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Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:43 pm

Got my new Konis this week, and I wanted to replace the shocks today.
one of the rear shocks was really easy. When trying to open the upper bolt of the other one, found out the bolt is rotating but it wouldn't get out.
I could see and fill with the tip of my finger that there is some kind of a nut in there, sure enough it is rotating freely when it should have been held in place. it seems there is not enough space to squeeze any tool at all.
Is there a trick to hold that nut?

Thanks,

Asaf.

Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:52 pm

on my 1977 there are big ovals under the transmission mount that I can see the backside of the nut and bolt. It is easier because I have the engine and trans out right now. My guess is that as soon as you get the bolt loose, you won't be able to get it back on unless you have access to that area. Are you sure it isn't just stripped? Can you feel or see with a small mirror the welded on nut spin?

If a broken weld & if it were me I'd take it to a welder and have the welder spot that nut on now before pulling the bolt free. Then make sure you can turn the bolt while you are there to be sure he only welded the outside of the bolt and not the whole thing.

Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:05 pm

the "trick" is a 17mm box end on the inside nut. could be a 15 or a 19 too, i can't remember.

Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:10 pm

Originally the upper shock bolt treaded into the frame mount directly. Commonly the threads get stripped and the nut get installed behind the frame mount as a fix.

Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:15 am

thanks. I'll try to look into the oval hole..

Asaf.

Sun Mar 15, 2009 12:15 am

well... couldn't get it.
I can feel somthing like a nut, i can feel it rotating, but can't hold it in place. tryed fron the oval hole- no good. tryed from a slot in front of it - no good. maybe if I was sure what the nut size is, I could have fabbed a "special" open-end wrench..

any other ideas before I'll cut the bolt?

(in the mean time, these are the shocks that I managed to replace easily)

Asaf.

Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:03 am

first word - can you manuver yourself into a position where you can see the nut head? If you can, look to see if it is a nut in addition to the factory nut, or a broken weld. If it is a broken weld, can a welder get in there to tack it?

next, try a wobble head extension

with a balljoint style universal.

That combo can get some weird angles really well.

Last, try a prybar or big screwdriver between the shock bushing area and the frame. Keep pressure on it while you turn the bolt. Sometimes that will provide enough friction on the nut that it will act as a wrench.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 1:13 pm

Bringing an slightly older thread back. Sadly.

I've been dealing with a "what-IS-that?" rattle for a while. I've look in the closet, check my new CV joints, etc etc. Nothing obvious.

Today i look again and notice that the bus is slightly leaning to the passenger side. I take a closer look and notice that the rear shock is "loose" as in rattling.

A loose bolt would have been welcome. Instead I remove the bolt since this broke off:

All removed, it looks like this:

and assembled loosely:

So... anyone know a really really good welder in San Francisco or the outlying areas?

Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:45 pm

best weld shop I have seen north of San Diego is here in Sacramento. Elmer's welding. They have done some miracle welding for me and they do it right. They have been around a long time and do everything from weld sheet metal together to huge I-Beams for buildings.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:27 pm

I had a relatively similar issue with my rear shock and a weird clunk noise I finally realized to be a broken shock bolt.

Much to my chagrin, the bolt broke off, leaving about an inch of threads still in the hole. Tried an easyout, but it got stuck. Drilled the piece of bolt completely through, and still couldn't get it to extract.

Finally I was able to use a round file attached to a drill to grind the last bit of bolt in the hole down to a size just big enough to run a thread tap through it. I purchased another bolt and threaded it in. The shock is now holding tight, but probably only on a few threads in a rusted chunk of old bolt.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:50 pm

well that would have been the smareter way to do it. I had/have a similar problem i plan to fix tommorow.

the upper bolt seized in 8 months up there, went to change shocks and it snapped in the hole. so I cut the head off a bolt, put it in backwards and welded the bolt to that sleeve. yay fixed. for three days, then my welds gave out, really akward place to weld and a 100 amp welder can't really weld to a M10 bolt. so I welded it all again, this time did a much better job of it, got in there and burned it in hard. turns out the sleve is lonly so supported in there.
snapped thw hole sleeve out lke you can see in the second pic up there. I am going to cut the whole tower out, weld a new nut/sleeve combo in there, and weld it back in place. witsh me luck.

Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:23 pm

OK, here's what I ended up doing and I suspect this is going to be about an inch shy of a "how to" thread.

See previous photos for original problem.

The welder looked and basically said I can do it pretty, or I can do it stronger. Since I broke the weld, I figure stronger would be better.

The Shock mount is made of two pieces welded together and then welded on top of one of the bus long support beams. The three visible welds are easy to get to, the one in the back is not if you haven't dropped the engine.

The place that needed welding was at the top and a area for the welder to reach in was less than ideal. It was his opinion that he should cut the shock mount off, weld in the support, and reweld the shock mount as his access would be better.

So.

Step one, cut the shock mounting point with a sawsall.

Step two, clean and prep for reweld.

Step three, tack on the offending piece, make sure alignment is correct, weld, and add small piece on the rear for extra support.

We chose to add a piece on top for extra strength.

Step four, Clean the post in preparation for the reweld

Step five, add little strips for greater welding surface area.

Don't knock your head on the wheel well.

Step 6, primer it when you are done in preparation for paint.

I assume it will take another 39 years for this weld to break.

Larger versions of these are found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjalau/sets/72157603142992570/

Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:42 pm

did you find someone in the bay area or did you go see Elmer and his people?

Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:48 am

Found a guy in San Carlos. They have a fabrication place for trellises and door hinges, but they do custom work on breweries and various other specialty locations.