jeepxj19

ok well im installing the lift kit tomorrow iv been spraying everything with breakaway, the only thing im worryed about is, what happens if in the rear the upper shock mounts break? what do i do if they do? can i get new ones through pepboys or autozone? i have no welder or any welding skills. so what do i do if they brake?

4.3L XJ

You can knock the factory nut loose and then slip your fingers in there and hold a new nut in place and use a new bolt.

9XJSPORT7

+1 I broke all 4 of mine off in the body and just used a hammer and a punch to knock the nuts out and then fished new bolts down thru the body.

MurderedXJ

I put my lift in then had my mechanic do the rear shocks. He was pissed then when they blew out i just welded a wrench to a piece of flat bar and did it that way. Good luck and take some pics of it after.

gpXJ

This is what I did. Fished some 30lb fishing line up through the holes, tied it around the bottom threads of a new 5/16x1" grade 8 bolt with fender and lock washer on it. Did it for all 4.

The hardest part was getting the nut started. I just pushed out against the bolts with the bar pins, got it threaded on there good then held the bolt with vise grips until the lock washers took hold. Than torqued it on down.

Gizmo

Forgive me I am a nooby and not understanding the responses. As I understand the question, he is asking what if the upper shock mounts break and what to do, so I do not understand the varying versions of fishing lines etc. I would think the mount would have to be replaced or welded. I am curious and interested.

Metmknice

You remove the stock bolts. And the easiest way is to put the new bolts thru the floor from the inside and toss the nuts on.

gpXJ

There are captive nuts welded (not very well!) on the top side of the frame. That is the only mount. The upper shock bolts go up into those nuts. What generally happens is the bolts get rusty and crusty, so when you try to remove them, the bolts snap. I punched those welded nuts off with a 2lb sledge and a steel punch, then fished bolts down through the holes, so now my nuts are on the bottom.

TheJerm

I recommend using bar pin eliminators so those bolts never have to be touched again, you can use the axle mount for the rear sway bar

mpars

i'm going to be doing this too. do you guys have pictures of doing this? i'm not visualizing very well.

gpXJ

I don't have pictures of the process, but once the sun comes up I will go take some pictures of what i got in there now. Should be able to understand it from there.

TheJerm

Heres a write up for DYI BPE for the rear shocks

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/.../Rear_BPEs.htm

dukie564

as much as you hope they won't break, and no matter how much PB blaster you use, a few seem to always end up breaking. Just be prepared with some new bolts and nuts.

I broke 3 out of 4 bolts when i did mine. I ended finding the best solution was to find a buddy that owned an air chisel - 2 minutes with that broke the welded nut loose from the frame rail. I made a bolt snake out of mechanics wire and fished the new bolts (grade 8 this time - not whatever jeep used to attach them the first time) through the holes and put new nuts on - done!

And putting bolts through the floor of your jeep is just retarded IMHO.

TheJerm

Breaking those bolts are all dependent upon where you live. All 4 bolts came out like butter on my 95 with 200k miles but its a southern jeep.

dukie564