Steve,
It is not surprising that the mounting plate broke the way it did. The
outboard mounting position of the shock put a "moment" or torque on the
spring mounting plate. From the picture it appears that the shock was
mounted about 2 inches from the bolt hole. That 2 inch distance provided
the moment arm while the bouncing up and down provided the force. Force
times distance = torque. After awhile the plate failed due to fatigue. If
you look closely you can see the failure was progressive because some parts
of the broken part have had time to rust while the bottom still shows a
little bright metal, I believe. The picture may be fooling me, but take a
look and see if part of the break is shiny. If so, the complete break was
recent, but it began some time ago.
Tim
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