I was dismantling the rear end of my 69 Dart to replace all the running gear with upgrades and to re-do the undercoating. The car came with a set of ancient Gabriel Hijackers on it. I took off the lower bolts and whacked the shocks with a rubber mallet to get the lower mounts loose. Once the rear end was supported I did the same thing with the upper mounts. So far so good, the shocks popped right off and went into the scrap pile.
When I start cleaning up the scrunge and old undercoating, I notice the two upper shock mounts are not the same. Here is the driver side mount which looks normal. I reassembled the washers and nut for comparison.
Here is the upper mount on the passenger side. Note, it has some kind of weird larger collar (in the blue circle) at the rear of the stud, and the nut has a collar on it too.
Has anyone seen this screwball arrangement before, and if so what is it all about? I'm trying to get the collar off so I can continue cleaning and get ready for the new shocks, but I can't get the collar off. I tried a monster set of 18" Channellocks to no avail, all I did was polish up the collar a bit. Any suggestions on how to get this off? I suppose I can try heating it or cutting a slit down it to open up with a cold chisel perhaps, but I'm wondering if there is a better way.
When I start cleaning up the scrunge and old undercoating, I notice the two upper shock mounts are not the same. Here is the driver side mount which looks normal. I reassembled the washers and nut for comparison.
Here is the upper mount on the passenger side. Note, it has some kind of weird larger collar (in the blue circle) at the rear of the stud, and the nut has a collar on it too.
Has anyone seen this screwball arrangement before, and if so what is it all about? I'm trying to get the collar off so I can continue cleaning and get ready for the new shocks, but I can't get the collar off. I tried a monster set of 18" Channellocks to no avail, all I did was polish up the collar a bit. Any suggestions on how to get this off? I suppose I can try heating it or cutting a slit down it to open up with a cold chisel perhaps, but I'm wondering if there is a better way.