Just so you can see the "look" of another option. Any also btw I have some ford towers if you need some.
Ewww! Look What Happened to my Truck
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Yeah I have been looking into the Bilsteins too. Called Marlin and they told me that it takes a lot of work to get their hoops in. I also am thinking about the heavy shock towers from Rough Stuff (They have some very kewl swag for cruisers). They are spendy but they look like stock towers on 'roids. I'll hunt down the Fox number
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- #23
SnwBrdr, That is a nice option. Looks like dude got a tubing bender.
I had a fractured shock mount like those pictured on my right front. At the time I had stock springs but had installed OME shocks in anticipation of getting the springs later. I have been blaming the break on incompatible shock travel to spring travel, which I never measured. The local welder fixed it for $20 and it has been good since. Now have OME so everything matches up.
Yeah, this happened to my '87 several years ago. The driver's side had totally come apart just like the OP and the passenger side had cracks coming in from both sides. I beveled the edges a bit on the driver's side bracket and took my mig welder to it. On the passenger side I just ran a good hot bead over the cracks. Had to be ten years ago with no problems since.
Gene
Gene
Running Ranchos is like kissing your sister.
So, I have been hearing some pops emanating from the suspension for some time. This evening l discovered the true source. Has this happened to anyone? Known repairs upgrade options? I studied the fracture surfaces and it looks like there was an "Old" crack, fatigue "Beach Marks" and then a final "Shear lip". There was a crack in there for awhile. It might be a good thing to visually inspect and a little magnetic particle or dye penetrant your shock towers to see if there any future failures out there. I really like to take a poll on the number of these failures
Had the same thing happen (driver side). Fatigue. Just weld back on with add'l metal strap on sides.
bagochips76
SILVER Star
Just discovered the same thing on my driver's side....
Those shock mounts are still available from Toyota, should you want to stay stock.
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Could you just weld the new OEM mount to the frame and forego the rivets?
- Drill out the rivets & drill through the opposite side of the frame
- Get a new OEM mount
- Thru bolt with SS bolts w/ nylock nuts
If a new mount is welded to the frame... it's going to be a nightmare dealing with IT when (if) IT breaks in the future.
Check the shock length. The bump stops can compress more than 50% on a hard hit and often the shock mounts get busted cuz the aftermarket shock is too long. Might need to lengthen the bump stop with a spacer.. or get a shorter shock.
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There you go. That looks like a simple solution to me.
The Fox replacement shock has 2" more travel, good if you are adding a 2" lift?
gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
So I will be replacing my springs soon with stock ones that have been re-arched and an AAL added. The PO said it should net me like 2" of lift so what is the length of stock units?
ntsqd
technerd
Thru drilling the frame and then tightening a bolt thru that hole will crush the frame unless a spacer is installed. Easiest way to do this is to drill one side much bigger and either use tubing or make the spacers from bar stock that are the same length as the width of the frame rail. Heavily chamfer one end. Weld the chamfered big end to the frame after installing it with a tight bolt & grind smooth.
Stainless bolts are no better than a Grade 5 and most are no better than a Grade 2 unless you buy them from ARP.
I always plan on the bump-stop being blown off the truck and set up the mounts to not bust the damper when that happens. Make the damper mounts work first, then set up the bump-stops. Doing it the other way around is bass-ackwards.
I think the more accurate word to use is "could" not "will". My frame didn't get crushed when I thru-bolted, & I agree it would have been nice to have an internal spacer ... or just place a 1/4" backing plate on the nut side of the frame & be done with it. No welding, no bigger holes in the frame...no deformation & plenty strong.
I did the front shock mount thru-bolt repair with four stainless steel thru-bolts 18 years ago and the cruiser has traveled over thousands of miles of dirt roads over the years in Mexico with no issues (with that shock mount).
If the bolts are torqued to a reasonable tightness (not too tight), the frame won't deform... especially if a backing plate is used. If the bolts were torqued too tight with a gorilla arm and no backing plate, I agree, the frame would certainly start to deform.
Correct.
Common stainless steel bolt strength is equivalent to approximately a Grade 5 bolt. But don't discount the strength of Grade 5 bolts.
• The shear strength of a single 7/16" Grade 5 bolt is approximately 10,823 Lbs.
• The shock tower has four bolt holes.
• The single front shock would have to apply over 43,000 lbs of force to shear those four SS bolts.
That is more force than the shock, the shock bracket, the single dinky upper shock threaded rod nut, the lower shock pin, the spring, the bump stop or any part of the shock assembly could apply or withstand.
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Four Grade 5 stainless steel thru-bolts for the shock mount are overkill by orders of magnitude according to any engineering criteria....And since that is the case, the way I see it anyway, might as well use stainless steel bolts since they won't rust.
ntsqd
technerd
I think it more accurate to say "will", especially when the Moment that the mount has on it's bolts is factored in. Won't take much compression in the frame and stretch in the bolts for the whole thing to work loose. One over-cooked pothole/vado/etc. can do it. And then you have a pile of junk miles from anywhere worth being. Why not do it right to start with?
