Clunky front end is worse than I thought...

Well, my Taco has had a weird sound coming from the front end recently, I put off looking at it till this weekend and found out that it is worse than I thought. I am not even sure what happened? It appears that the top portion of my shock busted through somehow and it has wore away at where it mounts. Any suggestions on fixing this?

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Looks like the top hat is done on the coil over. Needs a new top hat if not a whole new coil over assembly

 

but it also appears that the shock has rubbed a large hole in the upper portion where it mounts from going up and down? Do I need to have someone weld on a new shock mount?

 

Hopefully not. I think as long as the new coilovers mount flush in there, you should be fine.

 

Like I said. Start with a new top hat (minimal fix if in a bind) maybe the full coil over (the proper fix). Do both passenger and driver side. You may need some work on the mount on the frame, but it looks like you caught it early enough.

 

if you have access to a welder you should be able to weld a washer of the correct thickness to the strut mount rather than attempt to fix that wallowed out hole.

 

Welp, I removed the shock and to my disbelief, the hole that got wallowed out wasn't actually in the mount, but in the upper shock ''top hat''. I am not going to attempt to weld it together, just gonna go buy some new shocks. Also, since my truck has a 6 Inch drop bracket lift, will I need a different type of shock other than a OEM? I don't think I do but I am just checking, thanks guys.

 

I figured as much.
What do you have in there currently?

 

Pretty sure you can purchase the top hats separately. So as long as your shocks are still in decent enough condition, I'd just go for the top hat replacement.

 

The supplied Fabtech shocks that came with the lift, although I did not install the lift. I purchased the truck and it already had it.

 

I am not sure Ethier if you need the same shock or not.

 

My current shocks measure 26.5 inches un-compressed... Everything I've just read up and checked OEM shocks says that they are around 18 inches uncompressed.. Any idea where I can snag a 26.5 inch shock at....

 

@HeadStrong Off-Road
4wheel autoparts maybe
Not real sure.... I am not a drop bracket guy.
https://www.google.com/search?q=26....ndroid-att-us&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

Welp... I am not wanting to shell out a ton of money for Kings... I may contact Fabtech to see if they could get me some replacements...

 

I remember my grandpa saying something similar to his doctor years ago

 

@skedrc just so you know there is supposed to be a "hole" in that mounting spot. it allows the top of the coilover to pass through and relies on the top plate to hold the shock

as others have stated your top plate is probably damaged or worn out (the left side looks rounded out)