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Hello,
I spent the weekend replacing the brake pads on my '85 GSL SE, and noticed that the "beefy rubber bumper thing" that was mounted to the coil spring seats was gone on one side, and "fallen off, but captured within the spring" on the other side. I'm assuming that these rubber pieces are for shock absorbing when hitting some nasty pothole. Can these parts be found / bought? Easily replaced without disassembling the rear suspension? I don't see any mfr part # for it.
Are we talking about the Bump Stops or the Rubber Cushion pads at the top of the springs? Either way, I've had good luck removing Racing Beat springs by jacking up the body of the vehicle and letting the rear axle droop, which gives plenty of room to finagle the spring from the lower perch, rotating it out toward the rear. No spring compressors requires. Installing them again is done by inserting the top of the spring over the Bump Stops and then twisting them until you can get the lower seat up over the metal mount edge. From there, a broomstick can be used to to twist them the rest of the way into place.
Thanks for the quick replies! But unfortunately that isn't it. It looks like this. I guess its the bump stop. I think it had an embedded steel washer (or it was glued to the washer) that is still attached at the top. You can see the bolt at the top of the right hand photo. Are these things available? This is the loose "bumper"
I'm coming up empty handed on this.
Does anyone have experience McGyvering another product? Like "Rear Spring Bumper Strut Shock Bump Stop FEBEST MZD-LWR OEM LC70-28-111A" ?? [ Edit: GREAT replies below! ]
Those are Bump Stops. They're designed to prevent the suspension from hitting metal on metal under collapsed load, and to ease the suspension under heavy compression. They're still available from Mazda, are mounted using a 14mm bolt up into the upper spring perch, and usually need to be cut down to size based on suspension travel, shorter with lowered springs.
To get those out of there, remove the springs as I mentioned above, which gains you access to the top spring perch mounts for these. Once the new ones are installed, replace the springs, and you're golden.
Thanks for the tips guys! I really appreciate the Tacoma bumpstop link, and the installation tips. I'm assuming removing the springs will be "easy" compared to dealing with rusted bolts!