Shock Tower Crack

[rodbrady 18]

While replacing the suspension on my 69 coupe, I discover a crack (more like a gash) on the inside of the passenger shock tower. It's only on the inside of the tower (fender side). The engine side of the tower doesn't seem to have any damage.

 

Any thoughts on whether this could be repaired without replacing the shock tower? I'm not a welder, so I'll have to either install the new suspension to take it to a shop, or find someone to come to me.

[juit 34]

find a welder man, get a pair of boss reinforcement plates

 

 

my thread http://www.1969stang.com/mustang/forum/showthread.php?t=14580 ,

 

tell the welder to continuous join all the tower factory welds

 

 

 

I love what this guy did http://mikes68.blogspot.mx/2012/09/reinforcing-shock-towers.html

 

 

 

or tower reiforcemt kit

Edited August 26, 2014 by juit

[MikeStang 247]

I did the full tower weld out along with the reinforcement plates.

Now is the time to make an excuse to buy a good little gas mig.

Gas mig will handle that crack easy enough.

Where you located?

[Rsanter 152]

Where are you located. A member that can weld May be near you

 

Your tower is cracked and delaminating. It can be fixed but don't delay it.

If you take it to a shop you can put the suspension in and use wood blocks in place of the springs. Then you can trailer it to the shop and have them weld it. Limit the labor they do to save money for yourself.

You can also look at renting elders from the local welding shop

 

Bob

[RPM 1,190]

He's in Houston, Texas. We've got to have a member welder near him I would think.

rodbrady, you can add your location thru the user cp link at the upper left of the page. Then go to your profile and edit it.

 

 

Bob

[rodbrady 18]

Where are you located. A member that can weld May be near you

 

Your tower is cracked and delaminating. It can be fixed but don't delay it.

If you take it to a shop you can put the suspension in and use wood blocks in place of the springs. Then you can trailer it to the shop and have them weld it. Limit the labor they do to save money for yourself.

You can also look at renting elders from the local welding shop

 

Bob

 

I'm in the Woodlands, Texas (North Houston). It would definitely be helpful to find someone that could do the repair before I apply the undercoating and install the suspension. Even if I were to jump into the world of welding, I don't think that would be a project for a beginner.

[fordguy69 24]

You can also look at renting elders from the local welding shop

 

Bob

 

I am pretty sure it's illegal and/or immoral to rent out old folks even in California!:smartass:

[maxum96 32]

With as bad as that shocktower is broken I think I'd replace it. Not really much more work than it's going to take to repair it. And you won't have to worry about it cracking again. If you do decide to weld it, make sure to stop drill both ends of that crack. If you're not familiar with stop drilling cracks, just Google it.

[JTG 10]

I had a cracked shock tower welded years and years ago when it was my daily driver. It was ugly but held up well. You can have it welded to get you back on the road. If this is a car you're going to keep for a long time and cherish I would put replacing the shock tower on your to-do list.

[rodbrady 18]

May have to flip a coin. :-) This is going to be a daily driver for my teenage son, and I'm trying to get it back on the road by the end of the year, when he gets his regular license. Our goal is to get the car driving better and safer (suspension/steering/brakes), looking good (paint/wheels/tires/some interior), running cool (a/c - we live in Houston) and rust protected. The engine and tranny were rebuilt 5 years ago, so I'm not planning to do much there for the moment. We are trying to do as much of the work ourselves, other than the body & paint work.

 

Part of the decision regarding the shock tower might be answered by this question: can it be replaced with the engine in the car?

[strokedwindsor 11]

make sure you line it up? mine was cracked and the front end was way off. had big block towers installed yrs ago because of this.. check all measurements..

[juit 34]

^plus 1^

 

If you are not putting a hi hp engine in there: reinforce the tower & stiffen up your front chasis with a reinforced crossmember, 1 piece strut tower brace and straight montecarlo bar, do a continuous weld on the factory welds, buy tower & BOSS plates, a hole on each end of the crack that will hold that crack forever.

 

if you have a experienced welder member near you call him he will give you the best option because he will look the problem in person instead of pictures

 

P.S. you also need to do this on the other side because the other tower is prolly stressed too

Edited August 29, 2014 by juit

[Rsanter 152]

The engine will have to come out to properly replace the tower. The problem is that the engine may have to come out to repair the existing tower depending on how bad the engine side if it looks

 

Bob

[rodbrady 18]

I haven't found any damage on the engine side of the tower. At this point, I'm leaning toward repairing the tower, but as juit said, I'd like to find an experienced welder to come take a look at it in person.

[RPM 1,190]

This is going to be a daily driver for my teenage son

 

That made me cringe.

 

Bob

[rodbrady 18]

That made me cringe.

 

Bob

 

Ha! Actually, he's pretty level headed and shares my love for classic cars. He wants to take good care of her.

[rodbrady 18]

I found a local welder who will come to my house to repair the crack on my shock tower, as well as weld in the shock tower reinforcement plates. He quoted me $275. Does that sound reasonable?

[Flanders 46]

as a non-welder, I'd have no problem with that amount :)

[Rsanter 152]

Yes, very reasonable

Make it as clean as possible for him. The best weld is on metal that is clean like it is new

 

Bob

[juit 34]

its reasonable, try to learn as much as possible from him, also get the boss plates while you are at this

[MikeStang 247]

Yep...

Man I had cracked shock towers in my 68 Coupe in High school,,,,drove it for years and never an issue.

Wish I was coming to Houston soon I would do it for you.

[rodbrady 18]

Well, good news! The guy just texted me after I sent him pictures of the crack and an example of the Boss reinforcement plate welding and said he would only charge $200, so I'm going for it. Glad to get this done while I have the front suspension off.

[juit 34]

remember to do a proper fitment before the guy goes over ther, take your time on this it has to seat down perfectly with a 45 ish angle

[rodbrady 18]

So, I assume I'll need to have the weld area down to bare metal?

[juit 34]

yes and the plates need to fit like a glove so you wont waste the welders time