There's a problem with my Penske 8760 dampers and I'm posting to see if anyone has also experienced this.
The first important piece of information to know is that these shocks are about 25 years old. They were on a shelf for many years and I started using them for the 2022 season. Prior to use they were revalved with many new parts. This past winter they were revalved again.
Most of the innards are new but the adjusters on the shafts are not. The problem we’re experiencing is that the settings drift during operation of the car. And the drift is different for each shock, which shows that it isn’t temperature related. Some adjustments drift one or two clicks. Others drift 15 clicks and everything in between. The canister adjustments do not drift, btw.
I installed new wave springs, which as most know are situated under the adjusters because on some of the adjusters there wasn’t a good click to feel/hear. With new wave springs that situation improved. I later doubled up on the wave springs and got even more positive clicks.
Despite that the settings still drift.
Anyone have any thoughts on what might cause this?
Penske does sell updates to this style of adjuster but they are $360 per shock and before going that route I’d like to explore other possible fixes.
For the moment I use 1/16" OD pins that I place into the adjuster holes and tape in place. Clearly, that is a jury-rigged solution for the very short term.