GS750 Rear Shock Stud

[MinnesotaGS]

Bike - 1979 Suzuki GS750

Last night while working on the bike I made a couple silly mistakes. I used a bit too much torque when tightening the acorn nut on the shock stud. This mistake caused the threaded part of the stud to break off. My second mistake was attempting to remove the threaded portion by drilling it out. After realizing that was a dumb idea I decided to call it a night.

Fast forward to today when I searched the archives for people who have had a similar situation. It would appear that there is absolutely no reason to use gorilla torque when tightening the acorn nut on the shock stud - I probably should have looked at that last night, but oh well I will remember it in the future. I also discovered that the stud is not removable. A good deal of the info in the archives seems to deal with stripped studs rather than broken studs. Still I was able come up with a few ideas and before I went further I wanted to ask the knowledgeable folks on this forum before I proceed and make more mistakes.

I am thinking my best bet will be to drill into the remaining part of the stud, tap the new hole, thread in an appropriately sized stud with some loctite, find a new acorn nut. How does this sound? Any better ideas or tips? Thanks in advance.

I put a few pictures in just in case my descriptions were slightly vague.

[hampshirehog]

It looks like you'll be ok as you haven't boogered the load bearing part, just the thread. The acorn nut doesn't have to be tight (as you discovered) as it's only there to stop the shock sliding off sideways and that's not where the force is - it's up and down.

The best and safest repair would be to weld a new thread on to replace the bit that snapped off - just make sure it's a good weld.

[MinnesotaGS]

Thanks for the quick response. I was wondering if welding would be a better option. I'll look for a welder in my area and make sure to post some pictures after I get it fixed. I unfortunately just moved and have a limited supply of tools, so no welding...yet.

[SqDancerLynn1]

taping and rethreading will work Just make sure to get it streight

[MinnesotaGS]

I may have to end up going the tap and then rethread route. My attempts at finding a local welder who will tackle the job have not been promising.

[posplayr]

I may have to end up going the tap and then rethread route. My attempts at finding a local welder who will tackle the job have not been promising.

I screwed a nut onto mine and then rewelded with a HF welder. It is a crappy welder but for stuff like this it has paid for itself