Changing Rear Shock Mount From Studs To Bolts

[BrianJr]

Sorry if I am killing the terminology.

I want to know if changing my rear lower shock mounts from studs running perpendicular to the axle housing, to bolts running parallel to the housing will cause problems. Basically I want to change from something like

to something like

I will also be using the old rear sway bar mounts as bar pin eliminators at the top.

Has anyone tried this? I am concerned that the second mount pictured above would not allow the shock to rotate enough as the rear suspension flexes.

Thanks,
-Brian

 

[dennisuello]

why? it will bind.

 

[BrianJr]

Why do you think it will bind? I'm not saying you are wrong - I simply want to understand what you are thinking. It seemed likely to bind to me too.

The reason this is being considered is because we are replacing the axle with one that does not already have shock mounts - at the guy doing my welding thinks this style of mount is better. Additionally, because I am using the old sway-bar mounts as bar-pin eliminators it would do away with the shock eyes rotating 90 degrees.

-Brian

why? it will bind.

 

[GroversXJ]

Why do you think it will bind? I'm not saying you are wrong - I simply want to understand what you are thinking. It seemed likely to bind to me too.

The reason this is being considered is because we are replacing the axle with one that does not already have shock mounts - at the guy doing my welding thinks this style of mount is better. Additionally, because I am using the old sway-bar mounts as bar-pin eliminators it would do away with the shock eyes rotating 90 degrees.

-Brian

Under normal suspension movement (both tires up and down at the same time) it would cause no problems but under articulation I dont think the rubber bushings in the shock eyes could flex enough to allow full movement. That style of a mount would cause a bending moment to be applied between the bolt and the shock body when the rubber bushing reached it flexing limit.

 

[bburge]

It would depend on how much lift/flex you were at to determine if you reached that limit.

My diff is rotated on the back after my SYE (and before remounting my shock mounts) and I have a horrible amount or distortion on the lower shock eye bushing. No failures yet (I've had the shocks off to check the bushings), but it is an avenue of concern.

How much lift ya got? 4"? Go for it! 8"? Do a flex test and see howfar stuff moves back there...

bburge

 

[jjvande]

go for the first mount pictured...do it right the first time and don't look back. binding shocks isn't good on them, it also binds the suspension and what not.JMHO

I just got the rear axle in my '88 shimmed up. the bushings were alll torqued and i thought nothing of it....but after just chopping and re-welding the mounts in the correct position, there was a nice improvement on the suspension feel.(I also learned the RS9000s should be mounted with the piston pointing up...the jeep feels great now)


cheers

 

[BrianJr]

The axle rotating because of installing the SYE will not be an issue - we are welding new mounts on to a clean axle (Installed a Ford 8.8 with lift). We lined the pinion up as well as possible before welding the spring perches on. We will weld the lower shock mounts after we see how much travel the axle has.

I'll go ahead and order the orgs studs (first picture). Now the real question is what to use for a bar-pin eliminator at the top. Apparently using the sway bar mounts often causes binding because they rotate the shock eye 90 degrees). The JKS bpe's require removing the same bolts when you change the shocks as the stock setup - which is exactly what I want to prevent (I'm tired of drilling out broken bolts )

Thanks guys,
-Brian

It would depend on how much lift/flex you were at to determine if you reached that limit.

My diff is rotated on the back after my SYE (and before remounting my shock mounts) and I have a horrible amount or distortion on the lower shock eye bushing. No failures yet (I've had the shocks off to check the bushings), but it is an avenue of concern.

How much lift ya got? 4"? Go for it! 8"? Do a flex test and see howfar stuff moves back there...

bburge

 

[bburge]

Didn't say it would be an issue. I was using it as an example of how much rotation/torsion is routinely placed on the shock eye bushing during a pretty common operation done to our XJ's.

It just seems that that is accepted pretty regularly, but when someone brings up wht you're doing or BPE's that rotate the mounting, everyone starts hollering "foul". But from my experiance, the 4* shim on my axle is cuasing more bushing distrotion than the Rocky Road BPE's could ever cause (at 4" of lift).

The mounts you have in mind would allow rotating the axle with little to no impact on the lower eye bushing.

bburge

 

[Goatman]

Why do you think it will bind? I'm not saying you are wrong - I simply want to understand what you are thinking. It seemed likely to bind to me too.

The reason this is being considered is because we are replacing the axle with one that does not already have shock mounts - at the guy doing my welding thinks this style of mount is better. Additionally, because I am using the old sway-bar mounts as bar-pin eliminators it would do away with the shock eyes rotating 90 degrees.

-Brian

Use the stud for the reason you and the others have stated, and tell your welder friend to just do the welding, you'll do the designing. It makes no difference that the eyes are turned 90* to each other, that shock rod and piston won't know the difference. Using the sway bar link mounts for BPE's will do the same thing, cause more deflection in the bushings, but they will work if you need to use them. No sense having excess bushing deflection both top and bottom. If you're breaking shock mount bolts you have shocks that are too short. Get the correct length shocks, and use grade 8 bolts and anti-sieze and you shouldn't have any problems with the JKS BPE's.

You're thinking correctly, don't over complicate it.