Rear Shock Mount Bolt Protection Solution

[swamp2]

I noticed some rock damage to the bolts (threads) connecting the lower shock mount to the axle.

These bolts just stick out too far into the "line of fire"...

I thread filed the threads to rehab them and added some stainless acorn nuts for future protection. I would have preferred a more sacrificial material like aluminum but couldn't locate anything.

Here is a source and spec for the nuts:

https://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?partnum=94000A490

Final result:

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[Fordified1]

I turned the bolts the opposite way when I changed my shocks. There are skids by several vendors you can put on there. Also a couple folks re-drilled those bolt holes a couple inches higher and cut the remaining bracket off. This gave them an equal amount of lift.
The placement on those is dumb.
I looked at some trade-ins from Tx OffRodeo and they were beat up pretty bad in that area.

 

[swamp2]

I suspect the relatively low shock mounts are due to a combination of travel, packaging and desired handling characteristics. Many of the latter such as roll steer, axle wrap and understeer had targets to reach. More details here:

https://www.theautopian.com/how-for...usly-hardcore-purpose-built-off-road-monster/

Makes me think three times about such a major suspension modification as mentioned above...

However, turning the bolts around looks like a great solution and it even looks like that was used in the reveal chassis "displays" also shown in the article above.

 

[SS Bronco]

Nice to see the Raptors have heavy duty brackets. The standard Broncos are so thin.

 

[vrtical]

Someone makes caps but I forget who.

 

[swamp2]

Someone makes caps but I forget who.

Mabett makes front cap kits for A-arm bolts in nice clear anodized aluminum. Could you be thinking of this? Ping to @Mabett for a product idea here for Raptor/Rear.

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