On the 1991 SR5 the top of the rear coil springs mount up in a cylindrical "bracket" attached to the frame. I guess the purpose of these brackets is to keep the coil from shifting sideways under load.
On my vehicle these brackets are rusted out; the descending portion of the left one is essentially gone while the right one is badly corroded. I have attached some photos of the left and right sides.
I have three questions on this:
1) How serious is this? Will is there a danger that the coil spring will "pop out" under normal (ie not extreme off-road) driving conditions?
2) Is the vertical travel of the rear axle sufficiently constrained by shock absorber to prevent the spring from coming out or shifting?
3) Any ideas on how to repair this - can the bracket (which I believe is 501301 / 501302 in the attached diagram) be replaced How is it fastened on (welded, riveted , bolted etc)? Is it even practical to repair?
I made new ones with new steel bottomplate and a steel ring included a nut for bump stopper and drenage hole on the side.
Not a big job, depends how rusted it is, it is best to fix when axle is out or lowered it down. the prosess to made those is in my build thread.
Is this pretty much back to the original spec? We are working on a 91 and learning as we go. The rear-upper spring perch is pretty much completing gone and need to fab a new one and want to be sure the shape and bump stop position are correct. We initially thought the bump stop went up inside the perch (that's how far it's gone) and mounted through the hole that goes up into the frame. Guessing that's not the case and hoping you can confirm. Thx.