alright im kinda confused i went to put my tower braces on this afternoon and when i put the nuts on the bolt on the tower and i started racheting down and the whole bolt started turning so in short i cant tighten down the brace on the towers.
They are small carriage bolts that are supposed to be held by the slot in the shock tower. They usually get mucked up by using too much torque removing rusted nuts on them and it damages either the bolt ... or the slot in the shock tower ...
Common problem. The bolts have a square shoulder which slide into a slot in the top of the shock tower. Usually they round out. Usually the metal just folds so sometimes you can tap it back down to hold the bolt in place. Clean the nut & bolt threads and put some lubricant on the threads so there is less resistance as it tightens. Last resort is to tack weld the bolt in place.
Take a Big Flat head screw driver and jam in into the hole underneath the upper shock mount. Push hard against or under the head of the bolt to keep from turning. I would remove them and correct the problem .. unless you never plan on removing them again very easily ...
First look and see if the bolt is rounded or the slot is. If its the bolt, get another one. If its the slot, I was thinking and came up with this idea. If you clean the threads as I described, you should be able to hand tighten them snug. So how about putting some JB Weld around the base, assembled the braces and let it sit overnight. Then in the AM, the epoxy would be hard enough to finish the tightening.
When you get it apart ... and if you have a Welder ... just weld two nubs 180 degrees apart on the square part of the bolt the engages the slot. Still will keep it from Spinning and still be easily removable.
One of mine did that and it was the slot that was messed up. I took my welder and added a small bead on each side and reground the slot.
Hi, I just pick up a 1972 Grabber last week. Can you tell me were to buy a shock tower brace Thanks Tony
