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Stock XJ Cherokee Tech. All XJ Non-modified/stock questions go hereXJ (84-01)
All OEM related XJ specific tech. Examples, no start, general maintenance or anything that's stock.
Of all the threads I've read on here, not one has been about the rear shocks. The lower nut undos fine but both top ones snapped clean off. It took about 15 drill bits and an hour between the 2 as they just kept burning out very quickly. Even the thread tap was creaking cutting in a new thread.
Has anyone else had issues like this? What was supposed to be a quick change of both shocks is now just one until I have the time to do the second.
Of all the threads I've read on here, not one has been about the rear shocks. The lower nut undos fine but both top ones snapped clean off. It took about 15 drill bits and an hour between the 2 as they just kept burning out very quickly. Even the thread tap was creaking cutting in a new thread.
Has anyone else had issues like this? What was supposed to be a quick change of both shocks is now just one until I have the time to do the second.
There are so many threads about this. Most people just knock out the nut, usually with an air chisel, in the cavity it sits in. Get some hardware and with some mechanics wire fish a bolt and washer down through the cavity and just nut from the outside. I had the same problem on one side. Had I know these were around I would have spent the $20. Well now $30 but they were $20 5 years ago. Cause of course I discovered them not to long after I did the job 5 years ago.
Thinking a lubricate, cutting oil, PB Blaster, hell even motor oil, would have helped with the drilling and tapping.
This is a common problem that plenty have commented on. I used a punch and a hammer and had them all out within 20 minutes. After that I used some 20ga wire.. wrapped the threads and fed them down from the top. Takes some maneuvering getting the nuts on, but it's pretty easy.
An air chisel with punch tip knocks them out in just a couple seconds. Then I made a jig out of a cheap flexible ruler to drop the bolts down on the driver's side (the jig pulls off after the bolt drops down):
The passenger side you can almost reach with your fingers.
The bottom bolts often break as well. I did mine just this week and broke one of the bolts this time. I opted for the Crown Automotive J0912703 Shock Absorber Mounting Stud. The downsides of this product include you have to buy the nuts, drill a 9/16" hole (I drilled a 1/2" hole then filed it out) and because the plate is thick you either have to grind the daylights out of it or not have the nut completely threaded on. I see a lot of people just putting in Grade 8 bolts but I like the Crown product because you don't need to add an additional bushing, so if it starts to loosen I'll just touch it up with the welder.
You must have been looking here on the wrong days when it comes to shocks. That is definitely a frequent conversation on here. I would suggest the Rough Country pieces, that is what I used and I was very happy with them.
I'm wondering if your drill bits were bad to begin with, because I drilled out mine and I didn't burn through a single bit. Used two sized for each hole, the smaller one for a pilot and the other to drill out enough of the nut that I could remove what was left with a hammer and punch.
Look though some of the posted links on this thread and see if that information helps you. But there is quite a bit of info on here in addition to what has been linked, like I said you must have looked on the wrong days because it appears here as often as threads about the heater core.
To begin with, I'm a retired toolmaker and know about drills. I needed a #21 drill to put in two 10-32 threaded holes in a small piece of light-duty angle iron. I looked for almost an hour for my number drill set, gave up and bought a cheap set from Harbor Freight. I might as well have burnt that money! Using proper cutting oil and drill speed, I burnt up 6 different drills to get 2 holes in that metal! Then my 30 yo tap when thru like butter! That nice looking gold titanium coating is really tough stuff, but the underlying metal is crap! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON HARBOR FREIGHT DRILLS! Spend the money for Cleveland or Morse. You'll have them for years.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I've been looking on here most days since signing up so if any of these were posted, they've slipped through my net!
Drilling and tapping were done with a spray lubricant but it probably was more down to the quality of the drill bits. They are an own brand set from Screwfix in UK. I was going 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm etc. I do have to say though, this Jeep does seem to kill drill bits on me. We use spotweld drill bits that are about £6 a piece. They last a while on the vehicles we normally weld on but when I done sections on my Jeep, they didn't last anywhere near as long.
Those Y nut bars probably aren't as easy to get over here but I can sure could make one up to do my other side.
I spray a mix of ATF/turps all over any rusty bolt situation, inside unibody frame rails etc, stops things rusting, penetrates old fastener threads, use anti-sieze on most fasteners
shock mount bolts came out like butter
If a fastener breaks, it often generates a lot of heat inside before snapping off, and this seems to work harden them for drilling
01-11-2019, 07:57 AM
Rear shocker replacement
