I recently bought a 2000 Cherokee Sport and I am in the process of changing out some suspension and steering parts.

When trying to remove my track bar bracket I discovered a smooth metal sleeve holding one of the bolts instead of a nut on the bottom of the bracket. I thought maybe it was tack welded in place, but when I tried to loosen the bolt the sleeve spun freely with it. I drowned the threads in PB blaster and clamped on the sleeve with locking pliers but still could not get the bolt loose. I tried using an impact wrench but the pliers wouldn't hold. What is strange to me is there were no marks on the sleeve (prior to me clamping on it).

Has anyone else encountered this? It does not seem like a normal situation to me. Does anyone have any solutions in mind to remove the bolt? Currently I'm thinking of having someone tack weld the sleeve in place. I know I don't need to remove the bracket to remove the track bar but it would still be nice to have removable fasteners on the bracket if I needed to remove it for any reason.

 

so my assumption is that the sleeve has a thread inside of it and at some point may have been welded onto that piece and just broke over time. Grab it with a big fat pair of vice grips and just unthread the bolt

 

It's a captive nut that isn't actually a nut, jut a welded on threaded spacer. You can cut it off and just replace it with a nut and bolt instead if you can't get good enough grip with the vice grips .

 

I tried that and couldn't get it to hold. Though I could try it again with a bigger locking plier if I can get one to fit. The threads must be rusty as hell.

 

I guess it's time for me to buy a smaller cutting wheel!

 

or weld a big irregular blob on that rounded off fastener, and go again with your strongest locking pliers, heat from welding will make the thread undo with less force if you are quick

dont nick that support bracket with a grinder, as that may induce the beginning of a stress crack