chrisl757

Hi all,
I've been trying to remove a track bar from my 2001 xj all weekend.

I have a Moog replacement once I get this out.

There are 2 problems:

1. The axle bolt snapped at the head, and so I bought an angle grinder to cut off the bolt on the other side (in between the bracket and the backside of the trackbar.

The angle grinder was able to get about 1/2 of the bolt cut through, but the grinder doesn't have enough clearance to cut through the rest of the way. I tried to flip it around, but the stupid flag is in the way on the other side.

When I look at it, it seems like the bolt seized to the sleeve and they both seized to the bracket.

I don't have a sawzall, is that my only hope to get the bolt cut?

2. My next problem is the other end with a joint. I got the cotter pin out of the castle nut. The castle nut seems stuck. I put a cheater bar on and I couldn't get it to turn. There is not a lot of clearance so it is awfully hard to get that nut off.

I am a little nervous about trying to take the frame mount off because that looks like a huge amount of work, but I am wondering if that is the only option left.

I am very close to just taking this to the shop tomorrow and watching them figure this out.

I sure could use some help from others who have done this before. Thanks for any advice.

Turbo X_J

Welcome to Jeep world

I ARE EL1TE

For the lower bolt try using a hacksaw blade with a handle made from tape. Will take a long time tho.

dzeinert

Had this problem last week. My 4.5" angle grinder was able to fit in there to cut the bolt out no problem. And as for the other side, 2' cheater bar.

xjsnake

Lube, heat, and torque.

The holy trinity of Jeep work.

sgjii

If you made it half way through the bolt with the grinder, you might be able to hit it with a chisel and small sledge and break the rest of the head off.

With my track bar experience, I took the mount off the driver's side frame and was glad I did. I am a big proponent of clean, scrap, de-rust and paint as I do these projects. Just my thing and kinda **** retentive on my part but I end up with a pretty finished product and easier removal in the future if needed. Off the truck made for easier removal of the joint end of the track bar for me and I also found a problem. My track bar bracket had a broken weld on the inside that couldn't be seen when installed. It was basically a bad factory weld that was thin and had poor penetration, cracked right through the bead. Re-welded and Eastwood Chassis Black paint to finish.

The bracket isn't too bad to remove. 4 bolts, two bolts up from the bottom into the frame rail and a U-bolt type setup horizontally that comes in from the engine bay side of the driver's frame rail (assuming left hand drive and not postal version) and the two nuts are in the driver's wheel well just ahead of the spring.

The PB Blaster picture above is a must as well for most anything I went after on the Jeep. Don't be afraid to liberally soak bolts/nuts/parts more than once the day before you want to take it apart.

chrisl757

Thanks. I've soaked with PB blaster the whole time here, but the real problem seems to be cramped space and clearance. Heat can't solve that problem. For the axle end, I bought a sawzall and will see if 4 blades are enough. I can clearly see that the bolt, bracket and the metal sleeve from the bushing all fused together in a nice tight fit.

So the real problem I'm worrying about it what to do once I cut through that bolt, because the remaining stud is still going to be well seated in the axle bracket. I'll do my best to punch it out, but I am wondering if I'll need to drill out the hole. Even worse, I'm not sure how to get the clearance for drilling that out. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll pop out though.

On the frame mount side, I'm just going to pull the frame mount and see how bad that is.

Unfortunately Moog didn't ship replacement castle nuts, so I'm going to need to save the one I have now, and I figure I just need to pull the frame mount. I'm not too thrilled about removing 4 more bolts though, because the whole problem here is rusting bolts.

sgjii

Might wanna go back to your parts supplier. I too used a Moog track bar and it had a little baggie in the box with a new castle nut and cotter pin. I think you were skunked by the parts store.

antipode

I went through this a few months ago because that bolt wouldn't budge. Cut through on either side of the track bar with a cutting wheel - took a LONG time. On mine, it's not just bushing + insert, there's layers, which I didn't realize until I got the damn thing out. Two thinner rings before even reaching the thick inner insert and the bolt, really slowed everything down.

I couldn't get an angle with a reciprocating saw at all. Had to use a grinder with a diamond cutting wheel.