Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

[Douglas C.]

After disassembling my rear suspension, I noticed my original '63 strut rod bracket had elongated holes to accomodate additional adjustment in the rear alignment (Bubba rear end alignment).

Can these holes be repaired and the original round holes restored?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

--Doug, #13644

[Gene M.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

Doug,
Are you refering to the bottom 4 mounting holes? They look round in the photo. The one hole is designed to be off set from a rectanglar pattern. It prevents assembly from being backwards.

[Douglas C.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

Here's a better picture - seems the holes have been drilled out to create more side-to-side play in the strut rod bracket alignment to the rear-end cover.

--Doug #13644

[Clem Z.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

Here's a better picture - seems the holes have been drilled out to create more side-to-side play in the strut rod bracket alignment to the rear-end cover.

--Doug #13644

my guess that the bolts were left loose and it moved back and forth.

[Douglas C.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

Could be - the holes are fairly irregular looking.

Can the holes be welded back up or would it simply be okay to use as is, just tighen the bolts?

[Clem Z.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

Could be - the holes are fairly irregular looking.

Can the holes be welded back up or would it simply be okay to use as is, just tighen the bolts?

you could braze some washers over the holes

[Dick W.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

That would be my suggestion Clemster. Thick grade 8 washers.

[Douglas C.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

Thanks for the suggestions.

--Doug

[Gene M.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

A used bracket is generally available from Corvette vendors. I would think a good replacement would be a better choice vs the washer or welding route.

[Joe L.]

Re: Bubba "Fixed" my Strut Rod Bracket

A used bracket is generally available from Corvette vendors. I would think a good replacement would be a better choice vs the washer or welding route.

Gene and Doug------


...just so long as one gets the right bracket. The 63-67 bracket was different than the 68-79 brackets and they are not interchangeable (although either could be physically installed on any 63-79). Also, this bracket looks to be in pretty good shape other than the hole elongation. A lot of the used pieces I've seen out there are pretty well pitted from corrosion.

One other thing: the two holes on one side of this bracket appear to suffer from very little hole elongation while the two on the other side show much more elongation. I really think that this bracket could be used as-is without causing any problems. The two nearly intact holes will cause proper positioning of the bracket and should prevent any further movement of the bracket if the bolts are properly torqued. Personally, I would still use a hardened flat washer between the bracket and the lockwasher, whether or not the washers are welded to the bracket. Failure to do this in the original design was a DUMB thing to do.