Tightening rear shock mounts/bushings - loaded or unloaded?

[tonydca]

Was chasing down a "Clonk" eminating from my back end (my van's, not my own) every time I went over uneven ground, and lo and behold there seems to be about an inch of front-back lateral play in the upper mounting hole of both rear shocks (the bushings are not snugged right up tight around the shocks; I can grab them by hand and wiggle them back and forth a bit).

Wanted to post a pic, but da wife is off to work with the van

So, never having had to install shocks before, but doesn't look like rocket science, my questions are:

- Am I right in assuming that I can just tighten down the hex nut on the forward surface of the shock mount to pull the bushings in tight? (looks like about a 19mm socket) or will this be pulling other things out of alignment?

- If this is so, can this operation be done with the suspension loaded - i.e. with the vehicle just sitting on the flat normally, or do I need to support the frame up and get the rear wheels off the ground to do this? (I am hoist-challenged). The fact that I can wiggle the upper end of the shocks by hand leads me to believe that they are not supporting much, if any weight (should be the springs' job). I don't want to torque them down and bend the shafts of the shocks out of true if they are under load.

Any pearls of wisdom to impart? Thanks,

Tony.

[jessef]

Hey Tony

You can swap out the rear shocks while the van sits on level ground without supports.

Just make certain of course that it's in Park, the parking brake is on and the wheels are chocked.

The rear coils are holding the van's weight.

If I recall, the nut is either 22 or 21mm

As for the bushings, they should not be loose on the mounting bolt (that extends from the body and axle) nor loose in the shock tower

tightening the nut will speed up the deterioration of the bushings.

Either get new bushings or shocks.

It won't get better by tightening the nut. The nut is only there to keep the shock from plopping off the body/axle mounts. The rubber/poly bushing is what keeps the shock snug and in tune with the body/axle

Stock Rear shocks #'s I pulled right off the shock tower:

Kyb MR112385. 

14" compressed
23" extended 

[tonydca]

As for the bushings, they should not be loose on the mounting bolt (that extends from the body and axle) nor loose in the shock tower

tightening the nut will speed up the deterioration of the bushings.

Either get new bushings or shocks.

From what I understand, they are new shocks and bushings. Surprised to see them loose, quite frankly.

ProComp shocks with now about 700 kms on them.

Not sure if the bushings come factory-installed, or if they are pressed in just prior to installation. I would guess the latter.

If that's the case, my thoughts are to remove the shock(s) and bushings and re-press them in place with a vice; have you ever given that a try? I'm assuming that right now the bushings are doing bugger-all, so I have nothing to lose by giving it a try.

Famous last words.

Thanks,

Tony.

[jessef]

Tony

If you have the procomp rubber bushings, then you will want to replace them with the poly one's.

See here :

http://www.delica.ca/forum/warning-proc ... -4949.html

[tonydca]

Got a few pix; definitely rubber ones...

If I'm eventually replacing the rubber ones with polyurethane anyways, is there any harm to tightening up the mounting nut just to cinch the rubber bits down until I can replace them? Particularly the RHS one seems way loose. But like I said, I don't want to wreck my shocks for the sake of a $2 bushing.

Alternately, if there is no real harm in the "clunking" by running with effectively no bushings, I'll just put up with it for now.

Once again, I defer to those who have done this stuff before

Tony.

Lower bushing is good...

Lower bushing good.jpg (38.81 KiB) Viewed 2363 times

LHS upper bushing a bit loose...

Upper bushing LHS not so good.jpg (44.61 KiB) Viewed 2363 times

RHS upper much more loose.

Upper bushing RHS even more not so good.jpg (23.86 KiB) Viewed 2364 times

[jessef]

You can tighten them down but just make sure you don't crush the shock tower mount (metal loop where the bushing resides in)

The bushings are a universal size for Procomp and you should be able to source them from NorthShoreOffRoad in North Van, Sport Trucks in Langley, Mardy/Amazing Auto in Richmond, Noel/Enviroimports in Victoria, Lordco/locations, etc...

I would replace those bushings as soon as possible.

[tonydca]

I just crawled under there, and:

a) I can't budge the darned nut lying on my back under the van anyways, and

b) I'm not convinced there is enough threaded end on those mounting bolts to take up all l the slack I would need even if I *could* cinch it down.

I'm wondering if there is a spacer ring which is missing on the end of the bolt (if these are indeed universal bushings). Otherwise I can't see how one could tighten them up as much as I need to.

As you can see on the RHS bushing, I would need to snug it down extra the full width of the shock mounting ring in order to get it as snug as the lower bushings.

[jessef]

There is not enough threads on the mount rod (body/axle) to do what you'd like (compress the bushings)

New bushings is the only solution.

Cheers
Jesse