So I started my lift last night, starting with the rear first because i feared that bolts would break. I got the shocks out but the rear upper shock mount bolts broke on both sides. Any tips on removing these? Its going to be extremely tough to drill those out and tap new holes for the new shocks. I cant proceed any further until I get those out!

 

You just need to get an air chisel or a BFH and a punch and bang out the broken nuts... then go to you local hardware store and get some new bolts and drop them in through the top and put new nuts on the bottom. This happens all the time. PM me if you have any question and i can walk you through it.

 

PM sent!

 

SO.... upon deciding what to do about the shock mount bolts, i decided to continue forward and remove the leaf springs. Passanger side shackle bolt came out without too much fuss. The frame bolt though wasn't so fortunate. That snapped off as well using a breaker bar. Now I have the rear axle lowered and the leaf spring attached only by a broken bolt in the frame. Any takers on this one?

 

I was thinking of using my favorite tool, the Sawzall. I am not sure if that is the best idea though, that would cut it flush in the frame and then i would have to worry about getting that out after

 

...ready to push the jeep off a cliff

 

I didnt get any PM from you bud...

Did you use PB Blaster on those leaf spring bolts before you tried to get them loose? I had to continually soak mine in PB for about 2 weeks before they would come out and they were still a PITA!!!

 

yeah, i doused pb on all the fasteners daily for a week. All the PM said was how do you access the upper shock mount bolts through the top? Is it in the hatch of the jeep? I have beer problems now.. Guess im gonna cut the old leaf spring frame bolt out and try the "weld a nut" trick on the stud and try and break her free. Typical project that should take a day and ends up taking a week. And i havent even started on the other side yet...

 

BIGGER problems** lol, i have beer problems too but thats not what i meant to say

 

here are some pics of the shock mount broken bolts and the leaf spring frame bolt that snapped as well

 

pics

 

No ideas?? Surely, i am not the first one to have the leaf spring bolt break...

In that last picture, i cut the rest of the spring off to get more space to cut the old bolt out.

Any stories from anyone?

 

Heat and a bfh then. A tap for re thread

 

Here you go...

Rear shock mount
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/d...repair-556807/

 

As for rear spring bolt...


This is how i did mine
a)Heat weld nut
b)With a breaker bar, i was able to break free the rust freeze
c)PB blast weld nut/bolt
d)Tighten bolt
e)Loosen bolt
f)repeat c - e until a good enough area between spring and frame is exposed
g)torch spring bushing and let it burn


h)Scraped off burned bushing
i)Grip sleeve with a good vise grip (my cheapo HF was good enough after some bruised palm)

j)Repeat c - e