Aftermarket struts out there?

[CaliRidge]

Anyone find aftermarket heavier duty struts for the Ridge? I blew my back ones out at Death Valley. Thanks in advance

[bigdave269]

What were you doing to blow them out so fast?

(Did you take pictures? Next time you go, how about a post?!)

[CaliRidge]

I took the Ridge in the backroads of Death Valley National park and blew out the rear struts. Sorry no pics, Just noticed the real bouncy ride on the way back home. I later looked under and saw the leaking struts. Wasnt too loaded down, Just me and a passanger with camping gear in the back. We went to the "Racetrack" in DV, and the roads to there are terrible: 80 miles or so of washboard roads and did some hill climbing and small boulder busting. I read on Edmunds.com that their testers blew out their struts too on their tester Ridge at DV

[bigdave269]

Wow. Just for the record, how fast were you going? How big were the boulders, and what kind of suspension extension were you getting?

I have driven some pretty bad roads here in SoCal, notably The Old Road, and out by Trona Pinnacles, but I tend to take it slow when I am off-road, and I have never had a problem. I also try to avoid the really bad stuff, because I know this truck was not set up for rock climbing, etc. But it's nice to know the Ridge can handle it, although it costs a set of struts....

[CaliRidge]

I was doing 15ish over the "washboard" 30mph and it rattled the truck too much. The Ranger told me to keep it under 15 so i wont blow out a tire. I think washboard road is what did my struts in. combined with the heat at Death Valley?

I did some rock crawling on a one lane road up steep terrain. Theres was no turning back, because there was no where to turn around, and I wanted to see what my baby got! The rocks where liftable size, I had to move some of the sharp ones out of the way, i didnt want them to cut my tire. Im sorry I dont have pics, we were busy trying to get the heck off the mountain.

[bigdave269]

Before you spend money on new struts, contact your dealer and see if they will cover them under warranty. It doesn't sound like you were abusing the truck, although I would leave off the part about going over the rocks. I've gone over plenty of washboard, and no problems. Now, if you want an improved strut, that's a different story. Not sure if anyone is manufacturing them, yet.