(07-13-2021, 03:59 PM)Axel Wrote: Had an occasional mild from end vibration at 65 mph along with an occasional soft knock from the left front end for a few weeks. Checked the tires, had them rebalanced and rotated, jacked up the front end and checked everything for play or noise. Found nothing. The testing included a visual inspection of the shock mounts inside the engine compartment as well as pulling and pushing firmly on the top of the shock absorber shaft. 

Out this weekend on what turned out to be very bad bush roads with multiple 4+ foot deep washouts from a recent severe thunderstorm. Had to fill holes, move rocks and build up the washouts several times to be able to get across the dongas/arroyos/gulleys. The front end began to squeak going over bumps then suddenly became much noisier with a heavy clunking sound. Turned out the rubber part of the front shock mount had sheared. The central part was still firmly sandwiched between the two washers below the still tight nut but had torn completely free of the outer part. I guess this had been in progress and was what had been causing the two issues above. 

The terrain was dry desert with nothing but small mesquite bushes and some occasional clumps of grass so no wood or anything solid growing to use. Eventually jammed a small piece of scrap wood I found on my floor on top of the shock, lashed it in place with a strap and limped on as carefully as I could. Luckily the next section of road wasn't nearly as bad and we made it out and back to the little town ok. Saturday afternoon on a 110 degree summer day in Truth or Consequences New Mexico is not the time or place to expect much of anything....

Nothing but a hardware store and a couple of car parts chain stores was open. I had thought of several possible solutions but couldn't find anything that had the right shape and hole spacing. One of the counter guys at Autozone went way out of his way to help and after a few dead-ends, his suggestion of using a steering wheel puller worked. With some longer bolts and extra nuts and washers I was able to bolt the frame to two of the bolt holes above the shock and use the pullers central bolt to lock the top of the shock in place. I put a 19mm socket on top of the nut to protect the threads on the shock and locked everything down. It worked so well that even the alignment was good enough to give no pull on the highway home the next day.

So two questions: is this something anyone else has seen? These where about a year old, replaced when I installed my lift kit. And can anyone recommend a brand that might be beefier than the run of the mill? 

Her are a couple of photos to illustrate the failure, the first field expedient attempt to stabilize the shock and the solution with the steering wheel puller.

(07-14-2021, 02:38 AM)Axel Wrote: fixkick


Thanks Mr. Fix,   The metal shock mount parts are all fine, there is no issue with that at all. What broke was the rubber bushing/bearing that supports the top of the front shock.  It's the part listed from PartsGeek in the pdf at the top. The rubber bushing that holds the top of the shock sheared. This allowed it to bang around inside the housing, both side to side and up and down. The movement changes the camber as it shift around and on a rough road the movement could have damaged the housing that supports the bushing.The spring and shock are separate so there was no need for a spring compressor, I just had to find some way to stabilize the top of the shock inside the mount. The shock was free to move and so with any up and down movement of the front wheel, the shock didn't compress but the whole shock was lifted up and down within the hollow mount. The steering wheel puller was used to center the top of the shock inside the mounting tube and to push it down and keep it at the correct height. Without the fix, the top of the shock was sticking up 100 cm beyond the correct position and could move freely within the mount. 

Does that explanation make sense?  

(07-14-2021, 09:20 AM)fixkick Wrote: it is a  removal,  bottom up , job (strut removal)
then to put the strut back  the top of the strut shock end, in  your new doohicky top mount , already replaced new/.  then all other steps are below. to finish.