[bstark]

Towing it without the shock won't hurt it. Don't miss this opportunity to do some diagnosis though. You have the old shock and you have your trailer typically loaded out for travel, now is the time to ascertain if those mounts have been placed in the middle of your shock "stroke" length.

What happens sometimes is the suspension is adjusted either up or down to level trailer to truck's hitch height and no attempt is made to adjust the shock mounts to conform. Sometimes the upper mounts are welded on in the wrong spot as well and it's the weaker bottom one that breaks.

You might also be able to tell by looking at the broken end of the tab which direction the shock is impeded in travel. It may have broken off because the shock is already hyper-extended.

Dependent on your skills as a DIY and whether (like mine were) the plates have two mounts welded to them and how comfortable you feel performing a bit of "under -there" wrenching: using a set-up of jacks and cribbing you can swap that plate with its opposite to again remount your shock.

Being careful to study your suspension layout and supporting safely before performing any un-doing of the "U" bolts is the order of the day here.

OooopS! On edit I noticed re-reading your sgnature line that you mention "up-graded" 17.5's soooo; if your trailer was subsequently highe due to those new wheels and tires and was then lowered by raising the suspension into a higher hole of the trailer mounts, your shocks have likely been operating in the compressed end of their range, you will then need to raise your upper mounts and re-weld them. that's not a bad job and will result in a much stronger/better upper mount in any case. My trailer was an 05 and those upper mounts were only attached by one small bead of weld on one corner of the mount. I subsequently redesigned and replaced all of the upper mounts on mine.