confirmation: rear shock upper mount sleeve or no?

[PhL0aTeR]

swapping out my rear shocks this week and there was no sleeve that came off with the upper mounting location, it appears to be rusted on the shock mount stud. Anyway, i just need to confirm that this should have come off with the shock, because they wouldnt budge and the inner washer was a bit flimsy.

ive been letting it soak overnight with liquid wrench sprayed on it, but they still wont move via grabbing with vice grips and trying to twist it off.

anyway, before i take the torch to the sleeves that i think are rusted on i figured id make sure and tackle it tomorrow...

Failing that, I'll just cut the bastards off and weld some new bolts on there. ;D

thanks

 

[DirtDonk]

Might have to see a pic, but in my experience there is usually no sleeve used on the upper rear. The mount itself is a threaded stud only at the outer end (maybe 3/4" long?), and then necks-up quite a bit to a round stock stud (about 1" long perhaps?) that slips through a bare shock bushing. You don't even use an inner washer sometimes, because there's really nowhere for the shock to go. Looking back, I do believe that I've used washers on both the inner and outer ends, but don't think one is absolutely necessary on the inside.

I'm sure there are shocks with properly sized bushings and sleeves to fit over the mount stud, but I've never used one.
So before you get to twisting and heating, look closely and make sure what you're looking at is actually a sleeve, and not just the mount stud.

Paul

 

[PhL0aTeR]

now that i see it on my computer screen, it looks like the mount stud shoulder... i just didnt think it was logical to press out the sleeve on the shock only to find some way to cram the unsleeved bushing on the stud... is this the way its supposed to be done? i figured for the most part, bushing sleeves were all the same size

here are a couple pics.

 

[NicksTrix]

you've got a factory mount there. no sleeve required. slip your shocks on and go after you've deburred the chew marks in the shanks of the mounts.

 

[PhL0aTeR]

you've got a factory mount there. no sleeve required. slip your shocks on and go after you've deburred the chew marks in the shanks of the mounts.

i pressed the sleeve out of the bushing on the shock and its pretty tough to get it on there without the sleeve, i gave up pretty quick. im thinking i might just cut those studs off and replace it by welding another bolt up there.

 

[Steve83]

I'd just dress the end of the stud with a file, clean it thoroughly with a wire wheel, paint it, and then put some silicone grease inside the new shock bushing so it slides on & doesn't stick.

 

[DirtDonk]

Maybe so, but in that second pic the shank looks to be pretty well buggered.
Could have been well worn down by years of moisture rusting it away from inside the bushings (and perhaps sleeves too) while sitting there.

If it's indeed well and truly buggered though, you could always clean it up like was suggested, but take it down far enough to fit a sleeve over it and run it that way.
Were you saying that the shock bushing was so tight that it didn't want to fit over the existing stud? Or did you mean that it was so loose that it didn't seem to fit right without a sleeve?
If too tight, then you've got enough material to work with. If too loose already, then you may have to go to Plan-B

And no, not all shock bushings and/or sleeves are the same. There are probably at least 3 commonly available eye sizes, with another 4 sizes of bushings and as many sleeves. Only one of those is meant for a Bronco of course. The others are for other vehicles, but they're still eyes and sleeves and some people could have mis-matched some on your EB over the years.
Bushings, whether rubber or poly, can be run directly on a stud just as easily as they can run with a sleeve in them. No matter what method is used, something is going to wear out eventually. Whether it's from steel rubbing on polyurethane, or steel rubbing on steel.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[dbevans2249]

Not trying to spend anyone elses money. It may be a good excuse to get one of the improved rear shock mount kits the venders sell. Just a thought.

 

[PhL0aTeR]

the "new" shock bushing sleeve was just a hair smaller than the stud, but it was like that on the other mounts too, nothing a bit of elbow grease didnt take care of. but pushing the sleeve over the step on the mount stud was obviously impossible. With the sleeve removed, i cant even get the bushing onto the stud threads. so im back to thinking just cutting off the mounts and welding the correct size bolt up there to replace it is going to be the best bet right now.

if it comes to me buying a shock mount, remind me to find out who stole my welder.

 

[DirtDonk]

I'm confuzzled then. How does your shock eye bushing get "smaller" when you remove the sleeve?
If you can slide the sleeve over the threads, then the bushing eye opening (being much larger) should have no problem at all getting over the threads.

What shocks are you using? Are the sleeves already installed in the bushings, or are they separate for the end-user to insert if needed?

Paul

 

[PhL0aTeR]

I'm confuzzled then. How does your shock eye bushing get "smaller" when you remove the sleeve?
If you can slide the sleeve over the threads, then the bushing eye opening (being much larger) should have no problem at all getting over the threads.

What shocks are you using? Are the sleeves already installed in the bushings, or are they separate for the end-user to insert if needed?

Paul

ever pull something out of another thing and see the hole close up? lol

the shocks i had laying around from parting my wrecked durango out. they are pretty similar in compressed/extended lengths so i figured what the hell. anyway the sleeves were already in the shocks bushings, i had to press one out with a couple sockets and a c clamp to see if it would fit sans bushing

anyway, when the sleeve was pressed out, the rubber bushing caved in quite a bit making the hole appear half the size it was when sleeved.

 

[DirtDonk]

Ok, that follows a natural curve then.
Bottom line is you're fitting the completely incorrect shocks and nothing you do is going to make them ever correct by changing the mounts.
Because later down the road, if you ever want to mount actual Bronco shocks, the mounts might be incorrect for them.

Not saying that the bolt that fits the Durango sleeve won't fit a sleeve you can fit into the next Bronco shock, but you'll potentially be losing some strength from the smaller shank size, and you may actually run afoul of the Durango having a semi-unique sleeve size that is never going to match anything the Bronco shocks are going to have.

Run into that scenario before.
So before you go modifying the stock mount (unless it's well and truly trashed anyway), make sure that whatever you change it to can then be used at a later date, with the correct Bronco shock too.
Or else be prepared to "re-modify" it at a later date.

Paul

 

[PhL0aTeR]

i wouldnt replace it with anything smaller, id replace it with exactly the bolt size of all the other bronco mounts. these shocks are about 5" longer in travel, and only an inch longer when compressed. If i need to run correct bronco shocks, ill just keep these two sleeves and press them into the bronco shock bushings. Im always prepared to modify, so i guess im prepared to remodify it.