i was underneath my skyhawk looking around and noticed the perch that the springs sit on are totally gone, rusted away! is there enough pressure on those springs to keep them in place? i have had the car for 2-1/2 years and never noticed anything but i am afraid a little spirited driving or large pot hole will break-um loose. how much do i have to worry about here?
This is kinda common.
Haven't been into mine, but Paul94Z28 did a thread on this that might be useful for ya.
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=28&i=12800&t=12800
I think Ron Love has been there , done this too.
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MInw were in the same shape. I used some large washers to build them back up and painted over with POR 15. No issues since.
In short I removed my springs and sanded down the perches to be rust free.I think took the rubber boot which the perch is hidden by and use a product quick steel and kneeded it,.Then placed on the spot where the original was.Used the rubber boot to mold a exact duplicate of the original and pushed it down to mold in place.I left the boot off and cure for two days.I then resanded smooth,primed and painted.Very easy but,I literally stripped my entire rear axle for a full resto job.It took like two tubes of quick steel to fix and is fine since my work.
while replacing the rear shocks on the vert i found the coil spring perch on the left side was gone just ilike my skyhawks. i took Pauls' advice and bolted on a stack of washers. worked very well and was very easy.
i moved on to the front to replace the struts. the two large lower mounting bolts took a lot of heat and a 2 pound sledge to pop them out. a 2 hour job took me half the day but thats the way it always goes, at least for me it seems! i didn't think of it at the time but i should have tried my air chisel/hammer. a wheel alignment and she's ready for summer!
Great photo John!! Any info on the bolt or washer sizes?
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Lordy I wish I had the ability to keep my J's is such pristine condition!!
Great Job Ron - and Beautiful Results!!
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Ok here is my completely restored rear end and I went to every step to do this 100% perfect.I sand blasted my rear axle and primed and painted with kyrlon satin black(or semi flat) for a stock look.I rebuilt my perches after sanding down and used quick steel to mold a exact match using the boot cover to mold the fit.I built up the perch where the boot goes so it would not crack or come apart later and did re under coat the fender welds and my gosh the taping,masking off took hours to do.I have tons of new parts for the rear but,I have a nephews car to fix up before I tackle new rear wheel bearings,new brakes,new drums,and new e brake cables and of course I will take pics once I get the time to do the work.I thought I would show my old work and yeah it still is just a pretty bc the car sits indoors since 07.Enjoy