Upper Rear Shock Mounts - Broke 'em both

[BackinBlackS550]

I am in Michigan. Ship them to me and then I will ship them to you as long as you cover the cost. I will donate my time to help you.

PM me if interested.

Got your PM and sent another to you. Not sure why the first didn't go through.

Thanks!

Sponsored

 

[BackinBlackS550]

An update for those interested. First I'd like to thank forum member dwaleke for his offer to help out by shipping the mounts to me from MI. It didn't work out but the offer was very generous.

I was able to get a distributor in MI who had a few mounts to drop them off at a Ford dealer in Detroit and they shipped them to me. I received them yesterday and installed them last night. Looking at the new parts, there is only a thin bead at the top of the mounts holding in a washer/plate that in turn holds the rubber insert. That bead is what broke. The current theory is that for the stock gas shocks it's probably OK, but for the Viking, with what I believe is called digressive valving, it might not be. It's only a theory and the jury is still out. I'll leave it to suspension experts like BMR to figure it out and hopefully come up with a solution.

 

[Grimace427]

Hate that you're without your car during this ordeal but we are learning a lot here! Seems like companies selling upgraded shocks should be offering new mounts to go with them.

 

[DickR]

Thanks for the update and happy to hear you got your mounts.

Have you checked the Vikings to make sure that they are not damaged internally or externally?

FYI digressive valving in concept actually reduces the resistance to movement as shaft velocity increases. How much so and at what shaft velocity or resistance force level is totally dependent on the shock valving the manufacturer uses or in the case of very high end monotube shocks such as Penske, Koni 2800, and other brands/versions which are user serviceable what selection of shims, etc. the user selects. These very high end shocks also tend to allow users to adjust the gas pressure. According to my friendly Koni engineer any decent performance car oem or replacement shock pretty much has to be digressive to some degree or it would be terrible at low shaft velocities.

Regarding the gas shocks of the 2015. The GT PP rear shocks are high pressure monotube. I suspect, but don't know, that the other versions are low pressure twin tube. The front struts are low pressure twin tube. As far as I can determine from the Viking catalog, etc. their shocks are all "twin tube" with no gas pressure. Again, there is no indication regarding valving.

The particular Konis I'm using are high pressure single adjustable monotube that have enough travel to fit a stock ride height 2015 Mustang, at least when used with slightly modified oem PP bump rubbers. I have no idea if these shocks have enough travel for a lowered car. However, I'm sure the ones Koni is engineering for our cars will have enough travel for lowered cars since they normally are intended for both stock and moderately modified cars.

 

[Schu]

Sounds like another golden opportunity for some agreesive manufacturer to bring a new upgraded part to market... I'd be in for a set from day one.

Frankly, I dont get the damper difference discussion... you accidentally decided to mow the grass and aat some point travel "more than likely" bottomed out and was probably the cause of the current mount issue.

 

[BMR Tech]

I am working with Viking to investigate this issue, and we (BMR) are also working on some mounting solutions.

This is the only issue thus far like this. I tested these shocks rigorously before giving Viking the thumbs up to release them - with no issues on the drag strip or road course.

 

[Schu]

If someone does happen to make a new mount... can you please incorporate a spherical bearing at the shaft... it doesn't run perfectly perpendicular to the mount.

 

[BMR Tech]

I will have the "Base" VS "PP" OEM Shocks Dyno graphs/plots made up soon to share and compare.

But here are the Vikings.

The Crusaders are what you would call a "Progressive" or "Linear" Rebound valved shock.

Here is the "Handling" AP Series Viking:


And the "Drag" AM Series Shocks, also progressive:


Here are the Warriors, which are what you would call Digressive:

 

[BMR Tech]

For comparison, here is a graph from an S197 rear Bilstein Monotube shock. I am not sure how they will valve their S550 stuff - but we will see when they are available.

 

[Schu]

I dont see anything there that looks abnormal or overtly destructive to a hard point. Specially when you consider you are probably really only looking at the positive forces.

The vikings are more aggressive but Ihave seen much more aggressive dynos.

 

[BackinBlackS550]

I just test drove the car and all seems well. I don't think the Vikings were damaged. I managed to get a spare pair of mounts just in case they break again before Kelly sends me the very first pair of BMR mounts!

For what it's worth, I really like the Viking shocks and I don't think they were at "fault". The mounts MAY have broken due to the way the Vikings operate or they may have broken with the stock shocks too. And I'm not going to recreate my adventure to test the stock shocks.

 

[jc1804]

glad your back up & running. Maybe well get some great mounts to spend money on soon

 

[Triple Wile E]

I just test drove the car and all seems well. I don't think the Vikings were damaged. I managed to get a spare pair of mounts just in case they break again before Kelly sends me the very first pair of BMR mounts!

I got one of the first sets I only use my car for track duty only so I hope mine don't break. I will be right behind ya in getting some BMR mounts so I can run some more rubber under there.

 

[modernbeat]

I very much doubt that the valving would be a major cause of the mount failure.

I would take a SWAG that the main cause of failure is that the shocks are too long for the ride height and you bottomed out the shock, causing it to push through the mount.

 

[BMR Tech]

Jason, that is very possible.

The body of the Viking is lower than the OEM piece, however they use an adapter up top to mount to the oem USM. So it basically negates the lower body height.

I'd have to look again, and see if the body of the shock would bottom on on the aluminum USM before the actual shock bottoms out though. I'm working with Viking on addressing any possible issues, if there are any.

I haven't taken my car off roading, but it squats a lot with 850ftlbs of torque and traction, and I haven't bottomed them out, I know for sure. Our PP car we use on courses hasn't gotten close to bottoming out either. Regardless, if that is the issue here I'll have it addressed for sure.

Sponsored