rear suspension mount

I was taking off the rear suspension of my 1977 kz900 because the P.O. had placed lowering links on it, and when I took off the bolt of at the top of the suspension it fell right off, completely stripped. I tried using a die to cut new threads but it wouldnt cut any. Have any of yall dealt with this before? I was thinking of cutting the bolt off and drilling into the "shoulder" or whatever the bolt is attached to where the suspension sits and then tapping it out and securing it with a new bolt. Any ideas or suggestions?

Also if somebody has done this, what size would I drill out and tap?

One more question, does everybody have a metal spacer between the frame and suspension, if you look at picture 2, im talking about the metal spacer closest to the frame. Can I remove this, or does it keep the suspension from hitting the chain?

The metal spacer between the shock and frame is not a factory item.

Later, Doug

Thanks Doug!

Sometimes a spacer is needed when a wider than stock swingarm is used ti help keep the top of the shock in the same plane as the lower mount but if everything is stock, I'm not sure why it was there now though.

As for drilling and tapping the stud, I think I've seen a few members do the same thing in the past with the same problem.

Later, Doug

It is the stock swing arm, so I'm not too sure why he would do that either. I will remove the spacer and try and see if anybody else has any ideas on the size and depth to drill and then tap. I found one thread where the member cut off his threads just trying to find out the size. Thanks for the info and help.