Ruh Roh! Cracking shock towers...

[65ShelbyClone]

My '68 has cracking shock towers and I'd like to repair them before I have an engine in the way. I looked and found people saying to replace them or as a last resort, get a reinforcemement kit. I would rather just tie and MIG weld the cracks shut and maybe weld a steel "band-aid" over them to prevent further deterioration. No concours-quality fixes, just function before form. Will my plan be alright?

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[bnickel]

drill a small hole at either end of the crack and weld away. the drill holes will keep the crack from spreading and once tig'ed thay will actuall be stonger than the surrounding metal, preventing any more cracks from forming there.

 

[XXBULLETSXX]

Yes drill the ends of the cracks which will stop the crack from spreading when you're welding. Then weld it up, A mig would be easiest but a really good Tig would be good because the seam would be a little flatter. That's not to say you couldn't grind the Mig weld down. If you do a patch over the top that would strengthen it even more. If you do the patch, drill it with multiple holes so you can weld thru those holes to better secure the patch to the tower and then weld the outside of the patch.
I did the above proceedure with a seat frame that I was told by a pro welder that it could be welded but it would just break again. I listened to my dad who is an Engineer, and welded it the way I explained above. Guess what, that seat is still in my truck now 7 years later.
But give some serious thought to just replacing the shock towers. I know it will be a lot of work but sometimes we all sell ourselves short and regret it later.

 

[bnickel]

sorry i meant to type MIG but iguess had TIG on the brain. MIG will work just fine. i wouldn't worry about replacing the towers, just a lot of unnecessary work as long as the towers are straight and full of cracks they'll be fine. we did the above on a couple of cracks on my car and they are holding up just fine and they were much worse that the cracks on yours. in fact the cracks in mine were bordering on bad enough to warrant replacement of the tower, but the patch is holding fine 10 years later. mine was cracked where the UCA bolts in and was about 10 inches long total and vertical going right through one of the UCA bolt holes. do the above process and yours will be just fine. if you are really worried about get the shock tower re-inforcement kit from Pre-motorsports. here is a link https://www.pro-motorsports.com/store/shock-tower-kit.asp

 

[DarkBuddha]

Based on my experience, I can only encourage you to do more rather than less. One of my shocktowers colapsed while I was doing an emergency braking test from a mere 40mph. Luckily I was in an empty parking lot because the car swerved severely to the right a good 20 feet. The only thing that was "wrong" with my shocktowers was a couple 3/4" holes drilled on both sides (to access the lube points on the upper control arms). If there were any cracks in my shocktowers, they were too small to even see.

I've also heard of instances where welded shocktowers have failed anyways, so I'd still recommend going a bit overboard rather than just welding 'em up; at least add some bracing like the Pro-motorsports kit. Oh, and where there is one, there are often more, so look hard. Just look at it this way... do you plan on keeping the car? Is it important to you? If the answer is yes to either of those questions, just spend the time and money now and rest assured that you'll be better off.

Hope this helps...

 

[xj220]

You might want to inspect all aspects of both towers. Those aren't small cracks and there could be more. Also, they could be sign of something else so look closely.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

I have access to a Lincoln Weld-Pak 100 with argon/CO2, so I'll be using MIG. I figure I'll weld and reinforce the towers from both sides. The car has broken front shocks, so I figure that didnt help(driver's side shock shaft is MIA).

Oh, and where there is one, there are often more, so look hard.

You're right, there are also matching cracks on the firewall side, luckily only about 25% as bad.

Thanks everyone, this is really helping alot.

 

[YellowMach69]

My engine is in car so im gonna weld them up too.But if my engine was out like yours id replace whole thing ,I had a guy send me two shock towers from a cougar with the big block reinforcements, So im gona weld them up and wait if they continue to crack ill pull engine this winter and replace the shock towers,Here

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