[dsiegel]

My left rear has been clanging when going over bumps recently. I had a buddy jump up and down on the bed and the left rear shock looks bad at the lower mounting bracket...or so I thought. When I got under the truck to loosen the bolts, which I couldn't get off so I'm PB blasting right now, I pushed up on the bed and noticed that it wasn't the lower eye on the shock that was loose around the bolt, but rather the bolt itself is loose within the mount holes. Basically, my mounting bracket holes are not snug around the bolt. I assume that the only thing I can do in this situation is cut the bracket off and get a new one welded on? Any thoughts? I know the brackets on Frontiers are prone to bend, but I'm surprised to see the hole worn out. Has this happened to anyone else?

2008 Nismo, by the way.

 

[glamisdude]

Not following entirely...
The bolt is tight in the shock mount and the shock bushing is bad? or
The shock bushing is good but the bolt is moving in the frame mounted shock mount?

If its the later, its probably just under-torqued. That lower shock bolt is like 150ft/lbs (very tight). There should be some play between the mount holes and bolt, how much are you talking?

 

[dsiegel]

The later. Enough play that when I push up on the bed and let it drop the bolt moves approximately a half centimeter. I will know more once I get home from work and get the bolt off. My first idea was to get it off and then torque it down tight to see if that fixes the problem. I'll try to get a good picture once I get the nut off.

 

[glamisdude]

My bet is that is is just loose. Half a centimeter is still serviceable, no need to go cutting off the mounts.

 

[dsiegel]

I hope you are right. My one regret in life is that I have never learned how to weld. But that's it; everything else has been perfect

 

[AndysLog]

My bet is that is is just loose. Half a centimeter is still serviceable, no need to go cutting off the mounts.

i was like dude if the bolts loose, just swap that **** out.
he was going to go all edward scissor hands on it.

 

[dsiegel]

The bolt just seems to have way more wiggle room in the mount than any previous vehicle I have owned. Looks like I'm going to have to go back to work and get my torch to loosen that nut. Things on there tight. Breaker bar wouldn't budge it.

 

[glamisdude]

^Impact and some PB Blaster should make quick work of it. If not, a trick I used on those bolts is a floor jack on the end of your ratchet. A few pumps and its off (or broken....)

 

[Nissan4Life]

I hope you are right. My one regret in life is that I have never learned how to weld. But that's it; everything else has been perfect

Sounds like you don;t have much to regret. Learn to weld. It is easy, then your life will be perfect.

 

[dsiegel]

Now granted, this is my first Frontier (long time Jeep owner; my grandpa owned a Chrysler dealership), but to me, that hole looks reamed out a little too much for a good torquing to stop the play between the mount and the bolt. Opinions? Either way, I'm going to torque it back down to pull a compressor on Friday and drive it to a fabricator next week if it needs it so I will find out either way.

Hmmm, my picture didn't seem to attach. Give me a second to figure this out.

 

[dsiegel]

Maybe this will work.

 

[dsiegel]

By the way, a little heat and the breaker bar got the nut off.

 

[glamisdude]

Looks a little stretched out but not too bad

 

[The other Sean]

Find a fender washer of appropriate inner diameter, weld in place over wallowed out hole, blammo. fixed....

 

[dsiegel]

Good news. Torqued that nut down to 100 (max on the torque wrench I have at home) and then tightened it a little with the breaker bar. Zero clanging and play. Glad I didn't buy a new set of shocks. I was going to say, I have abused Bilsteins on my Jeep that looked worse than on the rear of the Frontier without any issues. I knew something wasn't right when I could planely see that the bushings didn't look terrible. My guess is that the bolt came loose with the previous owner and he didn't care or didn't notice the increased clanging as the bolt widened out the hole a little. I will just keep an eye on it to make sure it stays tight and if it goes back to moving around too much with constantly keeping the bolt torqued down, I will work on getting the mount fixed. Thanks for the opinions to all that replied.