Clean up and closely inspect the bearing carrier for cracks in the aluminum casting. The impact of the expanding shock can crack the casting allowing water in and hypoid oil out. If it checks out ok, then it should be reusable. It looks like a new gasket will be needed for the bearing carrier/seal housing.

“With a good cleaning inside the shock, and the help of a high intensity flashlight, sometimes you can actually see a break in the internal spring. In some cases, the spring is just expanded, but not broken, and can be pressed back to 6 11/16″. Broken shocks can be pressed and welded, but I’ll leave it up to others to explain that.”

First thing is to find out if the spring inside the shock is broken or just expanded. I used to bring my expanded shocks to a machine shop, and for $2.00 they would press them back to spec. Some have had success by putting the shock in a vice and beating the shock back to spec. with a hammer, but that hasn’t worked for me.

These pinion shocks were designed to absorb the shock of the prop hitting something while under power. When impact occurs, the shock elongates, then retracts to it’s original length. Sometimes they elongate, but don’t retract, and in other cases, they break and don’t retract.

If yours is broken, it will need welding. Some folks weld them as a preventive measure, even if they are not broken. Another option is to obtain a good used pinion shock. If you put an add on the club classified section, someone will likely have one to sell at a reasonable price.