I have a 2001 XJ. I went to replace the rear shocks and low and behold I snapped all 4 upper shock bolts. I have read a few "fixes" for this problem, but was wondering if there were any more. Thanks for any help guys...

 

drill em out....you might have to rip the carpet up in the rear and cut an opening to get to the snapped bolts

 

I went pulled the carpet up in the back drilled a whole from the bottom up to find my starting point then cut out the area above the shock (from inside) and was able to knock out the torn bolts.

 

Take an air hammer with a punch and knock the rest of the stud out and then fish bolts through the top and use nuts and lock washers a lot better than cutting holes in floor pans.

 

sgtskid... I think I am going to go to Harbor Freight tomorrow and buy an air hammer. I am going to try your idea first "cause I get to buy a new tool". And if that doesn't work for me I will cut some holes in the floor as THENNING and craig864 stated. Thanks again guys.

 

Tried an air hammer with mine but it still wouldn't budge. Cut a hole on one side and used an air hammer there with not luck. Tried to drill them out but even a new bit didn't even do it. The nuts had a weld around three quarters of them. Eventually took and 2-lb hammer with a chisel and hit from the bottom and they popped off!

And I thought putting new shocks on was going to a easy job! Good luck with yours. They all seem to want to come off differently.

Van

 

Push harder. Ive done 4 of these jobs. Get those nuts out and the you can fish the bolts in. Those welds will break. good luck.

 

hit mine with an air hammer, knocked em right out. Used one of those telescopic pen magnets to fish a new bolt up through the triangle access hole and drop it through the hole where the old bolt was. Put a nut on it and there ya go. Took me all of 5 minutes and didn't have to cut or try to drill anything. Did the same thing on my buddy's jeep except instead of an air hammer I used a sledge and a center punch.

 

I have pics in my thread. Link in sig. I cut my floor also. DId exactly what the other dude did with Drilling a hole from the bottom to make it easier to find the exact spot to cut a hole. Air chizel and hammering and stuff sound great but my Jeep 23 years old and I don't to breathe all the **** that falls down from my rig. Plus it was HOT as hell when I was doing mine and the combo didn't seem cool. I can patch my floor so I just cut.

 

opps before i found cherokee furoms i lifted mine and broke all 4 bolts as well. But when i did put new shocks in i didnt know how so got a nice drill bit and drilled just to the side of the old bolts all the way to the top of the floor and ran bolts all the way through no cuting floor and only bolt tops ad washer on top of floor. works for me idk

 

They might not have a big enough compressor to run the hammer right ,you guys need to check all this stuff a1/2 h/p compressor will not run air tools very good.

 

I just knocked mine out with a punch and a 3lb hammer. Fished the bolts through the triangular holes underneath and worked easy. Good luck.

 

All done. Only took 5 min to punch out all four broken bolts with an air hammer. Then I fished the new bolts through the triangle access holes with thin wire. Total time to complete job was 30 min, considering the only air tool I have is the air hammer, and I removed both rear tires for more room. Thanks alot everyone for the differant fixes. I can't wait to find something else to repair. This is getting fun

 

I bet you feel like doing another set now. I put a lock and fender washer on the inside. Some say washers arent neccessary. Nylock nuts and flat washers on the outside. Also uneccessary.