Broke a shock tonite, and need the name of a part (upper shock mount?)

daan

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06 "5"


I hit one of our 10,000 potholes 0n the freeway during my commute home tonite (8pm) I'm usually good about trying to avoid them, but... (insert excuse here) I had expensive lightweight wheels on my Miata and was used to playing "Pot Hole Dodge'em", but apparently I'm off my game now.
Anyway the moment I hit the hole, there was a loud twanging noise, and then a rythmic rattling. I broke the sway bar off the front LCA of my Miata once (and bent a wheel at the same time) so I knew I busted something right away. I got off the freeway, got underneath and shone a light up there. What is the name of the thingy that attatches the shock to the body of the car? Is that part of the shocks, or the car itself? I had a set of Koni FSD's installed in '12, so these aren't particularly old now, but probably have 60K on them by now. So I'm kinda hoping I don't have to replace both rears now, instead of just the broken mounting part... (Cheap I know, but $'s always tight, right?)
Of course I live in the middle of nowhere so there isn't anywhere to get this worked on until Monday (assuming I can get the part(s) in less than a week here) I cheated and had these installed for me, otherwise I might know how to fix this myself...
Has anyone else broke this part before?
Thanks, guys
 
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Thank you! NOw the next question: Are these easy enough for a mere mortal to get out (since they've been basted in salt for 4 years) or am I gonna have to take it in?
 
Impressive.

The corrosion does not look too awful. Should be easy to get out. A deep socket would be needed (or endless fiddling with a wrench).
It's not a high tech part. You can probably trust the ones you can get from a local parts store and fix it this weekend.

Fingers crossed the strut is not bent. If your rear ones are older, might want to consider replacing them, if time & budget allows.

I do not miss the salt & rust... (Our old 94 Protege with rusted strut mount, punched through after pothole, living back in IN).
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Bro i literally broke this part 2 days ago but i got my coilovers so im good i just had to buy one shock mount to use for my coils

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In normal circumstances the upper shock mount isnt that hard to remove. You take out the rear seat cupholder insert snd the two bolts are right there. Since your mount is broken on both sides you are going to have to clamp the broken pieces with vice grips then use a socket set to removd the bolts. Its going to be a time consuming pain in the ass, but should be do-able EDIT: Ignore all that jive! There are actually two nuts that go onto the STUDS that come down from above. You should be able to just get those out with a socket wrench after soaking them in PB Blaster or Kroil. I don't know what I was thinking when I posted that other nonsense LOL Best of luck getting her back on the road....
 
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In normal circumstances the upper shock mount isnt that hard to remove. You take out the rear seat cupholder insert snd the two bolts are right there. Since your mount is broken on both sides you are going to have to clamp the broken pieces with vice grips then use a socket set to removd the bolts. Its going to be a time consuming pain in the ass, but should be do-able EDIT: Ignore all that jive! There are actually two nuts that go onto the STUDS that come down from above. You should be able to just get those out with a socket wrench after soaking them in PB Blaster or Kroil. I don't know what I was thinking when I posted that other nonsense LOL Best of luck getting her back on the road....
Yeah it was really easy to fix and get back on the road moving again, simply the part that hold the bolt broke but i went to autozone and bought one quick and was able to fix it in less than a hour thanks tho! Same to you if you havent already

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That looks like a hard hit.

Under the cupholders? I learned something there.
 
It is easy to fix and you do not need to work from the inside at all. My wife hit a pothole and that part broke. I sourced two online for next day delivery and painted them with epoxy paint when they arrived. I installed one and sent my wife away happy, temporarily. Not 15 miles later, she said the other side failed. Thank goodness I ordered two! Anyway, It was an easy fix and took only 15 minutes per side from the wheel well only.
 
A word of caution/advise from someone who has been there. If you have broken a shock mount under pretty much any circumstance, you NEED to inspect, remove, and test your rear shocks. Those mounts don't just break for no reason folks, they have been excessively stressed if they are breaking into pieces. The shocks on the first gen 5s are notoriously underspecced and are known to fail early and often. Save yourself heartache, pain, and more broken stuff and check those rear shocks!
 
Be very careful when you put the new strut mount on I had one of the strut mount bolts break on me last week when I replaced the struts and mounts. Had to drill the old one out and replace it with a new bolt I got at Lowe's. Took 2 hours which is more time then it took to replace the struts in the first place.
 
This just happened to me on my way home last night. Pulled into WalMart to pick up something for dinner and heard a lot of noise coming from the rear passenger side. I was only about a mile from home so I drove home taking it slowly. Peaked into the wheel well to find the mount was snapped where the bolts hold it in. I've got new shocks and mounts on order from amazon (KYB shocks with Dorman mounts) to be here on Saturday. I'll be fixing everything Sunday. Thinking I'll get the car up on stands, tires off, and penetrating oil sitting on all the bolts some time Friday so I'll be ready to go.
 
Mine broke this morning. You need a 13mm wrench, 12mm deep socket, breaker bar, ratchet, and vice grips

What was not shown above is the nut on top of the strut that holds it in place that is a pain. That is what you need the wrench and vice grips for. The top of the strut is squared off to allow you to hold the strut rod from spinning

EDIT: New nuts required 13mm deep socket. Torque to 20 ft. lbs.
 

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