R1 Strut Damper Assembly - Teardown Video

[Zoidz]

I never bothered to study the struts, but I assumed they were an air bladder type of design. Unless I missed something, this is built more like a pneumatic cylinder with O-Rings and no bladder? If so, they are not that hard to rebuild if you have the right tools and replacement parts. I've rebuilt at least a dozen industrial pneumatic cylinders over the years. If I could get parts, I would probably try to repair myself out of warranty.

Also, this appears to be an ideal market for a 3rd party service like TopHydraulics.com . They rebuild cylinder assemblies (including core exchage programs) for convertible tops including those that are out of production and no OEM parts avaiable. Like my 2004 BMW 330cic, lol. I'll email them with a suggestion and see if they respond. If somone like this offered a rebuild service for $1000 it would be a no-brainer.

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[SwampNut]

So, if I'm being overly-pedantic, let me know, but if I infer from your definition, you'll likely be living with some leaky, crappy struts until the vehicle becomes nigh undriveable.

It’s a fair point, and there’s really no way to know until a claim is filed. I did talk to two SC people who said they would definitely try to make sure “failure” is in their wording on the claim. My local SC people are pretty great.

 

[R1Thor]

I never bothered to study the struts, but I assumed they were an air bladder type of design. Unless I missed something, this is built more like a pneumatic cylinder with O-Rings and no bladder? If so, they are not that hard to rebuild if you have the right tools and replacement parts. I've rebuilt at least a dozen industrial pneumatic cylinders over the years. If I could get parts, I would probably try to repair myself out of warranty.

Also, this appears to be an ideal market for a 3rd party service like TopHydraulics.com . They rebuild cylinder assemblies (including core exchage programs) for convertible tops including those that are out of production and no OEM parts avaiable. Like my 2004 BMW 330cic, lol. I'll email them with a suggestion and see if they respond. If somone like this offered a rebuild service for $1000 it would be a no-brainer.

I'm not even sure it'd cost $1000.
Even if we're talking top-of-the line custom sized Viton O-Rings and a valve swap, we're still under $300.

The hard part, from what I can tell, looking at service instructions, is having the right tools and capabilities to handle the bleed and re-pressurization of the hydraulics in the vehicle. And our nemesis: whatever proprietary software Rivian uses that might be required to rebalance the system could also be problematic if we can't get access to it or convince Service to run it for us when we complete our self-service...

My neighbor just had his rear dampers replaced, and it took a day, so that's helpful to know, anyway!

I wish I had an extra vehicle to tear apart to experiment with!

 

[Jonger1150]

Turning into parking lots is gradually getting more and more clunky. I just need these replaced before the 4 year 50,000 mile mark. I'm at 31,000 and 2 years in. Hopefully they hold up another year, but I'm not buying this vehicle off the lease if they won't replace them. I have a Jan 2024 build, which is when Dunlop air bags were used. Firestone or else this thing is being traded in.

 

[onesoil]

Wow, so defensive. I'm not bad talking Rivian here but I'm on my 4th set of rear dampers in 3 years of ownership. 40K miles. I'm really happy to hear that most other Rivian owners have never had their dampers replaced. I really hope it doesn't turn into a recall situation. These parts are wear items to begin with anyway. Clearly, subjecting this suspension to unpaved road conditions consistently accelerates the wear, in my case. I simply cannot recommend owning this vehicle without a warranty. That last repair was over $10K and required a tow.

We have four R1Ts. My father’s launch truck has had front and rear dampers, as well as most of his air system (compressor, distribution block, lines, etc). He’s also had jounce lines. My 2022 has is on its 3rd set of rear dampers (that I know of, it being a demo truck with 10k miles when I bought it). I just found my rears are leaking again when I put my summer wheels on last week. I also am pretty sure my front left might be leaking (which I’m actually hoping is the case so I can get the redesigned version).

I won’t go into the shocking number of component failures our four trucks have had in a fairly short period of ownership/leasing (almost four years for the launch truck, 2 for mine, and 1.5 each for the leased ones). It’s wild how many 10s of thousands of dollars worth of warranty work our trucks have racked up in well under 40k miles each (under 20k on the leased ones).

I think people who don’t have leaky dampers must not live in areas with dirt roads or harsh winters/mud seasons. These trucks were designed in Palo Alto and it shows…

 

[onesoil]

It's exclusionary coverage, with the typical maintenance item exclusions. Suspension is covered. If this doesn't make sense, google "exclusionary coverage" and only buy this type of coverage, never the named item coverage. I've never read the Xcare policies. I would expect some challenges on this level of suspension since normally a shock WEARING OUT is not covered, but breakage would be.

"Car bounces" is not covered; it's wear.

"Car is slammed to the ground and not driveable" covered breakage.

Which extended warranty did you go with?

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

My neighbor just had his rear dampers replaced, and it took a day, so that's helpful to know, anyway!

I received and signed work order today for replacement to be done tomorrow. 6.6 hours is what it shows, including replacement of suspension compressor. Probably getting ride share credits instead of loaner/rental.

 

[impulsoren]

“I never bothered to study the struts, but I assumed they were an air bladder type of design. Unless I missed something, this is built more like a pneumatic cylinder with O-Rings and no bladder?”

The air suspension part is a separate bladder from the hydraulic strut/shock/damper shown in this thread.
From reading many posts here, it seems like many conflate the two. I did, earlier in this thread. Air suspension problems/repair are a totally different system than the hydraulic damper problems/replacement that many have experienced.

 

[SwampNut]

Which extended warranty did you go with?

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...ded-service-option-i-was-offered-today.53684/

 

[R1TBrett]

I've had the rear dampers replaced twice by 25K miles. Most recent repair, all 4 dampers, hydroaulic lines and the hydraulic pump. Catastrophic failure. I live on an unpaved desert road. Total of 5 miles out and back to my home. This suspension system cannot handle it.

dang how do you handle the constant rattling and knocking while living on unpaved roads! The noise is awful.​

 

[Heimat]

I've had the rear dampers replaced twice by 25K miles. Most recent repair, all 4 dampers, hydroaulic lines and the hydraulic pump. Catastrophic failure. I live on an unpaved desert road. Total of 5 miles out and back to my home. This suspension system cannot handle it.

Sorry that your suspension isn't holding up. I'm in southern MN, and drive 12+ miles of gravel road every day from home to work. 75+ 000 miles and passed 4 years old. Only had one front damper replaced early on. Not saying Rivians don't have problems. Just sharing my experience. Hope they got yours fixed with no more problems .

 

[SwampNut]

I don’t live around dirt roads, but go play on trails and washes regularly. My truck has always been quiet even when being pretty abusive to it. Wonder what the differences are.

 

[R1Thor]

I don’t live around dirt roads, but go play on trails and washes regularly. My truck has always been quiet even when being pretty abusive to it. Wonder what the differences are.

Combination of LDFSS (Gaussian distribution) manufacturing tolerances, luck, and quality control, is my guess. Not to mention, our trucks are Gen1. No amount of ALT is going to suss out all of the potential abuse these systems will see (and in fact, a lot of suspension-testing rigs are relatively constant, from what I've seen. Not real-world). The benefit is that Gen2 has the data from Gen1 (and they're already on Rev B dampers, which are likely improved over Rev A). Gen3 will be better, and so will Gen 4.

I'm still betting (hoping) we see these reports so prevalently because they're so egregiously expensive and it's still the exception, not the norm. Afterall, how many posts have we seen where people come here to brag they haven't had to do any maintenance or visit the service center in 50, 75, or 100,000 miles (though we do get some helpful comments in these posts, suggesting such)? That's not what people come to talk about, most of the time.

I'm just about to hit 60,000 miles and my brakes are still practically new, my suspension overall is great, and the few issues I've had were minor and corrected easily at the service center. I haven't even had my original 12V batteries replaced. The only exception being my experience with half shafts, and even then, it's not catastrophic, it's just annoying backlash and metal noises.

 

[SwampNut]

I haven't even had my original 12V batteries replaced.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I think people who don’t have leaky dampers must not live in areas with dirt roads or harsh winters/mud seasons. These trucks were designed in Palo Alto and it shows…

Rivian did almost all of their early engineering out of Plymouth Michigan.

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