Another shock tower issue thread...

pyroman · Jun 19, 2010

Last weekend I was pulling out all of my old suspension components to replace them with new ones. Before I put the new stuff in I thought I'd clean up the inner fender area and repaint it. Well this is what I found in the shock tower...

Looks like the previous owner attempted some pretty nasty welding. The crack looks pretty severe. So it appears I'm going to have to replace the shock towers. (I noticed a crack on the other as well although I'm not sure of the severity.) What is involved in a replacing the shock tower? Removing the motor I'm sure. Is it all spot welded in? How many welds would have to be drilled?

Any other input you have would be great.

Thanks.

2+2GT · Jun 19, 2010

That's bad. Get a new tower.

pyroman · Jun 19, 2010

I've been reading up on this issue alot lately. I think you said that the common cause of this were aftermarket wheels with larger offsets than stock? Once I replace these I don't want this to happen again. Right now I am running a 235/45/17 tire on a 17x8 wheel without spacers. I have maybe 20 miles driving on this tire/wheel combo with no hard cornering so I'm thinking this crack has been there for a long while.

As long as I'm not having to use spacers, am I safe? If not, what kind of reinforcement could be used?

other_shoe · Jun 20, 2010

pyroman said:
As long as I'm not having to use spacers, am I safe? If not, what kind of reinforcement could be used?

I can't comment on whether you'll be OK going forward, but NPD sells a patch/reinforcement kit. It's on the same page of their catalog as the new towers. Probably the other usual suppliers sell them as well, but that was the first in the stack.

Oh, and to clarify, I'm not suggesting you patch the existing tower.

2+2GT · Jun 20, 2010

pyroman said:
I've been reading up on this issue alot lately. I think you said that the common cause of this were aftermarket wheels with larger offsets than stock?

In my personal experience, which is dozens of examples, every single car I have seen with cracked towers had positive offset wheels, or used to. No doubt there are some stone-stock six cylinder cars out there with cracked towers, but I have yet to see them.

pyroman · Jun 20, 2010

other_shoe said:
I can't comment on whether you'll be OK going forward, but NPD sells a patch/reinforcement kit. It's on the same page of their catalog as the new towers. Probably the other usual suppliers sell them as well, but that was the first in the stack.

Oh, and to clarify, I'm not suggesting you patch the existing tower.

Thanks for the info, I ran across something similar today when talking with a friend. I'll look into adding something like this to the new tower.

2+2GT said:
In my personal experience, which is dozens of examples, every single car I have seen with cracked towers had positive offset wheels, or used to. No doubt there are some stone-stock six cylinder cars out there with cracked towers, but I have yet to see them.

My wheels have a 0mm offset and 4.5" backspacing. You're talking about wheels with >0mm offset? So in theory, my wheels shouldn't be a major player in further shock tower problems, according to your experience?

Obviously the easiest way to replace these is to pull the motor. Is it impossible or way too difficult to replace these with the motor in? I'm thinking with the fenders off and the towers wire wheeled down cleanly all the spot welds could be drilled from the outside of the car. The motor would have to be unbolted from the motor mounts and supported of course. Once out, is it possible to get to all the spots welds with a MIG? Is it possible to even drill out all the spot welds this way?

2+2GT · Jun 20, 2010

pyroman said:
is it possible to get to all the spots welds with a MIG? Is it possible to even drill out all the spot welds this way?

Yeah.

pyroman · Jun 20, 2010

I sort of jumbled my words there. I meant is it possible to drill all of them out and MIG the new one back in with the motor still in the car?

2+2GT · Jun 20, 2010

No. But removing the engine only adds a day.

NY-67stang · Jun 20, 2010

2+2GT said:
No. But removing the engine only adds a day.

Unless, of course you get the "while I have it out" disease. Then it could add months!!

2+2GT · Jun 20, 2010

Yep- the "might as wells". As in gotta paint the tower, might as well do the whole compartment, and since the engine is out, might as well paint and detail it…

pyroman · Jun 20, 2010

Haha so true. I can think of a few things I could take care of while I'm in there brake lines being one of them

2+2GT · Jun 21, 2010

pyroman said:
Haha so true. I can think of a few things I could take care of while I'm in there brake lines being one of them

Yeah, they look pretty bad. See how it starts?

hungrymonkey · Jun 21, 2010

Are you still driving it?

pyroman · Jun 21, 2010

No, it's up on jackstands as I clean and paint the inner fender and then replace the front suspension. I don't have the equipment to do the shock towers myself so I was leaning towards taking it to a friends house who could help me with it. I'm debating whether or not to drive it there or trailer it there. He lives about 70 miles away so I'm nervous about driving it. I don't have a truck or a trailer either but I'm sure I could make arrangements. Either way I'll need to reassemble the suspension to move it around.

2+2GT · Jun 21, 2010

pyroman said:
Either way I'll need to reassemble the suspension to move it around.

No, you don't

Another shock tower issue thread...

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