Fitted Rubber Shock Tower Retainers

[wicks]

From EE, I acquired these (Genuine for Discos Rangies) retainers to upgrade from the wimpy pot metal ones. I went out and got some stainless nylock nuts to replace the throw away ones used on the original retainers.

[wicks]

This was my one excuse to go through such an affair to upgrade this part. I broke one of the studs off when I was putting in the Bilstien shocks...

[wicks]

The springs came out pretty easily with the compressors. Some people are scared of spring compressors.

[wicks]

Here's how I got the axle fully drooped.

Before I began I cleaned and greased the bottle jack, per Mr. Siepmann's great advice. It operated more smoothly and I imagine I may have extended its serviceable life.

[wicks]

Still scared of that spring compressor?

[wicks]

I was so comfortable with the compressor, I entrusted my antique Omega to rest on it.

[wicks]

While I was under there, I decided to top up my swivel housing grease. I added three fill holes full in each side and refitted the plug with plumber's tape.

[wicks]

A little WD40 on the new retainers made the springs slide right into place as I released the compressors and seated the axle back down.

[wicks]

I drove down the road hitting the usual bumps and it seems there may be a slight noticable improvement. Some of the bumps seemed to make less noise in the chassis. I think the rubber dampens the spring from making extra motion/vibration after it has done its job on the bump.

Next week I'll install Rubber Isolators on top of the rear springs.

[Doug]

Oh man. I love the pics of you and the Omega! LMAO. PS: JL should post this on EE!!

Great.

DW

[rover4x4]

yeah I thought I was reading one of his "write ups"

[wicks]

John would not have sat on a compressed spring. He would have made Ho sit on it.

It would be cool to fab a pogo stick out of a used spring, prop shaft and other suspension parts.

[Tawayama]

Interesting to me that cones are still 'getting play'. The trend in the extreme articulation crowd is to retain springs both top and bottom.

I am one of those who has used both cones and retained springs. Retained springs do not make the vehicle pitch and unload at inopportune times the way an unretained spring does.

But...if extreme articulation and off-camber situations are not in the cards for a particular vehicle, those cones might be pretty nice.

I don't have my front springs retained on the CrewCab, but have the rears retained top and bottom. I have both front and rear springs retained on the 80-inch.

[TDI Guy]

looks like you even get a mini lift out of them about 1/4 or 3/8 inch huh

[Eric Siepmann]

Wicks,

Let it go man, just let it go.

EwS

[wicks]

Heh, Eric, maybe someday. It was an epiphany, the whole jack thing.

Yeah it's a quarter inch higher in front. A little more level than before. I like that slight dip in the front - looks assaulting, like a WOLF truck.

Slade - SHOCK TOWER retainers, not spring retainers. ;) Sorry.

I never liked retainers, ever since I was a kid, stuff gets caught in them and I have to brush harder.

[Eric Siepmann]

"Heh, Eric, maybe someday. It was an epiphany, the whole jack thing"

You're going to get bad Karma if you continue. Your jack won't work when you need it too.

What's with your search for the series? I am actually thinking of getting one myself.

EwS

[wicks]

I used to own it when I was 21. It was an original CA truck, black plate, I put a soft top hood on it and tweaked various stuff, ran strong with a Zenith carb and high voltage ignition, had nice full safari hardtop, had all the right genuine equipment, no rust, etc. Was awesome. Sold it for a meager $5K. Why I do know know.

[wicks]

Check out the view from inside. Nothing like a clean Series...

Altimeter, fan, were custom. ;)

[Eric Siepmann]

Nice. Wish we had the stock of rust free trucks you californians have.

5000 was someone's good deal.

EwS

[evilfij]

I would not put SS nuts on the shock tower retainer. They are hardened studs (part of the reason they break) and require hardened nuts 8.8 or better. Either that or I would check them semi-frequently.

Ron

[Tawayama]

Yeah, those are nice as a new shock tower bolt ring, I was seeing the lower section that went down into the spring.

Your comments about the WD-40 and helping the spring slide into position led me to believe that they were a sort of 'droop cone' that the kids have been liking so much lately.

Apologies.

:)