Spring hanger/shock mount skid plate

[Hunner]

Originally Posted by Cris Burkhalter

I called my service manager for suggestions when I welded up my UCP, he said to disconnect the POSITIVE battery cable & let it sit for 15 minutes so the modules do an auto shut down. Don't bake your system!!!

Nice job Hunner, can't wait to get mine on!

Probably will be best to just disconnect both have a few beers and call me in the morning. Since I was grounding the welder to the frame I did not want any juice flowin thru the system. Just my boddddyyyy does welding cause brain damage?? Make you wanna drive over rocks and in the mud, yep I got it............ddrain bamage

[Demo]

Hunner, I sent you a Cashiers Check today via Priority mail. Hopefully it get there quickly.

Thanks,
Alex

[HummBebe]

DId you get my PM Hunner?

[Hunner]

I have received a LOT but I don't see one from you. Send it again there was an eclipse Saturday night and it might have warped the time melinium. ha ha

[HummBebe]

Oh wait, I sent you and e mail.....

[Hunner]

HA HA your not older than me surely? That kind of stuff is normal for me. I dont see any email either. Try again, Im telling you it was the eclipse. Are you going under a nefarious name? I will be here until 5am Thursday and Im blasting off for Sedona.
1secondwind@comcast.net

[Huck BB62]

Hunner, is there a way to make the fronts bolt on too instead of weld-ons? That big honkin' shock bolt is right there after all. Just an idear.

[Hunner]

There would have to be two side plates, remake the plate more narrow to have it flush with the front hanger and of course you would have to remove the gas tank and skid plate to get the bolt out because they put it in from that side. No problem if you got the time. You could cut down the plate and weld on a side piece on both sides and drill for the bolt, or five minutes of welding this design. Trust me or not. I was for the easy route.

[timgco]

HOLLLLLLYYYYYY HELLLLLLLLLL!

These things are tough!!!! I expected some skids, but I got SKIDS!

GREAT JOB!

[timgco]

OK, so now I have the skids, have the shock skids painted and ready to install. I don;t think I can just remove the four bolts? or can I. I'm guessing that you cannot just remove them and need to get the axle jacked up to take the weight off of the springs?

[Hunner]

I replied in your pm but I guess I should throw out something here. Jack up the frame and let the suspension droop. I placed a second jack under the spring leaving enough room for the new plate so when I removed the nuts I could control the spring from dropping too much and be able to jack it back up. Make sure the locator pin lines up on the axle tube. It has everytime I have done it. I used a bottle hydraulic jack to push the shock back up and then knocked it over to the plate. You will have a new respect for so called "stock shocks" if you try to push it up by hand. Ask for help and borrow enough jacks. Use jack stands. Retorque nuts. I put loc-tite on mine. I can do it pretty easy but I have had practice. Plenty

[timgco]

Thanks for both replies. I'll make sure to take pics and do a write up as i go..

[garnerbiker]

Hunner is THE MAN!

I got 'em yesterday and have the big ones at the powdercoating shop. THey should be done on Friday for an install on Sat.

Thanks for taking action on this! We love ya!

Now,,lets get the beefed up rear bumper going.

[RuggedH2]

Hunner did an outstanding job with those skids. I don't think he made enough of them.

Something tells me you better place another order with the machine shop Hunner. These skids are well made and priced better than anything similar out there. They cover the part of the truck that is the lowest point for clearance.

Great product for the money, and good thinking and initiative on your part.

Between these skids, and the winch mount by Burkhalter that I bought, Elcova forums has really come through with some killer shiat!

[Huck BB62]

I see your point on the gas tank Hunner. What a pain. This stuff should be on there from the factory, good job Hunner and shame on Amstar for trying to screw Hummer owners to the wall. I'm serious, all that bullsheot talk about going through engineering, then letting the dealer step on it for yet another markup. A big company running around in circles now for TWO YEARS and Hunner gitserdone in a month. They should look in the mirror and laugh at themselves.

I'm laid up with a surgery so I'm not ordering anything for any reason, but once I get back on my feet, I will Hunner. I just wanted to say "Job well done" and thanks for showing self important do nothings that want to screw Hummer owners like Amstar how it's done.

What's next? Roof racks for $400 that make Gobi look silly?

[Crash ?]

Originally Posted by Huck BB62

shame on Amstar for trying to screw Hummer owners to the wall. I'm serious, all that bullsheot talk about going through engineering, then letting the dealer step on it for yet another markup. A big company running around in circles now for TWO YEARS and Hunner gitserdone in a month. They should look in the mirror and laugh at themselves.

Keep one thing in mind with this stuff.. Large corporations at make safety/protective gear or anything that changes major parts of a vehicle are going to be subject to a LOT of scrutiny from the public and the DOT.. They have to keep unreal amounts of liability insurance, because if it's proven that even ONE of those skids fails in some way and causes an accident.. Look out.. Ambulance chasers are going to be dug in on AmStar and GM like an Alabama tick on a coon dog..

With the buddy system that Hunner's provided, good luck chasing down who did what.. All he's gotta do is shrug and say, "Man the guy that made those did it in his back yard shop and he died 2 years ago, wish I could recall his name.. I think it was Ed.."

[RuggedH2]

Liability is real.

Amstar could get sued and does require the insurance. That doesn't mean their product is built better or has superior engineering, it just means their insurance company lawyers will step in to defend the product in court before paying out any claims.

I'm not concerned about the quality of these skids, they are obviously built well. The plate on the spring that holds the u-bolts, is still in place, torqued to spec.

My friends Jeeps are sometimes welded back together on the trail. They have numerous parts on them that could not be "tracked down", or are "purpose built". They take those rigs on stuff I would not attempt.

It's too bad we live in such a litigious society. Any product can break, especially when we subject those products to the abuses of off roading.

[Huck BB62]

You're talking about a skid plate for a shock absorber.

I completely understand the liability thing, believe me. This isn't a torsion bar or steering component, it's a chunk of metal for rocks to bang off of.

In today's world of the internet, there's absolutely no reason to make us pay almost double for anything for distributor agreements. The US is getting it's arse handed to it in trade deficit and this whacky krap is just one of the reasons. Competitiveness doesn't only come from getting labor down. We need torte reform and we need to get rid of middlemen.

Again, good job Hunner!

[Hunner]

This is a part sandwiched below the existing plate, on purpose. It's like a washer in a way between the nut and ubolt. I believe they "suggested" you could get new u-bolts and nuts. Of course the dealer would love that. Our local spring shop laughed when I said that. They dont stock many but have a machine that makes them. It's like $4 for a pair. Im betting they are $40 at a dealer, think I will ask. Im also going to guess they dont have any. If anyone is paranoid get new u-bolts and nuts. Then of course you should have them xrayed and magna fluxed and ultra sounded for integrity and test the stock they use on a torque bench to test the breaking strength of that batch of material. There is a theory that the threads were stretched when they were originally torqued. In all the years of owning cars how many people have regularly re-torqued their spring shackle plate nuts??
On another sore subject,
I have two complete tie rods assemblies but I found pieces at several dealers to make them up. I ordered some from GM parts direct at a low price but now they are on national backorder? Im seeing a pattern here. Someone responsible for carrying parts, that I would think will be in high demand, just blew it or something. I would have thought dealers would be required to carry a certain amount of inventory but apparently not. If you bust a tierod you will wait a long time I guess.
Im going to wheel at Superlift this weekend and ponder all this...................

[garnerbiker]

No long explanation needed. Just take off the U-bolt nuts and the shock bolt and put on the skid. You can get it all back up and then compress the shock to get it in. My friend and I did these yesterday in 45 min. I reccommend powdercoating! That was the first time that I had parts coated. DO IT!! It was 40 bills to do both plates. BEAUTIFUL!!!

I am glad I had my air system finally hooked up to rip the nuts off. Previous wheeling and abuse made them a bit tough to get off. Thank goodness I wasn't using a wrench.