Broken Billstein Insert

[ifcho 0]

Hello,

 

 

Today, while changing the boot on the short driveshaft, I found the reason for the boot failure :-/

The spindle of the insert, that is secured with a nut at the bottom of the strut is broken.

Probably the securing nut at the bottom was not tightened enough and this has caused the chain of events that broke the spindle, but the result is a fact

I feel quite gutted now, that I didn't retighten the nuts, I ust took the struts out of the box and put the on the car

 

Have you had such failures with these dampers?

Is there a company that can repair them? I will make a temporary fix, with the welder, as there is a event this week, which I MUST go to, but I would prefer to have a more reliable fix.

Also, has anyone tried to disassemble the insert? I am thinking of doing this, but I am a little afraid that I won't be able to assemble them back corretctly. Also I don't know what oil should be used :-/

[ifcho 0]

Ok. So here are some pics of the temporary fix.

 

Hopefully this will get me through the upcoming event this weekend. After that I hope that I will find the time and money to send the inserts for repair (if somebody recommends a place where?)

 

And here is the reason for the fail:

The nut in which the insert is screwed was secured only by three small drops. I don't have pictures of the actual fail, you see the corrected version, where the the nut is welded all around. If you too got some DIY struts (these weren't made by me, I bought them from some chap on ebay) better check them, to avoid expensive repairs after that :-/

[Craigb 2]

Personally , I would be doing the event at the weekend on those . time for the bin . When it fails and you damage the car or worse yourself .

 

but it is your choice . just my Honest opinion

[ifcho 0]

The good thing with it being inverted is that if it brakes again, the problem wouldn't be as worse as with standard shocks, it will only leave me without proper damping. But it is a short track, hopefully there won't be a problem

[ifcho 0]

The repair was fine after all, but my driving wasn't, I had a crash which resulted in a complete suspension failure, broken wishbones, wheels, etc.

Somebody knows the cheapest place for buying these inserts?