Shocks blown... really??

Hi all,

This morning I brought my truck in to get the tires rotated and during the inspection the Tech indicated that both of my rear shocks are blown out.

These are the original 2013 TRD Sport Bilstein shocks that came new with my truck. I have driven the truck decently hard in 6 years... mainly NW forest roads with washboards, potholes etc.

When I asked the Tech why he thought my shocks were blown out he indicated that there is sticky oily dirty residue on the exterior of the shocks. He showed me that both rear shocks had this residue on them, while neither front shock had the residue.

Needless to say I was very surprised to hear this news.
A few questions as I digest all of this...

1- Is it normal for shocks to blow out from driving mildly rough forest roads??

2- Is seeing sticky oily dirty residue on the exterior of the shock the only indication that its blown out?? Is there any other way to diagnose the shock to see if it is blown out or not??

3- If the shocks are indeed blown out, can they be repaired/fixed, or must they be replaced??

4- If the shocks are blown out and must be replaced, do I have to replace the struts as well, or just the shocks??

5- Is it ok/safe to drive the truck until I get the shocks fixed/replaced?? Will I do any damage driving the truck as is besides maybe cupping the tires??

Thanks so much!!

 

How many miles do you have on your truck? That might help us dial in the answer.

 

Thanks so much for the quick response.
My truck just went over 66,000 miles.

 

Do you haul anything extremely heavy when you do your off-roading? Do you tow? I have a 2015 with 63,000mi and my shocks are fine.

Most higher end shocks you can rebuild. I’m not absolutely sure about the billsteins.

 

Boots on the shocks may have come loose and allowed dirt in there which will deteriorate the seals inside causing the fluid to leak out. Not likely, not common, not normal, but it's all I can think of. Replace them with some 5100's.

 

6 yrs. and 60K miles on occational washboards and streets sounds pretty good to me.

 

I blew my front and rear shocks out around 50,000 miles, but I offroad a lot and I jumped the truck about a foot off the ground a few times with stock shocks.

 

They can really blow at any time. I had one on my FRS go at 7000 miles. And for the cost (they are not crazy expensive and fairly easy to install) it may be a better idea to go aftermarket, but yes, Bilstein will rebuild, but the truck will be down. Might be a good time to upgrade. While they may not be blown in the front, you would probably feel the difference of a fresh shock.

 

They can definitely leak at any milage. If you are lifted at all in the rear that will damage the stock length shocks. If you are stock height,you can put in several Bilstein models or even Monroe replacements. Driving with bad shocks is dangerous and can result in loss of control of the truck. I would change them as soon as you can. The rear of the truck should cycle up and down more than 1- 1.5 times if you bounce on the rear bumper when the shocks are bad.They can blow from overheating during prolonged driving on washboard roads. I wrote a post earlier about a guy I saw stopping at a light and his front end cycled at least six times that I saw as he came to stop , presumably bad struts.

 

Forest road, especially washboard and pothole laden ones are really tough on shocks, so depending on how fast, and how many miles you were driving over them, I'm honestly not very surprised this happened. The stock shocks aren't very beefy. They'll handle a lot more than basic shocks, but they're definitely not super heavy duty.

Those kinds of roads tend to create a lot of bouncing, which makes the shocks have to do a lot of work, which make the oil in them heat up. If it gets hot, the oil becomes thinner, and less able to absorb shocks, which causes oil to leak, or seals to break, etc. This is especially true on the rear end, where its a solid axle, instead of the front where they're independent.

here's video that explains it as well

I would replace all 4 of the shocks, with something beefier, 5100s if you're on a budget, 5160/6112 if you have a higher budget, or kings/fox if you really just want to spend a bunch of money. These shocks have, in that order, more oil volume and/or oil in a reservoir which helps greatly with cooling, and they can take much more work and abuse.

 

I have the stock rear bilsteins that came off my 2015 trd sport still in my garage after i swapped them out for 5100s a few years ago. Took them off the truck with about 35,000 on them. They just been sitting if you dont want to upgrade your shocks you can have them.

 

I am not a specialist in shocks, but I would say when you drive and they take too long to stabilize the car (too much shacking) after your drove over a bump, then they are busted.

 

they ALL blew one though

edit: and Jeez, melted boots? No wonder when I lived in CA. I avoided the desert.

 

Shocks are a wear item.

Replace and move on.

 

Thank you all so much for your replies.
This is fantastic information and I have really learned a lot from reading your posts.

Guess I didn't realize until now just how much of a wear item shocks are.
Kinda thought these would just last the life of the truck.
Going to watch the videos above and then test my truck to see how it rebounds.
Sounds like my shocks are probably toast for sure after reading what everyone wrote.

Time to start researching shocks it looks like.
Always read about Bilstein 5100s and DarthPow mentioned them above.
Will research the other Bilstein, Fox, King as well.
Thinking those are a much better option than what Les Schwab quoted this morning (over $700 as well).

 

Question now for you would be;

How much are you planning on spending?

Based on the above driving, will this continue IE fireroads, forest roads, washboards, etc.?

From your driving experience with stock shocks and the above conditions, what are you looking to achieve?

Bilstein 5100's are a good way to go as there's a new thread daily about this.

 

You could always pick up a set of 3rd gen TRD off road bilstein take offs.. I sold mine with springs for like 150 bucks.. there's almost always a set up for sale.

 

One nice thing about the Bilsteins is that they have a lifetime warranty. If you're going to keep the truck forever, you may wind up needing it. On my last truck, I noticed all 4 Bilstein 5100s had significant leakage after being on the truck about 125K miles. The guy I bought them from couldn't believe that Bilsteins had gone bad. He pulled it up in the computer and said, "dude, you've had those for 125K miles!" Bilstein replaced them for free.

 

I worked at a Les Schwab for a few years before the military. I will always recommend them above pretty much all tire shops but there is no way I’d pay that for the shocks they carry when you could so easily but a new take off set from someone in the forum for a fraction of that price.