broken front lower shock mount 96 Cherokee
 

bought a used Cherokee and looked under it AFTER purchasing it... anyway both front shocks are broken where they mount on the bottom. I am more of a weekend mechanic (using the term loosely) but can get things done if told how. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to go about fixing this? Thanks

pics will help a lot

x2. Its hard to tell what exactly is broken.

X3. If it is part of the actual shock that is broken just replace the shock. If it's the bracket broken off of the front axle, then you have a problem.

Houston we have a problem
 

I will post pics when I get home but the rod coming out of the shock on both sides are gone and there are no brackets on the axel

Sounds like your just missing the bar pin. There should be two screw holes in the axle. Should look like this.

sure its the shocks, sounds like your looking at the stops that keep it from botteming out, located in the middle of the spring

your right Phatwitaph
 

I just looked from the front and overeacted when I saw both sides and the sway bar broken didnt even look on the otherside to see the shocks were there :) my first thought was crap I got totally screwed. anyway what do I do about the borken stops (the sway bar I am replacing)??
Thanks for the help guys I appreciate it. how do I get the image to show like jmm0122?

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...6228-dsc08773/

If its just the rubber piece I wouldnt worry about it to much. Im missing my passenger side one but you have to pull the spring out to get to is, so its kind of a hassle. If its the whole thing I would go ahead and replace it. To get the images to upload you just click on the paper clip by the smiley face (top of this box)and you can upload it directly from your computer.

Looks like a broken swaybar link to me. The bumpstop looks fine. Just replace the link . You'll be fine, unless my eyes are mistaken.

both sides of the sway-bar are broken right off... I am going to replace those today. thanks so the stops in the springs don't have rods coming out? well thats not too embarrassing now is it:)

the swaybar is broken? or just the links?

They should look like this stock:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/30/49...6ff33a.jpg?v=0

the links were broken and now they are replaced, although I was not sure how tight to make the top nut's it seemed like if I tightened them further they would snap but yet I did not get a lot off resistance while tightening them by hand with a ratchet. so I stopped when I thought the bushings looked quite squished, (nice technical term) is that ok?

that's ok they're supposed to be squished when the truck is at normal height due to the suspension geometry.

If I may ask another question
 

Now that I have overstressed over the thought of broken shocks... thank you all very much for clearing that up!! I took the tires from my explorer sport trac and put them on the jeep wheels and all fit perfectly but there is a size issue but a very small one. My question is how do I get about an inch maybe two of more space between the tires and wheel wells? is there a way around getting an entire suspension lift? can I do a body lift on that Jeep? thanks again you guys rock!!!