Toph

First of all, I want to say I did search, but there are so many threads on this I couldn't find what I was looking for.

I'm literally in the middle of replacing my springs. We all know how much fun the front eye bolts can be. I got the passenger side backed out far enough to where it's not backing out anymore...just spinning. There's about a 5/8" gap between the bottom of the bolt head and the frame rail. This seems small to me? Should it back out further?

On the drivers side the bolt started backing out then popped and just started spinning. I know alot of people say these bind to the bushing sleeve. I have a hard time believing that this one just popped off the sleeve and is now easy to turn. How common is it for the captive nuts inside the framerail to break off?

90cherokeeguy

i replaced the leafs on mine last week i had the nut break loose of its weld on my drivers side it also got stuck in the sleeve i had to cut the bolt on both sides with a saws all then cut open the floor to weld in a new nut im not shure how often this happens but ive also been told it does happen
good luck

Toph

Well, on the drivers side either the bolt snapped, or the captive nut inside the frame rail has broken loose. I cut the leaf off the eye, and the bolt spins easily but the eye doesn't. It looks like I'm going to have to open up the frame pocket and possibly replace the nut.

My question is this... Factory bolts are 14mm-2.0 thread. I've got two for the front eyes, but I don't have a pair for the rear two (nut & bolt). Since I have access to both sides and I don't have to thread into a captive nut I figured I'd replace with grade 8 hardware instead of paying the $9.00/bolt that the dealership wants. 14mm works out to be .5511 inches. Would 1/2" hardware be too loose and rattle? I found a site in my searching tonight where I can get the factory bolts for $4.50 each, but it'd be nice to have this thing rolling tomorrow.