[FastCat67]

The guy that previously owned my 67 had cut HOLES in the right shock tower! I guess to aid in reaching the grease fittings on the upper arm. The left side has a nice size crack. So im looking at replacing both towers. Does any one have some words of wisdom on this matter?:1zhelp:

Chris

 

[Cougrrcj]

Shock tower holes

Yep, that was a pretty common 'fix' to get at the upper control arm bushings so the grease monkeys could grease them. It is the ragged, uneven hole that causes the stress raiser in the area that would cause a crack. A nice neat minimally sized perfectly round hole is perfectly acceptable from a structural standpoint. Of course you know the proper fix is the special 90-degree close clearance grease fitting, but who did that waaaaay back then. Even with the special fitting they are a PITA to get to.

If your shock towers are not rusty -- and it looks like yours aren't, and if you have the engine out for easy access to the towers --and it looks like yours is, it is easier to weld a patch/repair in place rather than replacing the whole tower. If you have access to a MIG welder, and you cut the patch the right shape and size, you should be able to grind the weld down and refinish the area like you would any other weld-in body patch. I don't know about how big the crack is, but that can probably be welded up/ground back down as well.

I have seen some neat looking holes cut into the towers in this area. Some even look die cut they're so perfect. Then all they have to do is fit a rubber plug in there and it looks factory and still gives easy access to the grease fitting.

The choice is yours!

 

[vfret]

I found some copper pieces in the Eastwood catalog. What you do is place the copper piece on one side of the hole. Then you weld up the hole from the other side. The weld material will not stick to the copper but will absorb the heat. when your done just remove the copper and grind smooth. At least thats how I think I'm going to repair mine. Good luck. If I do mine that way I will take pics and post them.

 

[FastCat67]

left tower

Here is a photo of the left tower

 

[calcat]

Is that really a crack? It looks like material was chipped off. If so you could use a BFH. flatten it and weld to the tower body.

 

[zhat]

I had a 8" crack on my passenger side shock tower. It cost me $50 to have a welder come out and fix it and grind it smooth. I would recommend trying to fix what's there. Replacing the towers is pretty difficult from everyone I've mentioned it to.

My two cents...

 

[FastCat67]

From the way it sounds I think I will repair what I have! I drove the car for about 5 years without the crack or hole getting any worse so it should be ok. Just thought that maybe I should replace them since the car is torn apart for restore, if it wasnt to much of a pain. Thanks for all of the input!!

Chris

 

[codenamecougar]

I doubt the guy cut a hole in the shock tower for grease access...lol...Looks to me like he might have broke an upper control arm shaft and drove the car with it for awhile. This can easily puncture the shock tower. I think the easiest fix for you is some skilled welding.

Adam

 

[Cougrrcj]

Adam,

I'm totally serious agout the hole being torched there for grease fitting access!

From the factory, there was no grease fitting in the upper control arms. After about five years or 70k miles they start to squeak bad! The easiest fix was to install a grease fitting , but since the car is already assembled there isn't a whole lot of room to get at the upper control arm to install the fitting. The easiest access was to cut a hole in the shock tower.

Ask any of the old timers that used to work on cars of this era and they'll tell you the same thing I did. You gotta remember that Ford Corporate didn't care about cars that were out of warranty having squeaks.

 

[modifiedmark]

CJ's right I have also seen holes torched in the fender aprons as well for spark plug access!! mm

 

[Alex]

Yeah, I have a very squeaky upper a frame right now and I was told of the "torch fix"....lol, forget that. I just need to find someone who has the knowledge/tools to do this without screwing up my shock towers with a blow torch.

 

[Cougrrcj]

Grease fittings

Alex,

Some of the parts vendors should be able to help you out with the proper fittings and the special tool needed to install them. Yes, I know from first-hand experience that it is a PITA, but it is really the best way to go.

The other option is to carefully locate the proper location and then use a small metal-cutting hole saw and make a nice, neat round hole that you can put a rubber body plug in later. It will look like it belongs there if you're careful enough.

I'm going to be ordering my complete front end rebuild kit this week, the one that comes with the control arms and everything. You can bet that I'm going to put the grease fittings in the upper arms before they're installed!

Milo

 

[TheRktmn]

MANY moons ago JC Whitney sold a kit to put grease fittings in the upper control arms for shock tower type suspensions. The kit sold for about $20 in the 70s - that should give you an indication of how desperate we we to grease those "permanently lubricated" original bushings! The alternative was to cut holes in the shock towers - which many guys did with a blow torch!
The original bushings had a threaded cap that you can remove to install grease fittings.
The replacements - at least the ones that I got - come with the 2 piece 90* fittings so that they can be lubed.

 

[Cougrrcj]

Grease kit

I just checked the vendor links and was looking at the Autokrafters site ( www.autokrafters.com ). They have the grease fitting kit (four special two-piece fittings, installation tool and instructions) cataloged as part #610-041 at $14.95. Sounds like a deal to me!