Rear Suspension Kit Mount

[madams557]

I've tossing back and forth the thought of upgrading the suspension on my FJ45 LWB and I finally decided to start getting parts together.

I've decided to go with the Dakar kit because I've come to learn that I won't be able to get all of the original springs though ARB USA any more.

Anyway, long story short, I'm running into a few problems matching the ARB catalog with what I have on the truck.

I can over come that though.

I've recently discovered that the rear Shackle mount has a groove worn out in the front ten o'clock position. My guess is that the PO let the rear bushing go to crap and decided to continue to drive it until the mount went bad.

My question is, what are my options? I plan on installing new ARB poly bushings and a new pin, but I'm thinking I will eventually ruin that bushing in the long run.

Is there a repair sleeve of some sort? Should I just replace the entire mount?

Or just try my luck and see if the groove is that significant?

Michael

 

[SteveH]

I assume it's the truck-mounted part that is worn -

You could fab a new mount with pipe or a custom machined sleeve, or you could grease up the new bushing, and drive it as is. I would at least deburr the groove and smooth things out in there as best you can.

If you're only going to put 10K miles on the truck in the next 10 years, then it may not matter much that there's a groove there. If you drove 50K miles a year, it might matter a lot more than it does on an occasional driver.

Steve

 

[madams557]

Steve,

It is the truck mounted bracket, the one to the rear where the shackle mounts. I'll have to get under there tonight and take a look again to see how bad it is. I only stuck my finger in there the other day.

I'll see if I can't get some pictures to see what the prevailing thought is.

Michael

 

[krzyabncanuck]

I just did my springs not long ago and i can not picture what you are talking about here. I could understand the rear mounts doing that but not the front. Maybe i need to go and look at mine again. Going out now.

 

[madams557]

Here is a diagram:#15 or 16.

EDIT: Sorry, the mount is actually #19.

 

[krzyabncanuck]

Is it the outside or inside of 15/16 ? My best guess would be to try and fab a new one on there if the old one is too far gone to fix. I know someone on here had theirs on their 40 ripped of from old age and they found a shop to do some fabbing on it. In fact i think it was Claudia / Dsrt something.

 

[madams557]

Okay, I got some pictures last night.

First, this is what the Spring Pin Bracket hole should look like:

 

[madams557]

Here is the bad Spring Pin Mount, with the grove at the 10 o'clock position.

 

[madams557]

So what is the group think here? Is this manageable? Should I work on tracking down a replacement mount?

I looked at the mount, it is riveted into place with four rivets. All but one rivet appears to be in easy locations to put some bolts, but one rivet on the front right corner is under a crossmember.

I'd like to hear what people think.

Michael

 

[krzyabncanuck]

Does it look like it could be welded back up ? If not then i would try to replace it myself.

 

[madams557]

Does it look like it could be welded back up ? If not then i would try to replace it myself.

I don't think I understand what you mean by welded back up. Do you mean filling the cap with weld and then reshaping it to be round?

I thought about that, but I'm not welding inclined so I wasn't sure if that is possible.

Thanks for the suggestion. I do feel like I should do something before I put everything back together.

Michael

 

[krzyabncanuck]

I don't think I understand what you mean by welded back up. Do you mean filling the cap with weld and then reshaping it to be round?

Michael

Yes this is what i was talking about, on mine it is different but then again it is older also. It is definately buggered up though.

 

[SteveH]

Weld it!

I would get new bushings, lube it well and assemble, and take it to a good welding shop in Ft. Collins and disassemble and have the add weldment in all the worn areas. Bring along a rat tail file or find a welding shop with a die grinder to clean it up after welding. Lube the bushing, and put it back together.

A private exhaust shop is sometimes your best bet, if they do custom truck jobs, rather than just hanging mufflers on Ford Escorts. The right guy should be able to do this on his lift for $50-75. You don't want a kid at Midas muffler who started last week.

When you're all done, the rubber bushing is what is supporting the shackle, so all that outer steel sleeve has to do is support a rubber bushing. You won't let it wear that badly ever again (or shouldn't). So, whether the welding job results in a flawlessly round inner diameter or one that's off a bit just isn't critical.

Given the nature of the wear and the fact that the bracket is riveted on, it seems like fabbing a new one or replacing it is overkill. If you have it properly welded and ground, and shoot it with black paint, it'll be like it never happened.


Steve

 

[madams557]

Thank you gentlemen, especially you Steve.

I sent some pictures to my friend and he things we could easily fix this with some welding and grinding.

I will attach the rear suspension and drive it over to him to finish the rear mount.

Man, I have to learn how to weld.


Michael