Shocked (04/10/2014)

In my previous post I mentioned purchasing a couple of upper shock absorber brackets and I wouldn't have to have them fabricated if they fit. They came yesterday and my response is YAHOO (not bing nor google nor facebook nor U-tube nor pinterist nor twitter etc., etc., etc.). They are NOS (New Old Stock), painted OD (Olive Drab), and fit perfectly. They only require a slight modification to the frame: A hole must be bored on the bottom of each side.

A number of months ago when I decided that I wanted to complete the restoration of the M416 by installing shock absorbers I didn't know what the upper brackets looked like. So I went out to West Richland where Andy owns a heavily modified (my opinion) M100. (It might be a T3 or a T3C). He put in a tail gate and replaced the yoke (receiver) with a modern ball hitch. I crawled under the trailer and took the following two photos.

It is hard to tell from these shots because I had to make them so small to fit side-by-side but I was able to discern the shape of the brackets. The following three sets of pictures show the three views (top, front, and side) of the drawings I made for the parts I was going to have fabricated alongside equivalent views of the purchased brackets.

The point is the similarity.

This view of the bracket shows the NOS sticker on the bottom with the part number along with a lot of other information. The information on both stickers (as best as I can interpret) is:

G529 75 61955    BRACKET

PT NO 7561955

QTY 1 EA  M?1  BOND 1

PKD PU 5/55 LDG 550

This view shows the top of the stud threaded with a cotter pin hole at the bottom of the threads, a little unusual if one is using a castle nut. I'm thinking one can put a large washer next to the shock absorber and either use a cotter pin or a nut to hold the shock absorber in place. There is no way of securing the shock absorber to the bottom stud by the axle.

Finally this last picture shows the bottom of the bracket with its hole. A threaded nut is welded inside the bracket. So I will have to bore a hole in the bottom of the frame and screw a bolt/lockwasher into the bracket.