down and we saw that the bolt on the shock moved up and down with the rocking movement. The other side did not.

So, when we spoke to the Gurus (Dont want to name names) they said the lower bush on the shock was gone.

To order it, was told it would take 12 weeks as its an ARB part.

So yesterday, I figured that if the bush was gone, the shock would move but the bolt holding it should'nt, so, took the wheel off and with a size 19 spanner and socket, tried to tighten it and guess what, it was so loose that I could tighten it with the spanner.

Now, magically all the noises disapeared and I dont need a lower bush as it was the loose bolt that was the culprit.

Is this common? has anyone also had this problem, is there like a recomendation as to how often one should check for loose Old Man Emu shocks?

You have been informed, any rattles and squeaks etc, pls do check loose shocks.
 
Name and shame, if it's the same company (like a toad? :thumbdown: ) that fitted two Optima batteries to my 80 a couple of years ago and didn't put back the retaining straps, they shoud be steered well clear of I think, I haven't dealt with them since.
Chas
 
Is it obvious that it was actually left loose after it was fitted? Was your first port of call the people who fitted it to give them a chance to put it right? Could it be faulty components rather than poor fitting? What is your use of the vehicle since fitting, has it had extreme use to cause the failure?
 
When i had my Ironman kit fitted i was told that after the first time you take it off road to check and re tighten the nuts and bolts as they will come loose as the suspension beds in. Sure enough i have recently had mine all tightened up after hearing no doubt similar noises and now all is fine.
 
I had a fairly extensive jobs list done by the company in Oxfordshire including a full OME suspension. Within 500 miles I also noticed a knocking sound and I pulled over and noticed the the bolt holding the lower portion of the shock on the axle was completely missing. I immediately contacted the fitters and was told that I then had to bring the vehicle back to them. Considering I was now resident in Luton and I would have to travel the whole way in this state I was to say the least unimpressed. It was arranged that a fitter would rather come out to do the repair at home. I agreed to this and patiently waited for the fitter who was late but never the less did the repairs and was on his way.

With in 48 hrs and no more than 150 miles the same noise occured and low and behold exactly the same scenario. By this point I was suffering a total sense of humor failure and contacted the owner directly and he ummed and ahhed a bit but agreed that he would ship me the necessary bolt. Explaining to him that I lived in a block of flats and had no tools other than the most absolute basic roadside kit. At this point his reply was that I should then not be owning such a vehicle as I would not be able to make roadside repairs on a long distance trip. You can imagine that this sent my pressure level well above the norm.
I subsequently then had to go to the depot to collect the parcel as I was not sitting at home between 8am and 12midday and the instructions on the carriage note where to return to sender and not to make a second attempt at delivery. This only fuelled the fire that was by this stage raging within. I eventually did the fitment myself and contacted ARB personally to get the correct torque settings. I then checked all the bolts and since then I have not had any issues. I do now systematically check all the suspension bolts once yearly and have not found them coming loose at all.

Needless to say I have since never done anymore trade with the dealer in Oxfordshire and will never recommend in contrary I would rather steer people away.
 
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