Oh my.

Problem? Yes, that "bolt" is the top of the upper shock shaft. You can probably grind some small flats onto the sides of the shaft so you can hold it while you loosen the nut to replace the worn out bushing or the entire bushing assembly.

This is one of the reasons there are torque specs given for fasteners on the car, you must have really put a lot of "juice" into it to get it to shear off like that.

You can tighten it all you want, but all it is going to do is hasten the deterioration of your already worn out upper shock bushings.
Alden

 

Maybe you reached the bottom of the threads -- when the bushing fail/ shrink no amount of tightening will fix the problem.

 

"You can tighten it all you want, but all it is going to do is hasten the deterioration of your already worn out upper shock bushings."

I think you have misunderstood how the assembly is designed. The nut is normally tightened down to the end of the thread, which is the only way to reach the specified torque. The bushes are then under the correct compression. This compression applies some tension to the nut, and stops the shock rod rotating easily.

If the nut is at the end of its thread, and properly torqued, tightening it further will have no effect on the bushes, but you might snap off the top of the shock rod. As the OP will confirm.

It is likely that the OP's problem is that the entire shock rod is rotating in the bushing too easily because the bushes have deteriorated. Previous advice to tighten the nut to fix this problem was nonsense.

 

Hmm. Incredible. Using vice grip pliers to hold the top of the shaft, are you able to back out the nut? Counter clockwise while holding the shaft still! If so, all is not lost, but you will probably need to replace the shock at some time. OBtW: if the shock was loose, tightening it would have removed one variable (nonsense or not) or possible cause of the noise. The only way to know, is to try and tighten it up.

From you photo, however, the shock mount doesn't look that bad. Mine was powdering. Might I suggest that the upper mounts might NOT be the source of your clunking sound?

 

It has to be. The entire assembly spins freely, the mount is loose and it moves up and down when I bounce the car by hand.

 

What do you mean, "entire assembly?" Can you rotate the shock shaft? If so, you need new shocks, as well as mounts. If just the bushing spins freely, rebuild the bushing (either Vector's or Old Mike's thread works) or buy the one recommended from Rock Auto (the $20 extra is worth it).

It sounds like your bushings are already apart . . . No press or hammer needed . . .

I wish I could see these . . .

 

Mine were bad but looked fine, they only have to have a little free play to cause problems, by the time they are powder, they are truly toast but can go bad long before that.
Alden

 

Yes, the entire thing spins, including the shock bolt thingy.

 

I did the urethane upper bushings on the front when I replaced the shocks. Pretty easy and while it didn't fix my clunk, it did firm up the feel a bit (my factory bushings were in full on powder stage though). My clunk was the right front sway bar endlink. The bushing material was gone. Easy peasy to replace. Definitely start there, it's that most of the time and it's an easy and relatively cheap place to start.

 

Changing one thing at a time is a waste of time.

Jack the car up, carefully evaluate the condition of all the suspension components, and replace everything that is worn.

 

I think these neoprene replacement upper mounts suck.

It is cold here in Virginia, so the annual clunking started. Pulled the upper mount on the right side to see what was wrong: the mount bushing had come undone (large washer on top had separated from the bushing; the neoprene material on the bottom had deteriorated, such that the shock rod was beating against the mount frame once the temperature got below 50*F. I had some of the original yellow material in two isolators originally bought for the rear shocks (my independent used ones he had instead); so I cut it to fit and refitted the bushing (which still is not staying together -- apparently the hole in the top retainer was enlarged enough that the bushing won't stay together); reassembled, raised the car, bolted in the mount; bolted down the shock using an extra washer to keep compression on the upper retainer. Seems to work; quieter, no vibration, no movement.

to be sure: ordered the URO unit from RockAuto. $66 shipped.