Hello Everyone!
My name is Mike and I’ve been lurking on Mud for about a year now. I’ve been meaning to sign up and introduce myself for a while but I’m just slow. I picked up my very first LC last December after a few months of searching. It’s a beautiful black 2010 that had one owner, insanely good maintenance records, and 118k miles. It was bone stock then. Now it has bigger K02s, a Prinsu rack with lights, satoshi style grill, and I finally just ordered the Tough Dog lift and TT UCAs after agonizing deliberations. I’ll do a build thread at some point! Before I get into my request for help I’d like to thank all of you, with my most sincere appreciation, for the incredible resource and community you’ve created here on Mud. I’ve learned so much from reading on here - thank you all!!!
Now on to my request for help. I’ve always loved how nicely the LC drove, right up until I hit a large 3-ball trailer hitch while going 75mph on the expressway. Both left tires hit it. The front tire got over it while the rear tire, a basically new K02, blew out a big hole in the sidewall. 8 other cars hit this thing and blew tires! Ever since then, the LC has driven like complete garbage and I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of it. I’ve read every post I could find about ride quality on here and I’ve also gotten some good tips from Slee and Jason at TT, but I thought it might help to get all your opinions too. I’ve taken it to three shops, including my dealer, but it’s not totally fixed. Together they all said nothing is bent and that it just needed an alignment and to have the tires rebalanced. Those two things helped, but the remaining issues are that the ride quality is very harsh over bumps, the vehicle seems to sway and lurch even at low speeds, The shocks make a squish noise occasionally that I never heard before, there’s an infrequent clunk from the front over certain bumps (I also never heard this before), and most terribly, it is very squirrelly/sketchy on poor pavement, fast or slow. I’ve had the back end swing out on 20mph washboard dirt roads and had terrifying swaying/side stepping on the expressway when hitting an extended stretch of patched pavement.
I think it’s quite possible that the shocks are bad, although I see no leaks and don’t notice a difference when I stand on the running boards and rock the vehicle. I’m also wondering if the KDSS system could be somehow screwed up. To that point, I’ve spent over a week trying to loosen my severely rusted valves and have only succeeded in completely stripping them both out. The next step is welding bolts into the hexes as a last resort. I’m also thinking I could have bushing issues from the impact but I can’t see any issues there.
Anyway, here’s my action plan and I’m hoping you all can weigh in on whether or not this seems like the right approach. I’m quite frustrated and also willing to spend $ because I plan to drive this vehicle for a long time, hopefully up to 300k+ miles
1. Break open KDSS and try reset procedure by lifting rear end then setting back down.
2. Replace shocks/springs. Tough Dog stuff is already on order!
3. Replace UCAs (also on order)
4. Replace LCAs, sway bar links, and all other bushings. I’m on the fence about this, but I’m leaning towards spending the extra ~$1k here anyway to have a complete overhaul of all ball joints and bushings for the next 150k miles.
5. If it still doesn’t drive well, re-pressurize KDSS
Did I miss anything???
There are also three specific things I’ve noticed while crawling under the LC lately that may or may not be contributing to my problem.
1. the left sway bar link looks kind of odd to me with the wonky rubber washer and almost looks like the bolt is bent. Does that look normal to you guys?
2. Possible small leak from front left wheel hub?
3. The rear control arm linkage that connects near the rear KDSS cylinder moves side to side when I push on it. That seems odd to me. I’m really curious if lateral movement (about 1/2” in each direction) is normal for this or if this is supposed to be completely solid
If you’ve read this far, I appreciate it. Sorry for the sinfully long post! Here’s a picture of my LC for grins:
Thanks!!!!!!
Mike
My name is Mike and I’ve been lurking on Mud for about a year now. I’ve been meaning to sign up and introduce myself for a while but I’m just slow. I picked up my very first LC last December after a few months of searching. It’s a beautiful black 2010 that had one owner, insanely good maintenance records, and 118k miles. It was bone stock then. Now it has bigger K02s, a Prinsu rack with lights, satoshi style grill, and I finally just ordered the Tough Dog lift and TT UCAs after agonizing deliberations. I’ll do a build thread at some point! Before I get into my request for help I’d like to thank all of you, with my most sincere appreciation, for the incredible resource and community you’ve created here on Mud. I’ve learned so much from reading on here - thank you all!!!
Now on to my request for help. I’ve always loved how nicely the LC drove, right up until I hit a large 3-ball trailer hitch while going 75mph on the expressway. Both left tires hit it. The front tire got over it while the rear tire, a basically new K02, blew out a big hole in the sidewall. 8 other cars hit this thing and blew tires! Ever since then, the LC has driven like complete garbage and I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of it. I’ve read every post I could find about ride quality on here and I’ve also gotten some good tips from Slee and Jason at TT, but I thought it might help to get all your opinions too. I’ve taken it to three shops, including my dealer, but it’s not totally fixed. Together they all said nothing is bent and that it just needed an alignment and to have the tires rebalanced. Those two things helped, but the remaining issues are that the ride quality is very harsh over bumps, the vehicle seems to sway and lurch even at low speeds, The shocks make a squish noise occasionally that I never heard before, there’s an infrequent clunk from the front over certain bumps (I also never heard this before), and most terribly, it is very squirrelly/sketchy on poor pavement, fast or slow. I’ve had the back end swing out on 20mph washboard dirt roads and had terrifying swaying/side stepping on the expressway when hitting an extended stretch of patched pavement.
I think it’s quite possible that the shocks are bad, although I see no leaks and don’t notice a difference when I stand on the running boards and rock the vehicle. I’m also wondering if the KDSS system could be somehow screwed up. To that point, I’ve spent over a week trying to loosen my severely rusted valves and have only succeeded in completely stripping them both out. The next step is welding bolts into the hexes as a last resort. I’m also thinking I could have bushing issues from the impact but I can’t see any issues there.
Anyway, here’s my action plan and I’m hoping you all can weigh in on whether or not this seems like the right approach. I’m quite frustrated and also willing to spend $ because I plan to drive this vehicle for a long time, hopefully up to 300k+ miles
1. Break open KDSS and try reset procedure by lifting rear end then setting back down.
2. Replace shocks/springs. Tough Dog stuff is already on order!
3. Replace UCAs (also on order)
4. Replace LCAs, sway bar links, and all other bushings. I’m on the fence about this, but I’m leaning towards spending the extra ~$1k here anyway to have a complete overhaul of all ball joints and bushings for the next 150k miles.
5. If it still doesn’t drive well, re-pressurize KDSS
Did I miss anything???
There are also three specific things I’ve noticed while crawling under the LC lately that may or may not be contributing to my problem.
1. the left sway bar link looks kind of odd to me with the wonky rubber washer and almost looks like the bolt is bent. Does that look normal to you guys?
2. Possible small leak from front left wheel hub?
3. The rear control arm linkage that connects near the rear KDSS cylinder moves side to side when I push on it. That seems odd to me. I’m really curious if lateral movement (about 1/2” in each direction) is normal for this or if this is supposed to be completely solid
If you’ve read this far, I appreciate it. Sorry for the sinfully long post! Here’s a picture of my LC for grins:
Thanks!!!!!!
Mike