Front lower shock mount chewed-out any common fixes?

[McBrain]

Hi All,

Just got back from a bumpy ride through Cape York and have found that the hole on the shock/spring mount on the front axle has galled due to the shock moving around.

So there is a plate welded to the top of the axle housing where the spring and shock are attached. The threaded rod of the shock has been moving in this hole and enlarged the hole to maybe 15mm in diameter.

Is there a common fix for this?

I could weld a plate onto the existing plate but this would reduce the amount of threads protruding for the shock attachment and the stackup would probably be too much with standard bushes.

The best fix would be to cut off the old fitting attached to the axle housing and weld on a new one.

Does anyone know the right way to do it?

(sorry no pictures ATM)

Nick

[dullbird]

cant you fill the hole with weld and re drill? rather than cutting the plate out or welding another plate on top

[Blknight.aus]

Remove anything that's in the way,
Prepare the area for welding,
Place a large heavy duty body washer in the correct place from under death and plug weld it in place from the top
Grind off the excess and externally weld another washer on top.
Clean up and redrill/ream the hole and your done.

Depending.on your available skill level
You can also bolt 2 of the larger outer bush control plates together either side of the hole with the concave side facing out then fill weld the wedge space created between the convex side and the mount.

[McBrain]

Thanks for the replies.

I guess I was worried that welding anything to the top or bottom surface of the existing plate would mean I was left with too much material for the thread on the shock to go through. Blknight.aus are you suggesting to grind back and reduce the thickness of the body washer after welding or leave it full thickness?

It can probably survive a few less threads poking through, as long as I can get the nut started.

Nick

[dullbird]

it sounds like you dont have a lot of thread fullstop!! i dont have this issue what shocks are you running?

[JC Rover]

You can get a replacement bracket from the UK. That would involve cutting the old one off the axle and welding the new one on in the exact same spot, which is well beyond my welding skill. I have the same problem, probably from driving up the cape too.

Jono

[roverrescue]

mr toyoto pin mount shocks use a metal cup washer with integrated sleeve over the pin
The OD of the sleev from memory is pretty close to 15mm
The issue will be whether your daper pin fits the sleeve ID

I have used these washers in place of standard damper cup washers in the past

Otherwise - weld the hole using a copper block backing plate on underside
- grind the top surface flat (bottom will be flat due to copper block)
- Dremel / air die grinder using a carbide tool to bring hole back to dim


S

[McBrain]

The shocks have been there since the PO so I suspect they are the standard ones. I have OMEs in the back and will be using OMEs in the front.

Replacing the whole bracket seems the best fix to me but I'd be nervous about welding straight onto the axle housing.

I think I'll try the filler method. I haven't heard of using a copper block like that before. Where would I get a copper block? How thick does it need to be? I would expect they are not cheap?!

Regards
Nick

[roverrescue]

You can use Ally if you cant track down copper just wont last as long - just ensure it is at least 10mm thick

A piece of 20mm thick copper comes in very handy for many heat sinking tasks
Your local friendly scrap metal merchant would be one of the better places to look - take a six pack and scrounge around till you find what your looking for

S

[schuy1]

copper or aluminum filler will last about as long as it took you to in stall it ! Ream the hole to round,( it will be oblong or oval at the moment) go to your local metal/ hardware/ farm machinery place with the dimensions and find a bush to fit. It may need modifying a bit but welding a bushing the hole is the best plan. Then you can just replace the bush as needed because believe me it will wear again! More so if you do offroad work, in 306,000 ks I have done mine twice and it needs doing again! Scott OOPS! Pays to read the post properly!!! :( I see now that the copper is only as a HEATSINK!! sorry! Carry on as you were! :D

[roverrescue]

The big issue with welding the hole down will be it will end up harder than your shock pins and you will start wearing the out - but its uick and easy and fixed for now!


I tells ya mr Toyota was onto something using a sleeved pin mount
change out the sleeve when the sleeve wears away - easy

Tojo guys who go after market dampers have the same problems as the landy in this post

S

[Blknight.aus]

for the washer welding repairs...

once you have the bottom washer welded on you need to grind the surface of the plate back to flat so the washer you're going to weld over the top is going to sit down level and correct. then you weld the outside of the top washer down, and clean up that weld.

The welding in this repair method primarily locates the washer in place so the shocky doesnt roam around inside the oversized hole. yes you will loose some thread lenght but typically theres enough length to get you out of trouble. The vertical restraint of the shocky is preformed by the compression of the body washers against the rest of the metal in the original bracket by the shocky pin and nut.