New J&M Products Rear Shock Mounts Available Now

[cyclonetron]

I installed a set of these recently. Unfortunately with the lower holes its so difficult to adjust the Koni (on the drivers side) I'm going to go ahead and call it effectively impossible. Not enough room to get in there with the tool and get any leverage on it. I'll have to unbolt it to adjust the Koni, which might be worth it for the extra travel.

I had to do significant grinding to get the shock mount to fit the bolt holes on my car. That's annoying. Someone should tell them they're putting those holes at an incorrect spacing.

When you say grinding, do you mean the little nubs that are attached to the wheel well of the car?

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[TheMegalodon]

When you say grinding, do you mean the little nubs that are attached to the wheel well of the car?

Yes. I used a dremel to cut them off and painted over that spot. You can’t use the lower mounting holes without cutting off those alignment pins (only used for vehicle assembly, not needed after).

 

[NightmareMoon]

When you say grinding, do you mean the little nubs that are attached to the wheel well of the car?

No, I expected to cut off those screws/nubs, that was called out in the install instructions - that's not what I was talking about.

The bolt holes were too widely spaced and were a at least 2mm off even fitting at all. I had to wallow out the holes on the mount to get the bolts to fit through. Poor quality control in that element, otherwise I'm happy with the design and the part. I will say the metal they used is very very hard .

 

[cyclonetron]

I cross threaded the 18mm bolts into the holes while trying to get the upper shock mounts in. I came across the same issue as you @NightmareMoon and had to hollow out the holes. A real PIA. Does anyone know what size die/tap I need to rethread the 18mm holes where the upper bolts bolt into? @TheMegalodon @Hotpart.com @Brian@BMVK

 

[cyclonetron]

Finally got them installed. What a chore. I now have a clunking from the right side. Not sure what’s causing it as I torqued everything to spec. Only thing I can think is the top shock nut is not tight enough.

 

[cyclonetron]

Almost always is the top nut. Depends on the clunk sound, though. Make sure that the mount is actually tight to the body at that torque too.

I had to cut off the little nubs attached to the car. I couldn’t get them completely flat. Think that is an issue? I did torque both those bolts to 66 ft/lbs.

 

[cyclonetron]

Is the mount being fastened onto the stub leftover?

The mount is over the stub yeah. It’s not a lot left, just a small round indentation left where I couldn’t get the rest of it off.

 

[cyclonetron]

That definitely could be a source of clunking.

Guess I’ll have to take them off and try to file it down more.

 

[cyclonetron]

I'd say first thing to try is top nut, but after that, yeah.

When I was drilling the hole out in the mount it caught the drill bit and flung the mount and shock 180 degrees. It didn’t fall but the bottom shock did hit the ground. Would that be enough force to damage the internals of the shock?

 

[TheMegalodon]

I'd say first thing to try is top nut, but after that, yeah.

I know this is a silly question but how do you know that it’s tight enough? I’m fairly certain I’ve tightened them as much as possible and the torque spec isn’t that high. I’ve used lock-tite and it didn’t seem like I could get any more thread. Both shocks had the same amount of thread above the nut once tightened. Only reason I ask is because people keep saying the top nut not being tight enough can cause clunking - I just don’t know if it’s related to my issue.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Its obviously tricky to get a torque wrench on there, check the top nut and see if you can grind down the nubs (or try the lower mounting position to see if the noise goes away.)

Right after I installed solid mounts (and stiffer springs) I picked up an intermitten rattle back there which developed into an frequent rattle/clunk. At the end of the day, the shock with ~50k miles on it was bad, and a new shock cured it. I tried retorqing everything and even putting the stock shock mount back on there before finally realizing it was the shock itself.

 

[TheMegalodon]

Torque spec. If it's the top nut the sound will be a higher frequency clicking/rattling rather than a clunk. If it's a clunk, it's more likely that the mount is not flush to or torqued properly to the body, or something else entirely.

It’s not a high frequency rattling so I’m fairly certain I have the top nut tight to spec. It’s more of a clunking rattle that’s been there since about 1000 miles after installing the shocks and springs. I posted a video in the Koni Actives thread to show exactly what the sound is when driving over really rough patched pavement. This is after replacing the shock mounts with J&Ms and the endlinks replaced with new MOOG ones. At this point, I don’t want to believe it’s the shocks but it’s likely it is. I need to find a used pair of stock shocks to test it. Throwing out my old 60k mile shocks seemed like a no brainer.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/koni-active-shocks.123653/page-10#post-2928273

 

[cyclonetron]

Ok I’m incredibly disappointed by this product. After installing and uninstalling like 5 times I still can’t figure out the clunking. Plus you have to drill out the holes to even mount them which is incredibly frustrating. Now I’m left with a useless product that has been drilled out and I don’t even know if American Muscle will refund it.

UPDATE: Confirmed with American Muscle that they won’t take the parts back because they are modified. Well I had to modify them to even mount them. @Hotpart.com is there anyway I can get a refund from you guys, or even a different part? I’m not sure what’s wrong with the set I got but the clunking is on both sides.

 

[cyclonetron]

These same shocks did not clunk with stock mounts?

I haven’t tested my stock mounts yet. Too tired from trying to get these to work. I’ll get them on tomorrow, but I see no reason why they would because the stock mounts worked perfectly.

 

[cyclonetron]

Well, before you get too mad at J&M, make sure it's not the Konis.

Turns out the clunk is still there after I put the stock mounts on. I guess I’m still frustrated because they were fine prior to me installing the J&M mounts. Not sure what my next step is. As I’m out rear shocks now.

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