Here's what's happening. The shock rod is turning! That rod is positively connected to the spherical ball in the upper mount which is allowing the rod to rotate. The rod is also connected to the cup that holds the actuator as well as the washer under it with flats. All you have to do is keep that cup or washer from turning, this can be accomplished by attaching a safety wire from the cup to the bolts fastening the mount to the chassis. What Bill's tech did was attach a flat "T" shaped piece of metal that abutted the one of the flats on the washer and was held in place by the fastening bolts.
part of my annual service, "untwist shock actuators" before pulling her out from hibernation, this seems to avoid any issues
Hey all, is this a dumb idea to keep the actuators from spinning? After I did that it occurred to me that it might be putting too much pressure on the housing and end up cracking it, or breaking the internal gears because the base is trying to spin? Or is it just a matter of holding it in place with a tiny bit of pressure and this should be fine? This is not permanent by the way, just thought of it temporarily until I can do a more elegant solution like shown above.
Read this my Tech made a fix.. https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/550-rear-shock-mounts.244510/
Don't worry about cracking the mount, as to the internal gears, they are quite able to break on their own, it's not unusual. Go to the hardware store and buy a couple of "T" braces, drill holes in the "T" to match the shock mount bolts, cut the center leg so it just touches the flat on the large washer under the actuator, bend the "T" brace to fit and "Bob's your uncle" Be sure to use bolts that are athwartships cross ways, not fore and aft Look for something like this 16 Pieces 80*80mm Stainless Steel T Shape Flat Corner Brace Bracket|brace bracket|flat corner bracecorner brace - AliExpress
Great thanks! That seems simple enough. What I was worried about damaging are the internal plastic teeth of the actuator, that ones that sit on top of the metal hub base of the shock mount. If the teeth on the metal hub are forcefully trying to rotate and I'm trying to hold the actuator housing in place, it might break the internals? I assume that's why in your solution it's held in place at the metal base, so there's zero pressure applied on the plastic actuator itself. I think just to be safe I'll take the zip ties off until I can fix it properly. I'd rather take a few minutes to untwist the cable than risk breaking the actuator.
if anyone wants to have their rear shock munts modified, i have a set of used 550 rear shock mounts for sale.
my T brackets arrived yesterday, and this job is next on the list - as always, many thanks to Dave......
