Not Good.... Busted Shock and Punctured Bed

Well... I was ice fishing the past few days up in Jackman, ME and it was bitterly cold and windy (-20 one morning when we woke up). Anyways, after waking up yesterday morning I was packing my truck up to head home and saw this staring at me from the driver's side wheel well!



I am running bilstein 5100's for a rear shock and from the looks of this picture it seems as though the top nut on the shock rattled off ( I was driving on some semi bumpy roads) and the shock remained frozen in the correct attitude and cycled with the suspension until it punctured a hole through my bed. Miraculously, the rubber bushings and washers were resting on the top of the frame so I was able to salvage them. The shock boot on the other hand, didn't fair so well.



I was able to remove the shock and pick up a nylon locking nut for the top from a NAPA up there and then reassemble the shock... after the NAPA tech told me I was out of luck, couldn't fix it, and shouldn't have bought a Tacoma... F*^K*n dumbass!

I don't know why Bilstien doesn't supply these shocks with a nylon locking nut in the first place? May want to make this change to your system to prevent this from happening. Miraculously the shock was still good and was not bent or leaking. I was pretty lucky there. The hole in the bed is a different story. Headed to a body shop today to get it checked out.

Anybody have any experience fixing these composite beds?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

IMO ive never had that happen, but it the nut was probably not torqued to spec than......

how long ago did you get it installed??

If you want to avoid, throw some blue locktite on, that will prevent potential vibrating loose the nut

 

I put an add a leaf in last week and torqued the nut to spec... which is why I am surprised it rattled off. Only thing I can think of is the cold may have tightened up the bushings even more, allowing it to bounce a bit adding to the vibrations?

 

Nah, for the boot to have the hole like that the washer at the top of it would have had to go up over the threads.

 

good catch, thats definitely an issue there now that I look at the picture again, but that could cause as well by having no top bolt and having sudden impact against it

 

^Possibly, But it was still on the shaft when I inspected and reassembled the shock. Do you think that washer could have "shrunk" allowing the boot and bushing assembly to slide down over it and then back the nut off from there?

 

^^

 

Thats what I was thinking when taking it apart.... nut backed off, shock shaft cylced down through bushings and washers, punctured boot, and punctured bed.

 

Nope... tightened it down even more but will be replacing with a nylon locking nut torqued to spec today. Aint taking any more chances with this.

 

Why did the lower part of the bushing come off the shock? Sure you got parts?

 

No good...sorry to hear it! Did you hear any unusual noises prior to or during the damage event? I take it the truck didn't drive or handle differently?

I'm anxious to learn what type of repair you can use on the bed. Please keep us posted with pics of bed repair and "how to" if you don't mind.

 

The shock boot sits on a retaining ring on the shock shaft... that was still there. Then, from top to bottom, a "sandwich" is made in the following order, washing, rubber bushing, shock mount, rubber bushing, washer, and nut. I lost the lower washer and nut. Everything else was stuck to the frame in the snow.... got a heavy washer and locking nut from NAPA... reinstalled and drove home. Going to repair with the correct washers today since I have some sitting around from the stock shocks.

I couldn't feel any difference in handling or noise since I was already driving over a bumpy road at the time.

 

^^wouldnt this make the shock virtually impossible to remove in the future? the shaft spins with that nut as it is. with blue locktite..it would be a bear!

if that lower seat sheared, then the the top nut was essentially loose and rattled off?

 

blue isnt bad to break a little heat and pop it off, its the red stuff thats impossible, i personally feel its overkill but hes wants a solution

hes going with a nylon lock which IMO is worse

 

Sorry to hear about that. I use the red lock tite on just about any automotive nut and bolt I put on. Yes it makes things a little difficult to get out if a repair is needed, but they are always tight when I do go to do it.
As for the bed I would say get some fiberglass pads and resin. Fill the hole from the back side. You will always know that a hole was there, but you won't have a hole either. Dust it with some black paint or better yet this seems like a great time to get a bed liner in.

 

Spoke with the toyota dealership to see what they are using.... bondo mixed with Tiger Hair. Guess this is the stuff.

https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...a=X&ei=xL7lUK3TL4XB0AHeq4GAAw&ved=0CGEQ8wIwAA

I am taking the truck to my buddy at his body shop to see what he thinks will be best to patch the bed. I'll let you all know what works as searching around here on TW this doesn't seem like the first time one of these composite beds has punctured.

 

Yea. See what he thinks. That tiger hair stuff is pretty good though.

 

If you want to shock to be in one piece maybe.

I had to sawzall off my old shocks on my '91. When I got the truck in '06, it still had the original socks on it and the bolts were not budging an inch!