Well poop,First no tires now this

[Hack Goby]

Comming back from my no tire day yesterday I noticed the car was bottoming out on small bumps.Sure enough the rear driver side shock hs blown out.I have 26,000miles on her will this come out of my pocket? I hope not as I will be dipping into my Loosville money and now with five days to go I have to get my tire B.S. squared away and get new rear shocks.Im going to pass on the detail as young Mario has made me an offer I might take him up on.

[STLR FN]

Should be covered under warranty. Then again you have the Metco's on right?? Dealer might be a pain about that saying it caused premature wear. Just playing devil's advocate.

[SergntMac]

Hang in there Hack, come Hell or high water...

[GreekGod]

If a rear shock goes out on my MM, I'll probably save my $50 deductible and buy two Monroe (Marauder specific) shocks.

[RoyLPita]

SouLRioT had all 4 shocks replaced under warranty at my workplace.

[ckadiddle]

I had a front shock die recently. It was covered under my Ford ESP.

[CRUZTAKER]

ESP covered mine. $50 deductable.

My dealer replaced both. Replacing one, and leaving the other with 26k on it was not reasonable for either of us.

They replaced both.;) :up:

[DEFYANT]

Sounds like a good time to upgrade

[Hack Goby]

I just got back from Stu Evens L/M in Sterling Hts.about my bad shock and they will replace only the bad one.I guess I will Take it as the weekend draws closer and I don`t have time.These guys sure don`t get it.You woukd think that by putting on boths shocks they would last way longer and that would make me a happy camper but they take the cheap way by only putting on one.Now I will be happy for only a short tme as the other shock will go soft soon and I will have to replace both shocks anyway.when I mentioned that I know of other dealers that would do it he told me they were not sappose to do that.COME ON WEEKEND!

[RoyLPita]

Ask them to replace them in pairs. It will satisfy the customer's piece of mind. I know this because 3 of SouLRioT's shocks were leaking. we replaced the 4th just in case that one would leak.

[Hack Goby]

I will ask them agian tomorrow when I go in for it.They still dont know I have Metco upper and lower control arms they might balk on doing just the one when they see them.Loosville is this weekend I still dont have my tires yet and the Marauder rims are still at Discount tire.Im running out of time.

[Mike Poore]

I will ask them agian tomorrow when I go in for it.They still dont know I have Metco upper and lower control arms they might balk on doing just the one when they see them.Loosville is this weekend I still dont have my tires yet and the Marauder rims are still at Discount tire.Im running out of time.

It's rotten they won't replace the pair, Paul.
They've reached their service life anyway, right?
Perhaps if you got under the car and squirted just the right amount of hydraulic fluid near the piston so it slightly runs down the shock tube.
Then, when they're fixing the other shock, say, hey, what's this stuff? :D

[rayjay]

I will ask them agian tomorrow when I go in for it.They still dont know I have Metco upper and lower control arms they might balk on doing just the one when they see them.Loosville is this weekend I still dont have my tires yet and the Marauder rims are still at Discount tire.Im running out of time.

Make a safety issue out of it. Go over their head to the district rep.

[merc6]

Sounds like a good time to upgrade yep once I get taxes back I might look at coilovers.

[MikesMerc]

Paul, sorry to hear the bad news. I hope the dealership covers it for you. Only 26,000 miles too. Yikes.

Does anyone have any recommended upgrades known to stand up better than OEM, but doesn't change the OEM characteristics too much?

Does the QA1 shocks change ride feel?

(Sorry for the bit of OT, but it might be a good place to share a little 411 about fixing the premature shock problem).

[GreekGod]

I just got back from Stu Evens L/M in Sterling Hts.about my bad shock and they will replace only the bad one.I guess I will Take it as the weekend draws closer and I don`t have time.These guys sure don`t get it.You woukd think that by putting on boths shocks they would last way longer and that would make me a happy camper but they take the cheap way by only putting on one.Now I will be happy for only a short tme as the other shock will go soft soon and I will have to replace both shocks anyway.when I mentioned that I know of other dealers that would do it he told me they were not sappose to do that.COME ON WEEKEND!

The shop manual states it is not necessary to replace shocks in pairs when one is defective.

[SergntMac]

All this talk of warranty...WTF? I'm not quick to consider this shock failure "premature". Two points come to mind.

First, the rear suspension on Paul's MM has been reinforced with Metco upper and lower control arms, and Watts link (I think), and with poly bushings all around. While these mods do not change any suspension geometry, they do telegraph additional stress and strain to other suspension components. Components that normally do not get asked to do that kind of work. If Paul's shocks could talk, I'm sure one of them would whisper "what are you doing to me back here!"

Secondly, this is (again) a consequence of the time honored belief that if you have a mod and don't exploit it, why did you bother? This is to say that suspension components suffer from the same driver's disease that other rmods flush out, i.e. "If we got 'em, we tend to enjoy them". Like EEC tunes, what is the sense of buying a tune if you're not going to run WOT more often to enjoy it? Therefore, what's the sense of having reinforced suspension, and not driving to enjoy it? I've seen more than one photo of Paul's MM at the race track, and the OEM shocks were not meant to be used in that manner. Not by Ford anyway...

26K on an OEM shock? Even without mods, that's about right when you're slinging a 4400 pound car through twisty on ramps, and banked hairpin off ramps, and so on. I replaced my first set of shocks at 17K, and my second set is sitting here waiting on a date with the wrench at 37 K. Why? Because of the way I drive it. And if you're not teasing and pleasing yourself with your Marauder, why did you buy the car, or, the mod in the first place? 26K on OEM shocks...That's about right. Pay the piper.

Be advise I'm not slamming Paul, not for a second, so, here's the deal.

Paul...I have a full set of OEM shocks here, all 4 corners. I was going to use them on my #3 car (74K on OEM shocks!), but if this is going to hold you back from meeting up with us in Looseville, limp down and we'll get you fixed up for the ride home. Won't take more than an hour to replace both rears, they will be in my trunk in Looseville. Let me know what you need, eh?

MartyO said it a while back, it needs to be said again. "Why should Ford endorse or underwrite our modifications to their product? You want to play, you should be willing to pay", or, something very close to this and he's right.

Just my .02C on it, gents. and surely no slam on Paul.

[jobrien8]

Paul had the arms put on after MVIII, so the photo's you have seen have the production suspension componets on the vehicle.

As for if you have a mod, you have to use it. Doesn't always wash. How many vehicles have you seen with very low mileage. Case in point is the blue Marauder that was at MVIII last summer with very low mileage (sorry, the owners name evades me).

As said, just my .02

[SergntMac]

I hear ya...One more Marauder that won't break down, or, wear out from enthuiastic use. One more owner immune to the driver's disease.

[Hack Goby]

Well its all set to go down tomorrow.The dealer gets it first,Hopefully the Metco`s wont be a problem then its off to Discount tire to get the new tires on.Thursday to the detailer and Im ready for Loosville.Its going to rain on the trip down friday but I dont care the car will be ready.:burnout: