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BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

I was down to one of the LAST bolts installing my shocks yesterday and ended up shearing off the stud that the left rear shock mounts to at the top. I don't even know how, I wasn't cranking that hard, and it was just with a 3/8" ratchet.

I'm guessing I'll have to just cut it off flat, center punch and drill through, and bring a bolt through from the back side, but thought I would solicit input here as to whether there are any other ways to fix this problem.

GRRRR. . .

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:18 am

Brice I think you can press it out!!!

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Press it out? It appears to be part of the unibody, at least when I get behind it in the trunk area I see two big metal bosses in the approximate locations of the stud.

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:09 pm

any way you can take a picture??????

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:11 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

Press it out? It appears to be part of the unibody, at least when I get behind it in the trunk area I see two big metal bosses in the approximate locations of the stud.

Same thing happened to a Spec-V that I was helping put suspension on. The owner misused the impact and sheered the stud right off. There was no room to get in there and drill it out to do a thru-bolt repair, so I welded on a new stud and fixed it.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:30 pm

If your rears are struts, the shock mount must be part of the "hat" of the strut. - AB

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

rears are not struts (thankfully), so this isn't a connection that bears a ton of weight. It basically just keeps the shock from falling out of the car or getting pulled out under rebound. Its just a bracket that screws onto the end of the shock that has two thru holes. Two studs come down from the top of the wheel well to attach this bracket. Those brackets appear to be welded in. I pulled the trunk liner and there are two bosses that stick up over top of those studs (I'm guessing to reinforce things a bit). I figure if I can drill through from the bottom (theres not enough clearance to drill from the top, I wish there were), then I can put a bolt through, put a couple spot welds on the bolt heand to keep that bolt from rotating, paint things to keep them from rusting, and I should be ok.

Vinvent, on your repair, how did you weld the new stud on? Just cut all the old stud out, tack it in place, and weld around the base of the stud? I'm a bit more confident in the thru bolt repair given my crappy welding skills (and the fact that I only have access to a crappy welder). In the thru bolt method, I'm only relying on the weld to prevent the bolt from turning when I take the shocks on and off.

Here's a pic of the rear suspension, it doesn't show the studs, just the shock, but it gives you the idea. Which of these fixes is ST legal (jk)?

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:28 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

Press it out? It appears to be part of the unibody, at least when I get behind it in the trunk area I see two big metal bosses in the approximate locations of the stud.

Sorry about that thought it was similar to the protege which has a strut and the studs are part of the top hat.
If your worried about your welding,drill and bolt it using the welds to stop the bolt from turning---Or get VK to weld it for you---ha's aces with the welder

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:38 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

Vincent, on your repair, how did you weld the new stud on? Just cut all the old stud out, tack it in place, and weld around the base of the stud?

I did exactly that. Since the stud protruded downward from the car and thru the hole into the top hat, I would have prefered to insert a bolt from the top, tacked it in place, then proceded. However there was no top access due to the construction of the uni-body in that area.

Since the stud had to welded in from the bottom, I had to use a fillet weld around it's base, thus a raised ring of weld was created where the stud would normally pass thru the hole. This would cause the top hat to not sit flat. The answer was to enlarge the hole in the top hat to match the O.D. of the build-up area cause by the weld. This allowed the top hat to sit flush as before and it worked out great.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:31 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

It appears to be part of the unibody, at least when I get behind it in the trunk area I see two big metal bosses in the approximate locations of the stud.

A photo of the top and bottom would help.

Assuming that is not double walled and you are really looking at the tops of those studs, then I think the drill it out and weld in a new stud is the best option. You can have a small amount of touch up paint mixed up to repaint the welded area by hand.

If it is double walled and you have the situation that VK fixed, then you can do it like VK suggests, or section out part of the unit-body, replace the stud, using the drill and replace method above and then weld back in the section you removed and repaired. However, I would really need to see the car before I could really recommend this last option.

Also, I probably would try to find a wrecked car, remove that section and practice on it before I did surgery on my own car. You might even be able to use the real stud from the wrecked car and it could look pretty close to factory if done right. Just depends upon how close you want it to look and act like factory and how much time and money you want to spend.

I doubt you are the first to do this and I expect Mazda has already figured out how to go about this. It might be good to see what those instructions say even if you don't have Mazda do the work.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:35 pm

Is this what it looks like from inside the wheel well? A friend of mine went to Happy Japs to have a rear subframe bolt replaced. It was welded into the body and had to be cut out. I am sure he could fix it for you.

http://www.awrracing.com/store/popup_image.php?image[0]=images/products/mazda3UPR.jpg&

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

MarcusMcRae wrote:

Is this what it looks like from inside the wheel well? A friend of mine went to Happy Japs to have a rear subframe bolt replaced. It was welded into the body and had to be cut out. I am sure he could fix it for you.

http://www.awrracing.com/store/popup_image.php?image[0]=images/products/mazda3UPR.jpg&

yup, thats exactly what it looks like (well, thats an aftermarket shock mount, but same idea), and those are the studs that I broke one of.

To update, I went ahead and drilled it out last night, and put a bolt through from the back and all seems well. I've left the trunk liner out and I'm gonna weld the bolt into place. I don't so much care about how "original" it is, I just wanted it fixed.

The ride is amazingly stiff (my carpool buddy had a hell of time trying to drink his pepsi on the way in), I had no idea just changing shocks could make such a difference. Do these things break in at all?

Squat, dive, and roll are all but eliminated. Lee is going down this weekend

.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

What kind of dampers are they? If they "break in", you're doing it wrong. :wink:

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

koni SA's.

I didn't think so, but people on my other forums talk about shocks "breaking in". They are probably just talking about getting used to them more than any actual change in the shocks.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

For your first run tomorrow, I highly recommend putting the rears on full stiff and fronts on full soft. :twisted:

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