11 or 12 years ago I started to change the shocks on my van.

The rears were easy.

The front passenger side was a hassle.

The front driver's side was nearly impossible.

Only the rears were bad, and I had to get up for work the next day, etc.--I just quit (left the socket on the top nut where it had gotten stuck. It was still there as of Wednesday.)

Friday I noticed the van was extra noisy going over manholes and speed bumps (1 per every 100 yds of road in my town), but I thought little of it.

Today it developed a whole new collection of noises. When I was able to pull over and inspect, I found the nut had come loose, the socket was gone, and the shock dumped out all its contents.

The top of the shock was not aligning the hole in the frame and the hole is misshapen from being pounded up.

The bolts on the bottom were bent, and the hole in the LCA with the welded nuts are is misshapen as well (the shock pushed down beyond its limits, bending the ears, bolts and LCA part that the nuts are welded to.)

How much trouble should I expect pounding this stuff back into shape? (I figure I'll put a big bolt through a fender washer down through the hole in the frame and pound it via a pipe or socket extension until the metal is virtually flat. I was going to buy a long grade 8 5/16 bolt and try to bend the LCA from the nut hole. Looking at such bolts in the store, they did not seem substantial enough.)

Moral of the story: 'if a nut is stuck, neglect it for 12 years, and it will fall out.'

I've seen this a few times on Dodge vans- I suspect the top portion of the shock rod (in the rubber bushing) rusted/ fatigued & broke. The shock rod then fell down & beat the snot out of everything. I usually had to heat up the dented metal of the upper shock mount with a torch & beat it flat- used a big hammer & air impact hammer.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl