Jeep Guy

Today I got my t-case drop in the mail and I went to install it but when I was trying to get the first bolt loose on the crossmember I broke it. I stopped there and didn't move on to the others. what is my best option in removing the remainder of the bolt? help please.

DEVILSTOY

i had the same problem , wow was that was a head ache, i drilled it out and tryed to use an easy out then i broke that inside the broken bolt , (even a bigger headache now) so i drilled it out a little bigger and retapped it with a little bit bigger size and used a new bolt to the correct size , best of luck

xjbuddy

get a can of PB blaster and soak the heck out or them everyday untill you decide to do it. prefferably on a weekend in case you run into problems. good luck bud.

COSXJFAN

The bolt is seized, and an EZout will NOT work. As the previous poster said, it will break off in the bolt, then you'll hardened tooling steel to try and drill through...no fun!! Bit the bullet, and just drill it out now. The threads will be shot, even if you get it out. DO NOT drill the bolt bigger. If you do that, you will lose strength due to lack of harware in the unirail. These things are sheet metal through and through. Any place that a bolt screws into that requires any strength will have hardware spotwelded inside the unibody. Just match the diameter of the bolts the are not broken, and drill it to that size. You can pick up a tap at any place you can buy tools. Use a common thread and pitch, and you should be good to go. HTH!!

DEVILSTOY

well when i went bigger it was just very slightly because you cant retap into threads that arent there no more

Jeep Guy

thanks everyone. I have the other three bolts soaking in pb blaster and I will be tackling it all over again tomr. Hoping all goes well.

DEVILSTOY

as crazy as it sounds for some odd reason this actually works , try cracking the bolts loose by actually turning them as if you were tightening them , just a hair , enough to crack it loose , a buddy showed me that trick and i actually break less bolts that way

TimothyRaymond85

Yes soak them with PB Blaster as everyone said. My trick is i wack them with a hammer and then tighten them a lil bit then they back right out. I don't know if the hammer works but I think the sudden impact helps break the rust.

COSXJFAN

PB is a big help!! The longer you can let it soak, the better.

lil_red_wagon

if pb dont work try heat. i have used a torch on one before

Jeep Guy

you guys are awesome. thanks tons.

COSXJFAN

Don't mention it!! Keep us posted on how all this goes!!

Jeep Guy

Well it's all installed. I broke all 4 bolts. what a pain in the ***. I didn't end up drilling at all. I did a combination of things to get the broken bolts out of the unibody. I first welded a nut and washer to the broken bolt that was sticking out of the unibody. I then heated the bolt up a bit with a torch and unscrewed the bolt a few turns. then I heated it up again and unscrewed a few more turns. I repeated this until I removed the whole bolt. I ended up doing this to all four broken bolts but the threads stayed in tact which was my biggest concern all along. which is why I really did not want to do any drilling. I would have if I needed to but this method with the torch and welder did great. I will be posting up a pic in my build section in a few. thanks everyone for your help.

TimothyRaymond85

Yes heat does miracles

sv41878

I'm in NY (lots and lots of rust) and I use a combination of PB Blaster for 5-7 days then a standard propane torch and don't break bolts too often anymore.