kanvasman

No matter how I try to word this it doesn’t make sense. Has anyone repaired the upper seat on their front shock. Somehere back in time a previous owner must have had a loose shock and the seat where the bushings go is messed up. It is causing the rubber bushing to split. Just trying to come up with a plan. Thx.

sunflower 1972

Photo?

Mooser

Is the through hole worn massively oversize? or is it just the surface around the hole? Inside (underside) and top side?
M

kanvasman

Sorry it took so long to get some pics of the damage. Life keeps getting in the way. Here is the seat. Really sharp edges, not sure how oversize the hole is but it appears to be almost the same as the other side of the car. I can spin the seat itself with the end of my finger. FWIW the rubber bushing literally split into 3 or 4 pieces from bottom to top. Second time it has happened and there are no miles on the car. Just sittin in the driveway hours. As I said I don't know what the history of the mount is but I need to repair it. Who knows, maybe someday I will be able to DRIVE this car. Thanks for any ideas.

Mooser

OK, Bubba fix suggestion until you can weld in the hole back to "normal"
Get a couple of this style of shock cup washers with the actual lip that can go into the existing hole in the frame



Grind / file the top flat and try to deburr the underside as best you can using files, scrappers, etc. Clean the crap out of everything and silicone one on the underside of the frame mount, the lip should locate it proper, take up a lot of the excess slack and it will produce a smooth locating surface for the rubber cushion
you should be able to smooth the top surface good enough to not need anything on that side

Anyway, that, in theory should be Bubba enough to work properly. Remember the hole is overside compared to the shock shaft size as it needs to move sideways when the control arm lifts so it's not a tight fit in the first place
M

leigh1322

I was very curious about this and just checked my recently powdercoated frame.
Mine have a small stepped recess on the inside, and a corresponding bulge on the topside.
Everything is very smooth with rounded edges.
Sorry I can not get a pick inside. Yours looks like it was pounded flat by metal to metal contact (rotten bushings?)

This is what that steel bushing cup "feels" like to me: One pieces stamped/pressed into position (All smooth rounded edges of course.)




I cannot imagine replacing that with anything that would be smooth enough,..
The shock bushing goes inside the lower cup, but the upper side is more of a rounded lip near the shaft that the bushing would go around. Odd design.

I hate to suggest it but your best bet make be cutting off the shock tower "top" and welding on a recycled piece from an old frame.
You may want to contact allvettes4me he has access to several good and partial frames. As well as a top notch frame repair man.
Maybe he or his contact would have more ideas.

kanvasman

Thanks to you both. Mr. Moose, how did you know my middle name is Bubba??? I have to fight every instinct in my body NOT to do things like this, but it makes total sense to me. My thought was to take 2 of those washers, one underneath between the lower rubber bushing and the seat, and one on the top, again bewtween the rubber bushing and the ruined seat. I know the top is toast, but for all I know maybe the bottom is where the real damage is. I can't see it right now. I knew the hole was oversized but didn't understand why until you mentioned the control arm moving. And Leigh, there are parts on ebay listing just that part of the shock tower and they are designed for repairs such as this. That is a major undertaking, and the Bubba inside says to save that option for the last ditch effort. After more searching I found a thread on our site from none other than Alan 71 in 2014 with this link in it. https://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~partsort
It appears to be like a large grommet. They list 2 different parts so I will contact them to find out what the differrences are. And the cost is only about $7.00! Shipping will probably be just as much.

For now Bubba will wait a few days and do a proper repair. But as I said, Bubba doesn't like to wait. Thank you both and hopefully this thread will come up when the next one of us has this issue and they can find 2 solutions.

kanvasman

It appears that the link isn't working, so I will try it again. https://www.parts123.com/parts123/dy...82a&uKeY=AANKP

if it still isn't right, just cut and paste it.

leigh1322

Yes that looks like the correct piece!
I managed to get pictures of mine


If you can get the correct part you can definately fix this yourself.
On closer inspection the cup is on the inside.
Most of the bulge on the outside is due to the frame itself.
The steel insert is just folded over flat. and just barely over the edge. Maybe a couple mm. I think it shows in the photo.
I measured my hole (with insert in place) and it was 0.660"
There is a tool to install these spring pockets for the rear spring and trailing arm, I'll bet that tool would work.