Shock Tower Bolt Retainer

[LorenS]

Sunday morning I had high hopes of changing my front shocks. Driver's side went well, but two of the passenger side shock tower retainer studs snapped off.

In lieu of spending $30-40 to replace this part, I came up with a "repair" plan that hopefully may help someone in the future that doesn't have a week to dream this up and build it. Also, I read nothing but bad things about the MOOG version of this device - for some folks the studs immediately snapped, for others the studs spun in the retainer.

I'm not yet done with this, so this is a post in progress. Basically I have thus far cut the hex off some grade 10.9, 10-1.5x25mm flange bolts and plan to either silver solder (because I have some lying around) them to the ring or tack weld. I cut the heads off because I didn't want the heads cutting into the rubber spring isolator. Used 32 TPI cheap hacksaw blade, with the bolt chucked into my drill press, set to slow. I first made some cuts at the hex points so it wasn't too bumpy.

Here are some photos.

Edited August 26, 2022 by LorenS

[IBMobile]

I hope to see an article about this fix coming in the future.

[JAG1]

I still have mine from when the truck was 5 years old and only 34,000 miles, at the time I had a 2 in level kit put in and did not need those. Since then I went to a one inch level kit which is 10 times better BTW.

[LorenS]

Just tried my hand at brazing for the first time in a few years. Haven't cleaned it up yet, still very hot! Here are a couple photos.

Used "Harris 15" rod, and Harris Stay-Silv flux.

EDIT: of course after I'm done I look up if Harris 15 application and it says "Not recommended for brazing steel or other ferrous metals due to sufficient lack of joint ductility". In this application I'm not worried about ductility as the only force this joint will see is the removal/installation of nuts from the bolts to change shocks.

Edited August 27, 2022 by LorenS