944 turbo trailing arm shock insert repair

[piledriver]

The inserts on my `86 turbo arms are ~dubious, they have been cross threaded at some point and I'd like a better fix than just running a thread chaser in there and hoping there's something left.
How large (OD) are those hardened inserts?

Throwing them out and buying new arms that are just as likely to be junk or eventually fail in the same way is not a fix.

Grade 8 or 10 (SAE) (m grade 10.9/12.9 equivalent) bolts can be had in 5/8" or 3/4" all day long in whatever length you like.
You can get spherical bearings or shock bushings in those IDs as well.
You can also get screw on lower eyes for coil overs in larger sizes... Fox makes them. Bilstein may too.

BTW, the 85mm 14mm bolts can be had at any VW dealer, for a Passat, for like $4.
Held the rear coil over shock on.


The BMW bolts have a great price but the dealer usually wants to toss a $14ish shipping charge on top.
I eventually gave up on them.

[v2rocket_aka944]

There's plenty of meat in the arm to drill and tap to 5/8"...would have no problem doing that myself if I had to.

Question is, does the shock bushing have the same meat to ream out to fit the bolt?