Mopar Lore, 68 or 69 Rear Axle Bump Stops?

[rakort]

It's interesting what you find when you tear down a 68 and a 69 GTX and compare parts side by side....many are the same....many are not! So these are the rear axle bump stops that mount to the frame..so what is your guess as to which is from a 1968 and which is from a 1969?

 

[Garys1969RR]

They look pretty much the same to me, but I would say the ones on the left are from a 68, because they look older. LOL. But, what is the difference?

 

[al383]

left side 69

 

[rakort]

left side 69

well ya had a 50 50 shot!

If you look close, left side has more metal in the brackets......it's from the '68. The '68 had the square nuts welded into the frame rails to mount them as is indicative by the bolts. Apparently then later in 69 they saved 50 cents and skipped the welded in nuts on the frame rails, reduced the amount of metal in the brackets and went with the self tapping screws as show on the right.

Like I've always heard / said, if they could save a nickle they would.....so a little mopar lore for yalls. Now when yalls out there judging cars remember this!

 

[Garys1969RR]

Yea, makes sense. Lets see, .05 on a 100,000 cars equals $5000 savings. LOL