On my 1998 cherokee, I have a 3 inch procomp lift with procomp shocks. After going pretty hard in the nevada desert, I noticed that specially my right rear shock looks like someone took a baseball bat and beat the **** out of it. Now my driving style is more of a rally off road type, my average speed is probably about 40-45 through a narrow banked track with sharp turns near my house in Boulder City. I do some light climbing but I dont beleive I've gone bouldering rough enough for something to physically hit my shock, and there wasn't any scratching on the shock or evidence of getting hit by a boulder. I replaced the rear shocks after I first noticed it, but it has happened again! I now have another smashed shock. The only thing I can think of is that the heat generated from the shock is actually distorting the case, but shocks arent my strong point. Is it time to upgrade to pressurized shocks? Do I need bypasses now to keep heat down? This jeep is my baby, work in progress, and my daily driver so keep in mind that modifcations have to quick because I am a fulltime mechanic and student. Thanks for your responses!

 

Where was it dented at?

I don't know how any shock at all could be dented..nothing really back there for it to hit...

If you wanna do go fast stuff and hit the whoops look into a set of resis to keep jest down.
I'd say go for a set of bilstein 7100s.

I still don't see heat or anything else that would dent it. Unless you slid into a decent size rock

 

40 MPH through the high desert in 4Hi. I'd say you're throwing debris from the front tires around the undercarriage. I use to race my 63 VW baja out side of Phoenix AZ and get a fair bit of damage to the underside of that car especially the rear. Thank God for diamond plate skid plates! are you seeing any other damage other than the shocks, keeping in mind the steel used in the shock housing is thick as a soup can.

 

Pictures of the shocks?

 

Is there some kind of shock shield to prevent this?

 

Are you bottoming out your shocks? Could be bent due to the impact.

 

This is my thought, but I have never seen shocks mashed like that without them hitting something.

 

Is the back of the shock prying against the axle tube throughout travel? Ive seen that happen. Looks like that shock could be buckled from the back side.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest new shocks....but I could be wrong.

 

They look fine to me, just wrap them in duck tape. Duck tape fixes everything.

 

That was never the question. This is his second pair of new shocks this has happened to and he doesn't know why. He wants to figure out what is causing the problem before buying another new set and destroying those too.

 

Apparently you either have no sense of humor or you missed this >>> <<<

 

Calm down everyone haha. But yes, how do I stop this from happening again? I am going to swap to charged shocks, haven't decided which ones yet, but how do I make sure this wont happen to the nicer shocks?

 

Buy shocks that can be installed rod-down.

Keep in mind that most shocks can only be installed 1 way.

 

X2 I just bought Bilstein 5100's from this guy right here and they are installed rod down. They are a great shock and Frank hooks it up with a great price and fast shipping!!