I installed Shoe's damper 3 days ago. I was pleasantly surprised at how connected the car feels now. Particularly when accelerating out of a corner or over bumpy roads.

FWIW, it took me about 20 minutes to install it. I didn't even use a stubby 17mm. I managed to fish my standard length 17mm to hold the bottom of the bolt while I tightened the top of it with a pair of vice grips.

I'd save my $50 and take yourself out to dinner

 

So what is the recommened setting for these dampeners to "dial in the fun factor"

I too just recently installed one and after my inital drive on it I can tell that I would like a little more stiffness.

Would you just dial it all the way in until the steering wheel starts to vibrate, then back it out a smidge???

Or is there a distance from shock body to plunger nut that is optimum.
For aggresive street driving.

My buddy installed his yesterday with it fully screwed in... he said his car shook pretty bad! Dont want that. If anybody know it would be helpful, possibly even a pic!

Thanks, J

 

J
Here you go. Steve
http://www.ingallseng.com/Instructio...0breakdown.pdf

 

I can't tell if you have an early model year...but if you do, then you can adjust the pre-tension slightly.

If you have the later model year (and no brackets) then you can't adjust the pretension - it has to be set at zero due to the distance between the mounting holes. Working on adapting the early brackets I have to the later model year cars. I think I have a solution - will try it out this weekend.

 

You can set the preload to anything you want with our kits - and, we can provide rubber or urethane inserts. We normally recommend rubber for dual purpose cars (street and AX/track), but the race cars we supply have opted for the urethane inserts (which, of course, create more vibration due to the increased durometer).

 

LOTF. Are you saying, contrary to the recommended 10mm minimum preload, that the distance between the preload adjusting nut and the peload locking nut is zero? Won't this cause wear and or failure and ALOT of vibration transmitted to the cabin?
Maybe I misunderstood.

Cheers, Doug.

 

I see your sig is updated.

So with a later model year car, it's not the distance between the preload adjusting nut and preload locking nut that you should be measuring. It's the distance betweent the top of the damper body and top pre-load adjusting nut.

According to the Ingallseng pdf, 10mm is the "stiffest" setting...which means no lower than 10mm between those two points.

They state the "softest" setting is 15mm...

I have had my damper kit on for quite a few thousand miles now and have had no problems whatsoever with the damper. (I did have a bolt come loose but that was because I had sprayed some wd-40 in there and should have used anti-seize paste).

 

You can overtighten anything... If you over-adjust the damper while it's connected to the brackets (changing the preload without changing the thread out the heim OR changing the length by threading in the heim), you can bend the front bracket and/or the bolt. When you adjust the damper's preload or overall length, you need to remove the unit, adjust it, and then reinstall ensuring the heims can rotate freely - this is all spelled out in the instructions. While you can make things as bombproof as you possibly can, you cannot anticipate everything that users will do, nor prevent people from overtightening, improper installation, etc. - no slam against anyone, we certainly understand that there will be issues, but we'll stand behind our offerings.

We have also had a few dampers go bad, which were promptly replaced for the customers and then sent back to the manufacturer for evaluation... One damper ate the rubber inserts because the clearance wasn't right inside the unit, the threaded retainer on another one broke (most likely due to improper tempering of the material during manufacturing), and one heim insert on another had too much lateral play (most likely due to either improper assembly during manufacturing OR possibly the unit was installed and then tightened down to the point where the heim's internals were compromised). In all cases, the units were replaced... Based on the number of kits we've shipped, the failure rate is extremely low.

Two things - first, we stand behind our product; second, if anyone ever has an issue with their damper or hardware, we ship replacement stuff out right away.

FWIW, when the owner in the link contacted us, we took care of the problem immediately. We pride ourselves on offering the best service, bar none.

We've personally pounded on our damper kits for a full AX and track season, and we have them running on full on race cars... we've had very few issues to date.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...&postcount=534

 

One more thing - it appears that the Texas damper also is adjusted 'beyond' spec according to the ingallseng pdf quoted above.

However, I haven't had any issues related to the overall length of the damper and neither has anybody else who has bought a damper from me has either (I haven't had any issues, actually - other than a bit of rust in the threaded holey) . I haven't read that anybody with the TSW damper has had issues with the length either.

 

The length of adjustment on my 'Shoe' ETD, to get it to fit, was outside of Ingalls spec. also. However, much closer than that TSW pictured in the previous LOTF message.
I believe that if the ETD was shortened up a bit, it would keep the engine under even better control than it does at it's current length. Oh well, I am still happy with the effect of the ETD on my '05.

Cheers, Doug.

 

I'm going to disagree with you on this one Shoe. Thru some emails we have had together I was not happy not being able to adjust the damper in the manner in which it was intended. This is not due to the design of the damper body but by the means in which it is mounted. I believe the TSW mounting brackets are now allowing for this adjustment. They may be different than the picture you provided. I was also impressed that TSW instructions also included information about how to adjust the damper which yours did not. I believe that being able to adjust the damper is very important to get that "just right feel" between dampening and VNH.

 

FYI the picture is straight from the TSW site (check the properties of the pic).

My whole point is that the way I suggest mounting the damper does not require any pre-tension adjustment. No vibrations if you follow the instructions and in fact I have tested it out.....with (a little and max) and without pre-tension...and it functions way better with zero pre-tension.

My kit has zero pre-tension and that's what I recommend. My kit has the "just right feel" out of the box. No adjustment needed.

Shoe

 

Shoe I am aware that the photo you used came from their website. I believe some changes have been made since the photo. Please see above post.
One problem I had with your unit, following your install instructions, is that not only could I not get any preload but I could not come to the point just shy of preload. Your instructions say to set the overal length you should adjust the length of the heim joint and the preset on the plunger. If I set the preset on the plunger with no load on the rubber, and even backed off a full turn, the length that is needed to extend the heim joint is way beyond what I would consider to be ample thread engagement. The only alternative is to back out the preload adjustment. Now when you do that you end up with some engine movement before any dampening takes place. Besides the fact that all adjustments are backed out to the max. I agree with you that the "just right" place is probably no pretension but it would be nice to be able to have the ability to set the amount of free play before dampening. This could easily be done with correct bracketing.
Steve

 

Beyond spec or not, dialing in a touch of preload on my TSW damper made a noticable difference off the line in my MINI. Better "bite". Was not expecting it but really like it. It's nice to have the flexibility.

 

Can't we all just get along.

 

I apologize if you feel we aren't getting along. I just think that members of NAM should have information, that they may not find out until they purchase and install, so that they may make an informed decision. I have no hard feelings toward anyone, I'm sure they're all nice people.
Steve

 

Discussions (for the most part) are very useful and I don't feel as if anybody is attacking anybody, being rude, or making it *personal*. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect that. I can't please everybody....though I do feel that I have done a pretty good job of pleasing a lot of people. To each his own and happy motoring to all!

 

Our damper isn't the same as the Ingalls unit - the Ingalls is shorter, overall, than the unit we use. If you follow the adjustment instructions, you'll have plenty of thread engagement to ensure proper strength.

 

All I have to say is I should have bought this forever ago. It shifts like a completely different car, smooth and quick. The bucking engine is gone, or at least minimized. TSW, thank you very much. I do have one suggestion, maybe post on your website what tools are needed. As soon as I got it I was like "yeah gonna put it on". But when it was time to preload it, looked for a 1-1/16 wrench... damn, 21mm wrench... damn, 17mm wrench... woo-hoo. Ended up going to Sears first thing in the morning to finish up the job. But other than that, great work!

 

I installed my LOTF damper this weekend and I would highly recommend one.
It's weird, but the car feels more 'solid' when accelerating from standstill. The sloppiness and bucking is completely gone. Now it's just smooth acceleration. It hasn't been long, but I have not noticed any more NVH, either.