BP-51 snapped - WTF!!!

[HDJdreams]

texted me while I was out of town and said the TLC was squealing. I tried getting clarification what she meant. The front brake pads were just barely starting to squeal, she hadn’t noticed that yet. (I have a new set going on next week.).

The way she described it, seemed like something more severe, especially since she noticed it. I told her not to drive it any more.

When I got home I found this!

 

[Fishinsea]

Holy Moly Batman !

What on earth has taken place here ?

 

[Vestal]

So many questions...

 

[Fishinsea]

How many miles do you have on this set-up since install ?

I'm speechless !!

 

[HDJdreams]

I owned the rig for 2 1/2 years and 40k miles. The previous owner installed not long before I bought it.

Since I have owned it, it has been daily driver and (sadly) seen ZERO off-road abuse.

 

[Fishinsea]

I owned the rig for 2 1/2 years and 40k miles. The previous owner installed not long before I bought it.

Since I have owned it, it has been daily driver and (sadly) seen ZERO off-road abuse.

Well unless someone ate a curb at 111.3 MPH or a 16 foot pothole and doesn't fess up, this will remain a mystery ! get these pictures in, maybe they will warranty it

 

[Sandroad]

Maybe your has an alter-ego and heads to the hills for some heavy duty high speed ORV use when you're not there. But seriously, what else is broken?

 

[Fishinsea]

Maybe your has an alter-ego and heads to the hills for some heavy duty high speed ORV use when you're not there. But seriously, what else is broke

Just a lot of carnage there

 

[Sandroad]

Looks like it ate the CV boot

Yes, but maybe something else broke first or came apart, causing the shock to break.

 

[HDJdreams]

I am stunned, OME is supposedly designed for overloaded rigs seeing thousands of miles of dirt roads and the BP-51s were supposed to be beefier than their normal line.

We haven’t had and collisions, jumped it or anything like that. I have had the alignment checked last week and it was in spec, no adjustment was needed.

I am baffled.

I’ll call OME on Monday. I am extra frustrated it chewed up the CV, changing that out will be far more work than the strut.
(Does anyone have a PDF of FSM for changing cv axles?)

Thankful there was no disasters while driving.

 

[HDJdreams]

Maybe your has an alter-ego and heads to the hills for some heavy duty high speed ORV use when you're not there. But seriously, what else is broken?

The not so much, but my teenager bent the steering and front axle of my 96 playing around on the mountain behind the house.

We haven’t let him anywhere near the 200!

 

[Fishinsea]

The not so much, but my teenager bent the steering and front axle of my 96 playing around on the mountain behind the house.

We haven’t let him anywhere near the 200!

And the plot has thickened LOL, like mentioned above, maybe something else let loose and caused this to happen ? maybe the CV snapped ?

 

[Sandroad]

I am stunned, OME is supposedly designed for overloaded rigs seeing thousands of miles of dirt roads and the BP-51s were supposed to be beefier than their normal line.

We haven’t had and collisions, jumped it or anything like that. I have had the alignment checked last week and it was in spec, no adjustment was needed.

I am baffled.

I’ll call OME on Monday. I am extra frustrated it chewed up the CV, changing that out will be far more work than the strut.
(Does anyone have a PDF of FSM for changing cv axles?)

Thankful there was no disasters while driving.

Call me wary, but an alignment check followed by a broken shock might need some investigation. Are you sure the alignment shop didn't make any adjustments and leave something loose?

 

[duggy]

Any idea if the shock has been leaking previously? If driven with no oil or nitrogen, it can cause it to bottom out and damage the shock.

 

[HDJdreams]

Shaft snapped near base at bottom. It is completely surrounded by the coil. Axle is intact, the boot got chewed. The axle certainly wasn’t flopping around.

I thought it was odd it happened a few days after alignment and tire rotation, but I can’t think of how that could cause the failure.

@duggy - thanks for suggestion. I hadn’t seen any leaks, but PO had used fluid film and I recently used woolwax, so that could have masked a leak.

I wondered if the lower mounting bushing where the bolt goes into the lower arm froze up, torquing the shaft until gave up in fatigue???

 

[Yossarian]

Is there a spacer installed on top of the shock?

 

[25LGT]

Can you take a picture of the shaft cross section when the shock/coil is removed?

Could be possible material failure or defect. I'm no expert but we have material engineers at work analyze failure modes.

https://www.fose1.plymouth.ac.uk/fatiguefracture/tutorials/FailureAnalysis/Images/Fractography/Shaft_Chart.JPG

 

[TonyP]

That's wild. I didn't put that suspension on any adverse terrain. I think the Southwest Adventure was the last last trip I took on those. I use torque specs for tightening. Glad no one was injured.

 

[duggy]

Shaft snapped near base at bottom. It is completely surrounded by the coil. Axle is intact, the boot got chewed. The axle certainly wasn’t flopping around.

I thought it was odd it happened a few days after alignment and tire rotation, but I can’t think of how that could cause the failure.

@duggy - thanks for suggestion. I hadn’t seen any leaks, but PO had used fluid film and I recently used woolwax, so that could have masked a leak.

I wondered if the lower mounting bushing where the bolt goes into the lower arm froze up, torquing the shaft until gave up in fatigue???

You bottom bushing theory is certainly a good one. The lower heim joint on the BP51 shock has been known to wear and cause noise. The 200 Series BP51 shock has an oring and spacer that gets installed in there to size the bushing but also keep water/dust out. If the bottom bearing failed it can certainly cause undue torque on the assembly, but you would hear squeaking in the suspension to signal an issue.

 

[DRCocaCola]

I’d be asking the teenager.