ADS Off-Road Racing Shocks - Information, Pictures, & BS Thread

Nothing fancy.

 

Are you talking about the spherical bearings at the bottom of the coilover assembly?

 

See pic. This was binding on my front driver's side shock. Pulled the mount bolt, slid the shock out of the lower a-arm mount.

It’s a two-piece, machined component, with one side fitting into and out of the other. I saw no damage, so I added a bit of light grease and reassembled. No more bind.

 

Those are a teflon lined uniball and should not be greased. The grease will attract dirt and grime which will shorten the life of the bearing.

The spherical bearings that come new in the ADS shock are the F1 spec and should be very tight. Too tight to wiggle by hand. It usually takes using the shock bolt through it to move it even a little bit when they are new. With time and mileage they will loosen up. And eventually they will become quite loose and noisy (typically a squeak when the wheel moves up and down) as the teflon lining wears. When this happens its time to replace the bearings.

 

I figured that was coming.

Edit: Just got off the phone with ADS. There are three parts in question: two spacers and the heim (spherical bearing). I was told light grease on the spacers is fine. I was told they do this with a lithium grease at the factory. I’m relieved now, as I’d hate to wreck my shocks.

 

Anybody besides @turbodb replace his spherical bearings with FKSSX10-T FK1 bearings? My lowers are bad and pretty sure my upper bearing is terrible as well. Need to replace but considering just getting rebuilt and adding adjusters and new bearings altogether? Read through the thread but wondering if any more experience out there on 2nd gens?

 

how did this turn out for you? Thinking of the same to replace my B110?

 

I run no clickers but soon to change that. Valving is fine depends on which coil weight and height you go with and what weight you run up front etc. No corrosion is why I went with these and it's been across the country in every season no issues.

 

So you greased the misalignment spacers not the spherical bearing? Interesting haven't heard that before I have been using Teflon dry lube to help with bearings squeaking until I replace them or rebuild them soon.

 

If getting them rebuilt completely is not a big deal ie: you can afford the cost and the downtime of having the shocks off your truck for a few days. Then yes you're way better off getting them completely rebuilt often. It's not any major gain to do it early/often but it's also not like engine oil changes where it's just a waste to do the maintenance earlier than necessary. The more upkeep you do the better they'll last

 

Just to give an update on this, since I'm not sure what you read/when I posted what you read...

I've replaced my spherical bearings several times (I put a lot of miles on the truck). Here's the overall timeline. Note that this is all for the lower front eye; I haven't had to replace the upper front or rear spherical bearings until the sixth set (97K miles).

• The first set (from the factory, I have no idea what brand they were) lasted 22K miles
• Second set of (as far as I know, unbranded, purchased from ADS) COM10T: 9K
• Third set of (as far as I know, unbranded, purchased from ADS) COM10T: 7K
• Fourth set of (as far as I know, unbranded, purchased from ADS) COM10T:10K
• Fifth set of (as far as I know, unbranded, purchased from ADS) COM10T:9K
  
• Sixth set of FKSSX10T-F1: 40K
• Seventh set of FKSSX10T-F1: 15K so far, still "like new"

There are two benefits of the FKSSX10T-F1. First is the stainless steel, which (obviously) does not rust. As such, there isn't rust eating away the Teflon. Second (and maybe more importantly) is the -F1 fit. That is a tighter bearing and as such, allows much less grit and grime from the trail into the bearing.

Personally, the lower eye on my front coilovers sees *way* more grime than the front uppers or rears (both lower and upper), so I'm now continuing to use the stainless steel in the front lowers. For all the rest, I'm using FKS10T-F1 (this is a hardened steel version of the COM10T which is just mild steel) and of course, with the -F1 fit. This saves money on 3 of the 4 spherical bearings. Though, frankly, since I've only had to replace them after 97K miles, it probably doesn't matter what I use on those.

I agree with you that rebuilding the shocks is more of a pain than an oil change, but I'd have to say that it's just as much of a waste to rebuild shocks early as it is to change your oil early. To take your statement to an extreme, you could completely rebuild the shocks after every trip (say 2K miles). At that point, you're throwing away money.

Shock rebuilds should happen at one of the following times:

• You've put enough miles to wear out the oil. ~50K is the interval I'd look at here.
• You want to revalve in order to change the performance profile. If you're going to the trouble to get the shim stacks out, you might as well rebuild.
• There's something else significantly "wrong," such as damage to the top cap, eye or shaft.

Speaking of shock rebuilds. I wrote a guide on how to do it, with parts, tools, and pictures of the process. It's not all that difficult, and by doing it yourself, you can have them off and back on the truck the same day:


Here's my story of the learning/doing (and teaching a couple buddies): Rebuilding and Revalving My ADS Suspension

Here's the Step-by-step process to do it yourself, with parts, tools, etc: Rebuilding/Revalving Smooth Body Shocks (ADS version)

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Really appreciate the quick info and detail man. I have read all your posts but thank you for the current laydown it really helps. I'm currently at 50k so gonna send back to ADS since I need the rebuild and bearings, but will add your recommended bearings to my parts list for when I can replace them next time. Also adding the adjusters to front and adding the ADS 2.5 rears with adjusters to compliment the fronts and new dobinson Super HD leaf pack. I plan on adding a whole lot more off-road miles in the coming years so I'm sure i will be replacing and rebuilding quite a few things soon.

 

Should check out Fullstack Motorsports in Oregon. Good pricing.

 

Thanks will do.

 

What's good out in the PNW Jacob?!? I know I'm going with those Stainless Steel bearings for my front coilover lower eyelets. In my book = worth the added upfront cost/less frequent interval for pulling the coilover and pressing out/in bearings.

I think I'll replace the front uppers and rear lowers with the Hardened varient vs. the stainless varient...for what it's worth.

Best of Luck with whatever path you go down!

 

Things are good man! Just gonna have ADS rebuild them. They lasted 50k before squeaks so maybe next time
I will Add the beefier hard ware. Adding the rears with clickers today and the rebuild will get added clickers for front so it should be nice and dialed in now. PNW has Been amazing since being back home. Miss VA though and the TW crew. Trying to get orders to Alaska next so we can explore that area more and get pod to do it haha. If not maybe Colorado. How are things back east?

 

Thank you for this post. Very informative and helpful. I love my ADS shocks and do my own work. I need new heims. Now I know what to get and how to do it. This is what makes this site a great place for enthusiasts.

 

New rears installed and loving them! Anyone else’s clickers really stiff?

 

At first, yes. I find myself rarely turning them up past 5 from soft unless going fast on bumpy trails

 

I set mine halfway.