matt2000 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Hello all, I've got the AC 2" lift with rancho rsx struts and rs9000s in the rear. I also bought the camber kit and had it professionally aligned. In the four months since I've had it, 3 struts have failed. Twice the passenger side has blown its seal and lost all pressure. The driver's side hasn't blown the seal but it provides no resistance on the upstroke. It basically acts like a pogo stick, depress the shaft into the strut body and it pops back up instantaneously as soon as you let go. No smooth, measured return to full extension like it did out of the box (like the stock one still does after 95,000 miles) but an immediate pop-up. I've read several posts that talk about the struts topping-out with this lift kit. Mine does that too and I think that is what is causing them to go bad. I think the coils I received are either too long or too stiff and they are causing the strut to reach full extension too violently. Basically, I believe the struts are acting as limit straps. I've talked to AC several times. They maintain that they've sold 1000's of these kits and no one has had these issues. I can't think of what else would be causing this. Is the 03 pathfinder different than earlier R50's somehow? Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what to do at this point. I am seriously considering abandoning the AC coils and going with OME coils instead. I figure maybe less lift will eliminate the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekazgtr1984 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 My advice to you is go with KYB GR-2 struts. In fact, avoid Rancho altogether. I can't recall how many failure stories I've heard involving Rancho products. Epic fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleurys Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 (edited) I think other people have been having issues with the rancho struts...(gpg)?? I personnaly run the GR2 from KYB and they work , up to now , flawlessly... When you mounted the coils, did you pay attention to align the marks on the lower and upper seat ? It's a fact that the strut will not prevent the coil from extending...it's not their purpose...so the fact that they spring back up does not tell me right away that they are bad (but I could be wrong since I do not own the rancho struts). Their job is to absorb the impact going downward... The coil's job is to push back the weight up... It is possible that you suffer from the toping-out symptom more than the others if you do not have any weight at the front... I know I have the nissan bullbar in front and I have to be very gentle when going over speed bump.. (have the coils for 4 months now)... I would really check if your aligment marks were properly aligned... Edited July 16, 2009 by fleurys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt2000 Posted July 16, 2009 Author Share Posted July 16, 2009 I think other people have been having issues with the rancho struts...(gpg)?? I personnaly run the GR2 from KYB and they work , up to now , flawlessly... When you mounted the coils, did you pay attention to align the marks on the lower and upper seat ? It's a fact that the strut will not prevent the coil from extending...it's not their purpose...so the fact that they spring back up does not tell me right away that they are bad (but I could be wrong since I do not own the rancho struts). Their job is to absorb the impact going downward... The coil's job is to push back the weight up... It is possible that you suffer from the toping-out symptom more than the others if you do not have any weight at the front... I know I have the nissan bullbar in front and I have to be very gentle when going over speed bump.. (have the coils for 4 months now)... I would really check if your aligment marks were properly aligned... Truthfully, when I removed the stock coils I did not pay as much attention to the orientation of the upper and lower seats as I should have. The top seat has an arrow stamped into it right above a small factory notch but the bottom seat doesn't appear to have any alignment marks (neither the stock strut or the rancho). My Haynes manual says the arrow on the top seat should point away from the strut to spindle attachment. I recently got a hold of a factory Nissan manual which says the same thing. I interpreted that to mean the arrow should point towards the motor. This would be 180 degrees away from the strut to spindle connection. When I put the assembly together this appears to be right. The upper seat has a definite offset built into it. It seems like if I oriented the upper seat any differently that offset would cause the strut to not sit at the proper angle. Does your pathy have a notch on the upper spring seat and if so is it oriented towards the motor (180 degrees away from the strut to spindle connection)? With regard to the strut that immediate pops back up, what you say is exactly what AC has told me. Their stance is that its not defective. I admit I could be wrong but the reason I disagree has to do with how it acts now compared with how it acted out of the box (and compared with the old stock struts). When I depressed the center shaft on the Rancho struts when new, they rebounded back to fully extension at a slow measured rate as if there was slight hydraulic or gas pressure resisting the upward motion. The stock struts with 95,000 miles still react this way. Basically when new, the struts resist movement in either direct. By hand you can't depress them quickly or extend them quickly. Now the used strut seems to depress more easily with less resistance and it definite extends with absolutely no resistance. It actually extends as if it has a spring shooting it upward. As I said I could be wrong though. All advice is highly appreciated. As I said I could be wrong. All advice is highly appreciated. Is the notch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180sx Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Seems to me that the rancho's are giving you a run for your money! Haha. But just get the GR-2's. I don't have any lift, but I too have heard many bad stories with Rancho products. FAIL. Jose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekazgtr1984 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Lifting a R50 by using longer coils is going to result in strut top-out, that much is inevitable. As for strut failure due to lifting, it seems to me KYB's aftermarket strut puts up with the abuse quite well. I'm not sure if anyone on the forum is rocking the OME HD strut(maybe HitTheTrails?) but it's supposedly designed to handle being equipped with the OME HD 1.75" coils. In any case, it seems like a wise choice to get away from Rancho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fukinitupagain Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Its the Ranchos struts, not the lift & let me just say Rancho as a company is f*cking sorry! I had a Rancho RS9000XL blowout after only about 4 months, so I contacted their customer service & they sucked big-o fat floppy donkey... hoof. Finally they said for me to send it back (on my dime btw) & after waiting 3 months they sent me back 2 Rancho RS5000's. Sorry dude, sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I had OME HD struts on my 98, along with OME HD coils. They were awesome new, 1 developed a horrible sound when backing up and turning the wheel to the left. I kept these struts after selling the truck and returning it to factory. I put them on my 2002, the noise got worse, the truck seemed hoppy in the front. I used AC coils on the 2002. The struts had about 7K alltogether on them...1 dead as in did nothing...and the oher was lethargic but would still absorb ups/downs. I know own KYB's and they are smoother at absorbing the blows, the valving seems just perfect for the lifted R50. Keep in mind that my strut spacer is loaded inside the spring set-up, not on top so I get less extension than some other folks here. I have driven with the lift on now for 1.5 years and 10K with no issues with my KYB's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleurys Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Truthfully, when I removed the stock coils I did not pay as much attention to the orientation of the upper and lower seats as I should have. The top seat has an arrow stamped into it right above a small factory notch but the bottom seat doesn't appear to have any alignment marks (neither the stock strut or the rancho). My Haynes manual says the arrow on the top seat should point away from the strut to spindle attachment. I recently got a hold of a factory Nissan manual which says the same thing. I interpreted that to mean the arrow should point towards the motor. This would be 180 degrees away from the strut to spindle connection. When I put the assembly together this appears to be right. The upper seat has a definite offset built into it. It seems like if I oriented the upper seat any differently that offset would cause the strut to not sit at the proper angle. Does your pathy have a notch on the upper spring seat and if so is it oriented towards the motor (180 degrees away from the strut to spindle connection)? With regard to the strut that immediate pops back up, what you say is exactly what AC has told me. Their stance is that its not defective. I admit I could be wrong but the reason I disagree has to do with how it acts now compared with how it acted out of the box (and compared with the old stock struts). When I depressed the center shaft on the Rancho struts when new, they rebounded back to fully extension at a slow measured rate as if there was slight hydraulic or gas pressure resisting the upward motion. The stock struts with 95,000 miles still react this way. Basically when new, the struts resist movement in either direct. By hand you can't depress them quickly or extend them quickly. Now the used strut seems to depress more easily with less resistance and it definite extends with absolutely no resistance. It actually extends as if it has a spring shooting it upward. As I said I could be wrong though. All advice is highly appreciated. As I said I could be wrong. All advice is highly appreciated. Is the notch The upper plate has an arrow that you must align with the bottom plate (which has a v notch and the L or R letter on the other plate on top of the upper plate)... You can barely see, but if you look carefully, you see the V notch at the bottom and the arrow of the top plate... All this needs to be well aligned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt2000 Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 The upper plate has an arrow that you must align with the bottom plate (which has a v notch and the L or R letter on the other plate on top of the upper plate)... You can barely see, but if you look carefully, you see the V notch at the bottom and the arrow of the top plate... All this needs to be well aligned Cool. Thanks for the pic. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. My setup looks exactly the same so I don't think that is the issue. From what I am hearing from eveybody else, sounds like the struts themselves just aren't worth a crap. What really sucks is that the KYB's are quite a bit cheaper than the Ranchos. I sure wish I'd have gone that route in the first place. I still think I might go the OME coil route for the front (with KYB's) and add strut spacers. That way maybe I can get away from the top-out issue. Even if that isn't what's blowing the struts I still hate hearing that bang every time I hit a speed bump or pot hole. Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt2000 Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 I had OME HD struts on my 98, along with OME HD coils. They were awesome new, 1 developed a horrible sound when backing up and turning the wheel to the left. I kept these struts after selling the truck and returning it to factory. I put them on my 2002, the noise got worse, the truck seemed hoppy in the front. I used AC coils on the 2002. The struts had about 7K alltogether on them...1 dead as in did nothing...and the oher was lethargic but would still absorb ups/downs. I know own KYB's and they are smoother at absorbing the blows, the valving seems just perfect for the lifted R50. Keep in mind that my strut spacer is loaded inside the spring set-up, not on top so I get less extension than some other folks here. I have driven with the lift on now for 1.5 years and 10K with no issues with my KYB's! I'm not sure if I understand correctly. Did you abandon both the OME coils and the OME sturts or just the struts. You mentioned AC coils but you also said you've got strut spacers. Based on what I've read on here, sounds like most guys use the strut spacers with the OME coils in order to get the 2" lift where as the AC coils provide that much lift without any strut spacers. Just want to make sure I'm on the same page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HitTheTrails Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 As for strut failure due to lifting, it seems to me KYB's aftermarket strut puts up with the abuse quite well. I'm not sure if anyone on the forum is rocking the OME HD strut(maybe HitTheTrails?) but it's supposedly designed to handle being equipped with the OME HD 1.75" coils. I've got KYB-GR2's up front and am very happy with them. I do have the OME rear shocks though, happy with them too.. I think I've got ~40,000kms on my lift now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Good memory Steve! I had the Ranchos. Awful. Lousy compression and rebound. Felt cheap too. Switched to KYB GR-2s that I bought on Amazon. No problems at all. I have hammered those struts several times with absolutely no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Sold my OME's when I let my 98 go...loved them. They were less springy than the AC but not as tall either. Their front struts were not as pleasing as the KYB's I hae now. I did like the rear shocks, nice firm supportive bounds in the back, sold those after the 98 left also. Current: AC springs 3/4" spacers (front inside spring strut combo) KYB front struts OEM rear shocks (suck, and are dying fast) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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