Upper Shock Mounts

In refurbishing my frame, I have found that the threads on both rear upper shock mounts leave something to be desired. I have found that you can only buy these used. One person I talked to in regards to this told me some shock mounts came with the threads while some only came with a cotter-pin hole. I am contemplating just using cotter pins and washer but don't want to do so if it wasn't done originally. I was wondering if anyone had the cotter-pin style on their CJ (mine is a '66)?
Thanks,
:v6:
BenF

 

Washer and cotter pin is original on the flatfender. Kind of lame but it works. Not sure on the early CJ5s.
Greg

 

IIRC my front had the cotter style and my rear had threads. I replaced my front ones, so they would all be threaded. I can look when I get home and tell you for sure. I bought my new shock mounts from 4WD hardware.

 

Mmm, yeah, I would have said that the cotter pin mounts were gone by the time the CJ-5 came around. That's '40s era stuff.

I would not sweat the thread condition too much - as long as the nut goes on and tightens down, it should be ok. If the threads were damaged, I'd first try to clean them up with a triangular file and/or a die. There exist thread repair files just for this job.

Replacing them requires grinding the welds off, mounting the new parts, and rewelding - not a minor job. Just becasue they have bolts through the frame doesn't mean that bolts are enough to hold them.

 

The problem is the lack of threads. I have no problem chasing the existing threads with a die, but there would be no crests. I am trying to find weld-in studs for the mounts but so far have not come up with anthing with the right OD.
:v6:
BenF

 

I would think any auto parts would have something similar to this and it could be adapted/welded to the mount with some fab skills.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/SHOCK-MOUNT-STUD,5485.html

 

The shock stud would work, but I expect a plain bolt would work too. You could leave the bracket on the chassis and cut/burn/drill the stud out of it. I don't think there's anything special about the shoulder on the stud, except that it prevents you from overtightening the nut against the bushing. A plain bolt of the right diameter and length should work fine - by my read of Vanguard's post, this is what he's suggesting. If you have a lathe, you could even make an exact replacement of the existing shock stud, with the same length, shoulder and thread.

 

I've used a grade 8 bolt in fine thread, similar to what was explained. Worked fine as long as the shock brackets are in good shape.