OK A few weeks ago I went to Portland. Had a problem and figured out it was a bad shock. Fixed it using a Caprice manual. Got home. Still rattled. Got mad at myself for not fixing it properly in the first place. Took it to the shop. Put it up on a rack. Brought it back down. Tore out all of the interior from the sail panels back. And much to my surprise, what did I see??

The entire shock had broke right thru the body!! A crowd of wrenchers gathered and asked how I did it. There was no rust so it couldn't be that. Curtis decides it's from doing burnouts. Too much build up and release of pressure on the shock, I guess.

Sooo, we welded this washer to the car and assembled it from there. It works, but I'm sure if I continue to burnout as much as I do, it's only a matter of time before it breaks thru again.

Isn't that insane? Have you ever heard of that happening to anyone else?

 

Hehehehe, never heard of that... but that is something I'll have to worry about that!

 

Actually, I would think that the shock mount would break from more radical things.. like, 360s, e-brake 180s, VERY hard cornering.. that sorta thing. I cant see age being a HUGE factor in it, because, my 82 was rusty in some spots and I umm.. put that car through its paces.

But no matter what Summer, that is bad *** ! hehe, keep up the good work

-Roshambo

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-Joe
1988 Pontiac Trans Am WS6 - 305 TPI, 700R4, 3.23 Posi, Digital Dash, Leather Seats, Maui Blue with Silver GFX, T-tops, Tinted Glass, Gutted MAF, TB Coolant Bypass, K&N Cone Filter, No Cat, 3" exhaust from Y-pipe back, MSD Super Coil, Accel 8mm wires, L98 Aluminum Heads, Ported and Polished Plenum, Siamesed Intake, Aluminum Driveshaft, Edelbrock 3 point Strut Tower Brace

 

LOL I know, I know! It wasn't rust, thank *** . I thought for sure that was the cause.

Yah, be careful, guys and gals.

 

Burn outs do not stress your shocks towers. All the shocks do is dampen the cycling motion of your suspension. The spings endure the load of the suspension.

It's likely a fatigue failure. Basically, what's happened is over the years from every day use the shocks have pushed and pulled on the shock tower until a very small crack (not visible to the naked eye) was produced in the metal. Once this cracked formed it introduced a weak point and at some moment the crack spread quickly (the speed of sound through the metal) and the mount broke.

This could happen again if you don't take great care in making the weld. The weld is now the strongest part of the assembly but the heat produced during the welding process has now weakened the metal around the weld. That's the next place to watch for failure.