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What are rear axle shock stud repair options?

RAVC1

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Michigan
I accidentally severed the threads from the rear axle shoulder bolt the shock mounts to when removing the nut/washer recently.

My first thought was to saw of the remains of the shoulder bolt on the front side of the axle bracket, mark the center and drill out rest of the bolt then grind off the larger diameter head on the back side of the bracket and have a fabricator weld on a suitable replacement shoulder bolt.

I thought to ask a friend who is an excellent fabricator how he thought it might be best/easiest to repair this. He used to own a service station and explained that vehicles used to have a thread on bolt/washer system for shock mounting studs. Will this be a strong enough repair? I do like the user serviceability of this method.

It may also be useful for you to know I an referring to the C8.25 but I have a couple of D35 rear axles I could scavenge part of the bracket/shoulder bolt assembly. I do not think I should need to completely replace the bracket welded to the axle tube. This seems to be more effort than is required to make a sound repair.

Let me know.
 
If you have easy access to a welder, grind off a repair part from parts axle and weld it on. Plasma cutter is even faster. Any D35 I toss out gets the shock brackets removed and saved.

I have cut the old damaged stud, ground flush front and rear, drilled thru, and installed a shoulder bolt, and it was a lot of work, however it is a solid repair. Don't forget, larger size drills are expensive.
 
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RCP Phx & Tim_MN - Thanks for the responses. They let me know I am on a good path for repair. I only have tig but I should be able to have someone with a plasma cutter take the brackets of my D35 axles for future use.
 
It may be too late for the OP, but for anyone else who may stumble upon this, i just wanted to relay the fact that just a plain ol' bolt is supplied with aftermarket 8.8 swap kits. The stud shown above is certainly preferable but the aftermarket seems to feel that just a bolt is all that's required.
 
Jim Malcom - Not too late. I have not repaired my axle yet. I have decided I do not care for the RE 2051 kit. The additional offset the hex flats give the lower shock mount bother me. RE explained their is sufficient flex in the upper shock mount to accommodate for this but this is not appealing to me. At the moment, I am uncertain how I will repair it and I am going to talk to a couple more fabricators. I usually take my Xj of the road in winter to prevent exposure to salt so I have time on my side.
 
Cut a stud off a 35, weld it to yours

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
When mine broke I had to drill it out and use a bolt and nut been that way a while no issues
 
I went with cutting off the whole stud, ground down the bracket, and drilled a hole for a new stud similar to what was shown in post #2. I will not do that again. Like jeep ride said, clean it up and ****/tap a hole for a bolt.
 
Buy or make something like this and get those shocks out of the way of potential damage. Just make sure the shocks aren't being used as the bottoming stops.

https://jksmfg.com/i-9052781-fab-rear-axle-shock-mount.html


If you are up to making something like that, take some measurements and you may find that it is best to make that out of 3" square 1/4" wall tubing. The 2 1/2" inner dimension is a perfect fit over my factory brackets. A little persuasion from a hammer for fine tuning the location and no need for clamping challenges.


Bracket:


RearShockMountRedo12OPT.jpg




Fitment:


RearShockMountRedo15OPT.jpg



This will get the bolt/stud kit referenced above.


If you go this route make sure you leave room on the inside for the threads and nut of the stud. The factory bracket comes in at an angle on the inside. Put your stud down at the bottom and there is no room for the nut.
 
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