[t3hhcaptain]

Over the weekend we tried doing the struts and shocks on a 2015 grand touring. The front went alright, but the rear has the "type B" stud bolt and it's totally rusted (we live in Ohio).

I saw a video on YouTube where a guy cuts the shock off the stud, but how are you supposed to get it free? Does anyone have any experience?

 

[TalonTsi90]

Uh, yea. Me... Took me 12 hours to do it on my 3 last year. I switched it to a bolt. If you still have the shocks on the car, take it somewhere they can use a torch on. Or, if it's in the air and you're close to Cincinnati...

 

[jskywalker]

Ok, I have just discovered this same problem on my 2014 touring. Here's my situation. I initially tried replacing the rear shocks myself, then discovered that I couldn't get the lower shock nut off even with my impact tools, so then I hired a mechanic to come over and do the job. After many hours over 2 days, he got the original shocks off. He ended up removing the studs with part of the shocks still rust welded to them and tried to order new studs from the Mazda dealership. Waited a week for them to arrive. Today, they arrived and they were the wrong parts--just a bolt, not a stud, and won't work.

I'm not even sure if the mechanic kept the old studs or if he thew them out a week ago.

I looked online for quite awhile tonight and I can't confirm if the studs are available to be ordered or not. There is a lower shock mounting bolt available (part number 9YA0-21-450) but it doesn't really look right. I think that is probably the wrong bolt that the dealership ordered. The parts diagrams of course are just representative and look nothing like the real parts.

Can anyone help with locating the correct stud part number? My car has been sitting in my driveway with a disassembled rear suspension for 8 days now. I would like to someday drive it again. Thanks in advance!

 

[jskywalker]

Oh, in case anyone has the question, my car has the Type B studs. It was built in November of 2013.

 

[TalonTsi90]

they were the wrong parts--just a bolt, not a stud, and won't work.

Then hes not much of a mechanic, cause i eliminated the studs and went with bolts.

 

[jskywalker]

Then hes not much of a mechanic, cause i eliminated the studs and went with bolts.

Well, normally one would expect replacement parts to be available. I don't fault him for trying to order replacements. It's a reasonable solution.

The threaded hole in the knuckle is a size or two smaller than the size of the thread that goes through the shock. So, what did you do to solve that? If you used a bolt, the only way that would work would be to use a bolt that's too small for the shock. That's kind of a "duct tape" solution that I don't want in my suspension.

 

[TalonTsi90]

That's kind of a "duct tape" solution that I don't want in my suspension.

Its idiotically narrow minded comments like this that make me resent being on forums like this.

 

[jskywalker]

Ok, if you don't want to be helpful, then don't post. I didn't come here to stroke your ego.

 

[jskywalker]

Update... I found out that the stud is not an orderable part by itself. It is actually part of the knuckle and comes with the knuckle. See the photo below. (This is for Type B.) The Mazda part diagrams do not show this stud in the diagram and they do not show the washer or nut that go on it either, presumably they are common hardware parts. The wrong bolts that the dealership had ordered are for Type A.

Talon, maybe I was too quick to dismiss your solution of replacing the stud with a bolt. I have not seen the studs in person (the mechanic took them with him) and the photo that the mechanic sent me was confusing me. The thread that goes into the knuckle and the thread that the shock slides onto are different sizes. Yesterday I thought that the smaller end went into the knuckle, but after seeing some more photos I believe that I was wrong about that. So, a bolt with the larger thread would work as long as it is not too large to fit through the hole in the bottom of the shock. (This would be much better than what I was picturing, which was a bolt with the smaller thread and the shock would be loose-fitting over it.) Other option is to try to salvage the studs if they are not too damaged (and remove the part of the old shocks that are still rust-welded onto them) or replace the knuckles on both sides (about $240 each).

Supposedly, the Mazda dealership has the "right part" coming in tomorrow, but I don't know if that means that they ordered the knuckles or what. I'll have to see what shows up tomorrow.