Going a little slower than planned. Front end is finished. Backend took some extra, unplanned work. The upper shock mount bolts twisted off (no surprise there), bump stop bolts twisted off (have a nutsert tool on order), and one of the lower shock mount bolts twisted off. Have it drilled out to almost 1/2" and have a shock mount kit on order from amazon. Had to cut 1 of the leaf spring mount bolts so have one of those on order. Hopefully, parts will come quick and I can get it done next weekend. Had to cut apart the front eye on both leaf springs. All the other leaf spring bolts came out easily. Not bad for 22 year old bolts that have never been touched.

 

Woot! Got all my goodies from Uncle Jeff at Amazon and got the passengers side rear back together. The rivet nut worked great in the holes left from the twisted off bolts on the bump stops. An M8 rivet nut fits perfectly. I bought set. I ended up getting flag nut set. Could have easily made my own with my new rivet nut tool and rivet nuts. Fixing the shock mount was a pain. I ended up using kit. Worst part of all of it was having to drop $18 on a 5/8" drill bit.

 

This thread is so full of win, can do and what can be if you try that it should be perma tacked or stickied in the hall of fame as an inspiration to others.

 

Dang. Was putting the drivers side leaf back in this morning and the bolt just would not start going into the threads on the front eye. Something must have happened to the threads when the bolt came out. The nut is till there but it's hard to see what is going on. Going to get a tap and dye kit to recut the threads. I double checked the rear one to make sure that was still good. I knew things were going too well.

 

M14x2 tap on order from uncle Andy (I forgot that Uncle Jeff had stepped down and Uncle Andy had taken over). I sure hope that does the trick and I can end this project. I still have to go back to the front and put in the JKS adjustable track bar.

 

Here is a pic of the nutserts I put into the rear bump stop holes. Perfect fit for M8 nutserts. Going to hit that area with a wire wheel and prime paint with some chassis saver I have.

 

Woot! Got my 14x2 tap and was able to fix the threads in under 5 minutes. It took more effort than I thought it would. I really have no idea how I could have messed up the threads as much as I did. Bolt went in easily. Next pics should be of the completed rear axle. For future reference, I used tap.

 

Woot! Finally finished. Have to double check everything tomorrow and get it aligned. Next things are finally get it painted and get some Goodyear duratec tires. The Old Man Emu lift for my 95 YJ finally shipped so I finished this just in time to start that project.