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XfireZ51 · 02-20-2011

Today I finished taking down the D44 from the Aqua car. I'm getting ready to ship it to NY. While back there I decided to drop the shocks as well since several have asked about them. The majority of the damage done to the car was on the passenger side where it climbed the guardrail before coming back down. The lower trailing arm was bent forward on that side with the tie rod snapped at the adjusting threads. I pulled that Bilstein and removed the actuator. Everything was in good order.
I went to the driver's side and removed shock. This side showed little if any damage. However, when I pulled shock, the actuator was not attached. The plastic insert which locates the actuator over the valving gear was separated. In addition, I had to pull the actuator mechanism through a small opening inside the frame rail. IOW, it wasn't just flopping around over the shock. It had either worked its way into the frame rail opening OR it had been put there. There was only one position the actuator could be in in order for it to be possible to remove the actuator assembly from this frame rail opening. It had to be maneuvered in a specific way. I have never done any work to this part of the vehicle. I have never removed this shock. So the question(s) I have are:

1. How could the actuator insert have cracked causing the actuator mechanism to separate from the shock?

2. How could the actuator mechanism have found its way into this frame rail opening? I have no idea when this would have happened. Its possible that over 3 years of ownership the actuator may have separated from the shock and jiggled its way into the opening. Sounds like a stretch BUT...

3. If the actuator was separated from the shock, should a selective ride code have set? How does CCM check for proper operation of FX-3 system?

4. Not knowing what was the last setting this right rear shock was at before actuator separation, is it possible that it was compressing and rebounding at a different rate than the other shocks? And if it was, what would you speculate are the handling characteristics of the vehicle particularly under WOT acceleration and gear shift?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

02-20-2011	#1
XfireZ51 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Chicagoland, IL Posts: 9,711	FX-3 Gurus Welcome Today I finished taking down the D44 from the Aqua car. I'm getting ready to ship it to NY. While back there I decided to drop the shocks as well since several have asked about them. The majority of the damage done to the car was on the passenger side where it climbed the guardrail before coming back down. The lower trailing arm was bent forward on that side with the tie rod snapped at the adjusting threads. I pulled that Bilstein and removed the actuator. Everything was in good order. I went to the driver's side and removed shock. This side showed little if any damage. However, when I pulled shock, the actuator was not attached. The plastic insert which locates the actuator over the valving gear was separated. In addition, I had to pull the actuator mechanism through a small opening inside the frame rail. IOW, it wasn't just flopping around over the shock. It had either worked its way into the frame rail opening OR it had been put there. There was only one position the actuator could be in in order for it to be possible to remove the actuator assembly from this frame rail opening. It had to be maneuvered in a specific way. I have never done any work to this part of the vehicle. I have never removed this shock. So the question(s) I have are: 1. How could the actuator insert have cracked causing the actuator mechanism to separate from the shock? 2. How could the actuator mechanism have found its way into this frame rail opening? I have no idea when this would have happened. Its possible that over 3 years of ownership the actuator may have separated from the shock and jiggled its way into the opening. Sounds like a stretch BUT... 3. If the actuator was separated from the shock, should a selective ride code have set? How does CCM check for proper operation of FX-3 system? 4. Not knowing what was the last setting this right rear shock was at before actuator separation, is it possible that it was compressing and rebounding at a different rate than the other shocks? And if it was, what would you speculate are the handling characteristics of the vehicle particularly under WOT acceleration and gear shift? Discuss amongst yourselves.