The night before our ski vacation, I noticed the right rear of the 745 just felt like the shock wasn't working. Since it was 10F, and we were leaving the next morning, I decided we'd live with it.
The diagnosis was confirmed on the back roads of NH as several times the tire smacked into the wheek well. Oh well, let's see if I can get this replaced on warranty.
Finally one morning I figured I'd take a peek underneath just to see what I could see, lo and behold there was the bottom of the shock sticking below the trailing arm, the bolt had fallen out!
OK so I figured I could maybe fix this. Got the bolt and a LOCKING nut, pulled into our friends garage, removed the wheel and.........hmm the shock is a bit bent!
Took off the shock and it was obvious the 1/2 inch or so chrome rod was bent. No way can I put the shock back as the rod will not go into the shock body past the bend.
What the heck, I took it to the basement, put it in a vice, extended the shock, and pulled with all my might, maybe more as i was a bit pissed about this......and it bent back a little!
After about 30 minutes of a little bend this and that I got the shock to compress fully, put back on car.It seems to work normally!
I really find it hard to believe the rod is weak enough for me to bend, granted it doesn't have any side forces on it normally, but I expect it to be stronger than it is.....
Anyway, the bolt which fell out was from the IPD sway bar kit, maybe I'll check if the other side has a locking nut on it.....
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744-16v,745-16v,242Turbo.245DLT