Broken king coilover spring

Today I heard an unusual clunk in my front end and upon investigation I found this. Any idea how this could happen? They have about 25,000 miles on them. I was planning on having them rebuilt at 30,000. I've read a couple of other places that the shock might already be blown out, causing this.

 

Cause of death: Extreme abuse.

 

doesn't look like much piston travel, is the truck leaning because of the broken spring?

 

It's corrosion and wear, thats really unfortunate as they are very expensive and you expect more.

 

Yeah, that's one of the things I noticed. I've already been in communication with king. The spring can be replaced but I just don't want to just throw a new spring in there if there is some underlying issue that caused it.

 

Looks pretty crusty in there.

 

I have a pair of hardly, barely used king 650 springs laying in the corner of the garage if King doesn't do some kinda warranty for you. I was going to try them instead of my 700 but haven't had the itch in over a year to do so..

 

What makes you say that? I'm genuinely interested. It seems like something else should fail before the spring.

 

How much preload do you have on them? Post pics of thread above the collar.

 

soory for the filth. I live in Michigan and the snow and salt are hell on them.

 

yup, you were right, I'm in Michigan

 

Looks like all of the oil has blown out of the shock and then for some reason you encountered spring bind and it broke. Clean that muck up and post more detailed pics. Good luck with your truck.

 

daaaaayumm, I wouldn't even buy kings if I lived up there.....yeaup, def a heavy corrosion issue that deteriorated the steel spring material.

 

I think that is just salt residue, there has been no oily residue and the shock still seems to be doing it's it', except for the spring.

 

Did you go all mad bombing or something? Something caused the spring to bind.

 

This is why you don't run a cheap ass spac........oh wait. Damn. You spent all da monies and still the broken coilover?!

 

I should have said, "Abuse and/or neglect". No specific reason for saying that, I have no knowledge of how you drive your truck. Even so, one can deduce that snapping a spring in half could be blamed on one or both of the aforementioned hypotheses.

I guess what I'm saying is - science. Something caused it, and I'm asserting a theory as to what that cause is. Doesn't mean I'm right, just that I have a theory. Gravity is a theory after all...

 

Theres nothing special about the coil in coilovers whether its eibach, toytec or king, its just a coiled rod of steel. Obviously corrosion played a significant role in this as it looks like the front end has been sitting in a lake for 10 years. I've seen 30-40 year old vehicles with less rust.

Given the location of this vehicle I would simply recommend better maintenance of your vehicle and suspension components to prevent future failures. As mentioned coil bind could have contributed due to leaking shocks from corrosion.

Coils are pretty cheap and can be easily replaced on rebuild.