I'm going to do my leaf springs and I want to know what is the best way to get the bolts out. I've been soaking them in pb blaster everyday a couple times a day for a week and will be heating them up hot when I remove them. What is the best tool to use. Should I use a breaker bar or a impact gun. I was thinking of getting an air hammer bolt breaker attachment and just hammering on the bolt to try and shake any rust loose and break it up before I try taking off the bolt would that be a good idea or work like im thinking. Thanks for any tips or advice

 

Search will yield many threads on this. Several methods, pick one & have at it!

 

What you don't want to do is have the bolts break off in the frame or break the captive nuts off the frame. With that in mind:
1) use a breaker bar rather than an impact wrench.. easier to tell what's going on.

2) remember that if the bolts haven't been out before they're glued into the captive nuts with red Lock tite. To defeat that you need to get the nut up to 400 deg for about a minute

 

I'm sure everyone has their own way of doing these, but I recommend DO NOT HEAT THE BOLTS FIRST.

Heat is a last resort, because it will melt the bushings; the sleeve on the inside of the bushings will separate and spin on the shaft of the bolt preventing it from coming out and potentially ruining the threads in the frame.

I also recommend an impact driver or a bolt breaker for an air hammer.
Yes, you have less control, but the hammering action can shake things loose that might otherwise shear off with a breaker bar.

If you do use an impact wrench, I recommend a few hits in forward before you try loosening it in reverse. This helps remove tension and break stuff loose.

AGAIN, IF YOU HEAT THE BOLTS, THE BUSHINGS WILL MELT ALLOWING THE CENTER SHAFT TO SEPARATE AND SPIN WITH THE BOLT. I WOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE STARTING WITH THIS METHOD.

 

Actually I don't heat the bolt to soften the locktite, I heat the area of the frame where the captive nut is...and you only need to get it to 400deg. A small tip in an oxy acetylene torch works well . You can check the temperature with an ir thermometer

 

I have two XJs (98 and 99) and have done the rear suspension on both. I was able to use a propane torch on the captive nuts and had great luck (no broken bolts). I heated the area a lot longer than seemed necessary, used a breaker bar to get it moving, then reheated, breaker bar repeat etc.. Getting the bolts free from the bushing sleeves was an entirely different adventure. I had to cut a few of the leaf springs when the bolts fused to the bushing sleeves. An angle grinder takes care of those pretty quickly. Just a PITA.
If you are doing rear shocks too, be prepared to get the flag nut helpers. The captive nuts on the top have a trong tendency to break off. The *** nut solution works great.

 

This is a true pita! I spent days here in rust belt usa trying to free em. Heat, lots of f'n heat. I mean red hot melting chit kinda heat. Everything was fused together. Next time, wait lol there won't be one, I'll run the other way.. Did the entire front and back.

 

I got all 4 bolts out without any problems and got the new leaf springs in. Just waiting on the bushings that go to sway bar link then I'm good to go. I used a lot of heat and a lot of pb blaster and they came out just fine.

 

Another victory for the Blue Tip Wrench.

 

PB blaster and heat.

If you don't have an induction heater, you should consider one. They are very effective.

 

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