HELP! KW Variant 2 cpilover failure!

[YellowViperSRT10]

All of you may have saw pictures of my car with the KW variant 2 coilovers and HREs on that I had installed last week. Well, today I was driving and I heard an extremely loud bang almost like a gun shot, and all then sudden I hear rubbing. I pull over and see my passenger side rear coilover just slammed and now the rear wheel is tucking in the fender and rubbing on the fender as I made my way home slowly. I was able to look with a flash light and see that the purple spring perch I think it is called, the part that you turn to adjust the height on coilovers broke and the spring just expanded covering the whole shock pretty much, at least what I can see. I wanted to get a better look at it and take the wheel off and put it on the jack, but now the car is so low I cannot stick my low profile jack under the rear or any of the sides! not even the other side of the car. I now have no idea how the hell I will be able to get the car in the air so I can take a look at it. Does anyone have any idea what I can do?

And now I cant call KW till Monday. I knew something was weird with this since I had it installed. For one, the stock bolts that hold the suspension on were to big so they needed to drill larger holes in the coilovers and KW said they should have fit and all the other kits do. Then I was never able to get the rear height even unless I made one rear side much lower then the other. Which now I see the one side I had to make lower just to keep it even is the one that collapsed. Coilovers should obviously be set around the same height for the car to be even, I had to have one rear spring perch sit over an inch higher the other side just so the car is level.

Sorry for venting but I am very upset and I know this problem will not be resolved quickly, in the meantime I cannot use the car. But my biggest concern is how I can get the car on a jack to look. Let alone on a tow truck if I need the suspension replaced I don't think it can ever make it up a flat bed no matter what.

I hope some of you can help and make me feel better!

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Drive it onto some 2x12.

 

[Finally got it !]

Careful when pulling apart the suspension that the spring is still not under tension. Sorry for the troubles. ***** when aftermarket parts fail. Just like my Rt cats...

 

[SRTRICKY]

Ouch defenetly ***** when something aftermarket fails! Hopefully it gets covered don't know why it shouldn't

 

[SRT10Mike]

Ouch!

Who did the install? Something isn't right (obviously).

I heard some horror stories regarding KW's...that's why I went with Penske.

Good Luck getting this resolved.

 

[Kenny]

Everyone I talk to about the KW's loves them. If they didn't bolt right up, I would have sent them back. Something is wrong. Are you sure you got the right ones?

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

I always had KW's on my past cars and loved them. I had a wheel shop install these that has installed suspensions on Vipers before, I don't think they did a KW kit, but it shouldn't be that different. It looks like it was installed correctly, but then again, I am not mechanic to really know that well. When I called KW to let them know that we had to drill larger holes to make them fit, there response was "So are you just calling to let us know or what?" Definitely is not to helpful, I was calling because you should not drill larger holes and they agreed and didn't do or say anything. So this should be quite and adventure.

I realized I may see if I can drive the car up 2 pieces of wood then jack it up to take the wheel off. But even if its what I think is wrong I cant do much about it since I do not know how to change suspension. So it seems like need to wait till I hear from KW on Monday. I will now not be happy unless I have 2 new rear coilovers. Something was wrong from the start and now it shows. I just wont feel safe with this.

 

[Bobpantax]

YellowViperSRT10 said: "I had a wheel shop install these that has installed suspensions on Vipers before" Have the car flatbedded to a competent Viper mechanic who has experience with Viper suspensions. Bringing the car to a wheel shop for a suspension mod made no sense when you did it and trying to see what's wrong with the car now, by yourself, makes no sense now. A very good mechanic once said to me: " The right tool for the right job; and the right person to use it." Those were good words. Good luck.

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

YellowViperSRT10 said: "I had a wheel shop install these that has installed suspensions on Vipers before" Have the car flatbedded to a competent Viper mechanic who has experience with Viper suspensions. Bringing the car to a wheel shop for a suspension mod made no sense when you did it and trying to see what's wrong with the car now, by yourself, makes no sense now. A very good mechanic once said to me: " The right tool for the right job; and the right person to use it." Those were good words. Good luck.

I know they work on good cars and have installed lots of Motons on vipers didnt think anything different if they did KW. I dont think i will bother having the car flabedded to anywhere yet untill i hear from KW. If they send me new rears which is what i want, i might as well have it done all at once.

 

[Bobpantax]

"I know they work on good cars and have installed lots of Motons on vipers didnt think anything different if they did KW. I dont think i will bother having the car flabedded to anywhere yet untill i hear from KW. If they send me new rears which is what i want, i might as well have it done all at once."

What do you mean by the word "install". There is more than a simple installation involved in a suspension modification. What settings were used? Which settings did you request? Did they discuss the settings at all? I have a simple rule. I go to the person who is best at what I want done. There is no way a wheel shop is going to have a suspension specialist in its employment. Furthermore, if something goes wrong, you look ridiculous arguing that a wheel shop should have known better. To some extent, depending upon how you drive, your life, and the lives of others, is protected by your suspension settings. Take it to someone who knows what they are doing and does it for a living on a full time basis. Would you go to an eye doctor to treat lung cancer?

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

"I know they work on good cars and have installed lots of Motons on vipers didnt think anything different if they did KW. I dont think i will bother having the car flabedded to anywhere yet untill i hear from KW. If they send me new rears which is what i want, i might as well have it done all at once."

What do you mean by the word "install". There is more than a simple installation involved in a suspension modification. What settings were used? Which settings did you request? Did they discuss the settings at all? I have a simple rule. I go to the person who is best at what I want done. There is no way a wheel shop is going to have a suspension specialist in its employment. Furthermore, if something goes wrong, you look ridiculous arguing that a wheel shop should have known better. To some extent, depending upon how you drive, your life, and the lives of others, is protected by your suspension settings. Take it to someone who knows what they are doing and does it for a living on a full time basis. Would you go to an eye doctor to treat lung cancer?

Settings? Are you talking about the height I chose and the rebound adjustment I chose? This problem that I am having have nothing to do with the install. The spring perch failed and then dropped. When I got home I adjusted the height and set it how I like. I have had 6 sets of KW variant 2s in the past on other cars. These work no differently, i know this is not a complicated setup. The wheel shop who did the install does have a guy who only installs suspensions there all the time on high end cars. I don't know what makes someone more of a specialist then others. Please lets keep this on topic.

 

[Kenny]

Did he do an alignment? Obviously not if you adjusted height once you got home. Ride height must be set prior to alignment. Viper alignments done according to the manual are very time consuming and technical.

I bet you do not have the right coilovers on that car or they are not installed correctly.

 

[ROGUE]

I'm trying to figure out exactly what happened here. Did the adjuster ring break (the piece you turn to adjust preload), or did the retainer that holds the spring to the shaft fail?

Can you post some pics?

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

Did he do an alignment? Obviously not if you adjusted height once you got home. Ride height must be set prior to alignment. Viper alignments done according to the manual are very time consuming and technical.

I bet you do not have the right coilovers on that car or they are not installed correctly.

Yes of course i did not have an alignment and then change the height. I was going to wait a few weeks on an alignment till i got my height how i wanted it.

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

I'm trying to figure out exactly what happened here. Did the adjuster ring break (the piece you turn to adjust preload), or did the retainer that holds the spring to the shaft fail?

Can you post some pics?

Well, today I was able to back the car onto 2 pieces of thick wood and I was just able to slide my floor jack under the rear. So I took the wheel off and got some pics. The part I think is called the spring perch, as you see in the pics it just fell to the bottom and is off the threading on the shock body. The spring is now lose when the car was jacked up. I was able to compress the spring a little bit and got the spring perch onto about 1 or 2 threads and somehow it did not spin anymore. I don't know if it will hold or what. But I wont drive it yet. Its also strange why it cannot spin anymore, but I guess something could have bent when it fell down with a full load driving. I am not sure if you guys see in the picture there is a very thin plastic purple ring around the threading of the shock, well that is where I originally had the spring perch and I guess it broke a ring off on the purple spring perch on the way down. So you can see how much it fell. I tried to take some pics of how it was installed, maybe if it is incorrect some of you can see from the pics.

I never really wanted to rush my weekend, but i just want to hear what KW says on Monday.

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[ROGUE]

Ok you need to pull that shock off and take a look at the adjuster ring. From what I can tell it probably stripped the threads on the adjuster ring. Also take a look around it and make sure it isn't cracked. But stripped threads are about the only way it would slide down a threaded shock body like that.

I would take a look at the other side as well, make sure the adjuster ring isn't turned so far down (trying to lower the car) that it's not getting full thread contact.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

It may have stripped the ring threads like Rogue said, but if so it would only be one or two threads. The ring material is probably softer than the shock material so if you use a spanner wrench the ring threads might "clean themselves up" as it is tightened back onto the shock.

KW doesn't have an additional locking ring to prevent the ring from working it's way down the shock?

 

[SRTRICKY]

Ouch!

Who did the install? Something isn't right (obviously).

I heard some horror stories regarding KW's...that's why I went with Penske.

Good Luck getting this resolved.

I've never seen the penske kit can you give us more information? thanks

 

[ILLSMOQ]

If you only have the one corner off the ground, that is the reason why you can't move the spring perch any higher. Your fighting the sway bar. You will need to get the other wheel off the ground then you should be able to move the perch higher.


Are the spring perches plastic? That would be interesting. There is a locking collar to go under the spring perch, right?


Three possible scenarios as to what might have happened....

1. The spring perch and locking collar were not tight enough and came loose. Then rotated down until they ran out of threads...then pop. I've seen this a couple times.

2. Don't know how low the car was but, if it was real low the spring perch might have been at the end of the treads, maybe past the end of the threads....could pop off in a short while.

3. The spring perch may be a little oversized for the shock body.

In the end I'd say the perch just came loose and rotated down until it popped off. I'd definitely take a look at the other three corners to be safe.

Ricky - Penske doesn't have a kit for the Viper. Various tuners make their own SRT-10 kit using Penske components.

I've got Motons...very happy with the quality.

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

It may have stripped the ring threads like Rogue said, but if so it would only be one or two threads. The ring material is probably softer than the shock material so if you use a spanner wrench the ring threads might "clean themselves up" as it is tightened back onto the shock.

KW doesn't have an additional locking ring to prevent the ring from working it's way down the shock?

I will have to have the shock taken off and see if the spring perch is ok. I was not able to move it up much more. So there may be something wrong with it. They do not have any additional locking ring, they do however have a small allen screw on the spring perch to supposedly help keep it in place. KW sent me 2 allen screws with the kit, funny neither of them fit the allen screw on the perch though!

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

If you only have the one corner off the ground, that is the reason why you can't move the spring perch any higher. Your fighting the sway bar. You will need to get the other wheel off the ground then you should be able to move the perch higher.


Are the spring perches plastic? That would be interesting. There is a locking collar to go under the spring perch, right?


Three possible scenarios as to what might have happened....

1. The spring perch and locking collar were not tight enough and came loose. Then rotated down until they ran out of threads...then pop. I've seen this a couple times.

2. Don't know how low the car was but, if it was real low the spring perch might have been at the end of the treads, maybe past the end of the threads....could pop off in a short while.

3. The spring perch may be a little oversized for the shock body.

In the end I'd say the perch just came loose and rotated down until it popped off. I'd definitely take a look at the other three corners to be safe.

Ricky - Penske doesn't have a kit for the Viper. Various tuners make their own SRT-10 kit using Penske components.

I've got Motons...very happy with the quality.

I had the car jacked up at the rear, both rear wheels were off the ground and the spring perch was not budging any higher.

Like I originally said, one side had to have been set almost an inch lower then the other for the car to actually sit even. Does anyone know how in the world that is possible? My other rear is fine, there is about half an inch of thread showing under the spring perch, so that's plenty. The side that did fail is the side that needed to be lower then the other one. But then it brings up the same question, why would one side need to be set so much lower then the other just for the car to sit even?

The spring perch where you stick the spanner is plastic, but under and above that it is metal, so it is metal that is what's on the threading of the shock body.

I should have went with Moton!

 

[ILLSMOQ]

They do not have any additional locking ring, they do however have a small allen screw on the spring perch to supposedly help keep it in place.

Did you check the threads for the allen screws?

I had the car jacked up at the rear, both rear wheels were off the ground and the spring perch was not budging any higher.

the spring perch or the threads on the shock body must damaged.

Like I originally said, one side had to have been set almost an inch lower then the other for the car to actually sit even. Does anyone know how in the world that is possible?

An inch is too much of a difference.

One guess...mis-matched springs.

Another possibility....Are the front perches at different locations on the shock body as well? If so this will throw off the rear perch locations. At this point, after you figure out what parts (if any) are damaged and finally replaced, you might try starting over completely.

Start with all of the perches at equal placement on the shock bodies. Then see how the car sits, and adjust accordingly.

It's best to make small increments (3-4 turns to get close to your desired ride height)and they must be equal on both sides. After each adjustment you should move the car forward and back a few times to allow the everything to settle.

Then measure the height at the jacking points under the car, not the fenders.

Also you must do this on a flat/level surface.

You may already know all this, only trying to help.

My other rear is fine, there is about half an inch of thread showing under the spring perch, so that's plenty. The side that did fail is the side that needed to be lower then the other one. But then it brings up the same question, why would one side need to be set so much lower then the other just for the car to sit even?

The spring perch where you stick the spanner is plastic, but under and above that it is metal, so it is metal that is what's on the threading of the shock body.

well it sounds like a few new items are definitly in order at least a spring perch.

 

[Kenny]

What was the final diagnosis here?

 

[Andrew/USPWR]

Like I originally said, one side had to have been set almost an inch lower then the other for the car to actually sit even
______________________
For what it's worth YellViperSRT/10, when I was atempting to put the lowering caps on my SRT/10, I measured all 4 corners before hand and the back passenger side was (and still is) 3/16" higher. Not sure if that's the norm or not.





2005 Silver SRT/10
2000 Steel Gray GTS (sold)

 

[ROGUE]

Nifty... but what caused the adjuster to fail?

And was it a mismatched spring?

 

[YellowViperSRT10]

Hi Guys, no news yet, KW still is totally unsure of this. I sent them pics of everything, as well as every possible part # on the kit. So it tuns out I need a professional to obviously take a look at this, so I have been waiting for Doug Levin to take a look at it. Seems as if he can get around to it tomorrow, so I am confident he will know what the issue is.