Ok I was going to change my rear shocks and the top bolts that hold to shock to the body broke. I tried to remove the other bolt and that felt like it was giving ready to snap also. Is there an easier fix to drilling out Or trying to use one ot those extractors that I have never had any luck with. I think I will be doing it for all four of the rear bolts. Thanks

 

PB blaster and heat, it will help get them out if they will come out. Drilling them out will suck a lot, some guys have to cut a ole in the top of the frame to get them out.

 

yea going in through the rear floor is better for the drilling the other suggestion is nice but it tends not to help in this area usually. try it first but if it fails look it up on google and such i remember about 2-3 different write ups when it happened to me.

 

I used a 2lb sledge and a steel punch. Just punch out the weld nuts and broken bolts from below, then fish some new bolts down through with some fishing line. It took me about 30 minutes to do all 4, from breaking the bolts to bolting in the new shocks.

In my opinion there is no need to cut a hole in the floor of your rig, when punching them out is so simple and effective.

 

As others have said, there are a few different ways to deal with it.

Personally, I found that on one side, the previous owner had just welded the bolt back to the body. On the other side, he hadn't, so I broke it. I ended up cutting a hole in the floor to put new bolts through.

To fix the hole, I just used a bit of sheetmetal, and fastened it with sheetmetal screws so I can get it back open if I ever need to, then caulked around it so water doesn't get in.

However you fix it, it's a good idea to use barpin eliminators so you don't have to deal with it again. The brackets from the rear swaybar are almost perfect for BPEs. You just pull them apart, and the bolt holes are almost identical distance apart as the shock bolts. The only modification I had to do was use a vise to pull the arms apart a bit more because they were just a bit too narrow to fit the upper shock bushing through.

Once you get those in, you'll never need to deal with those bolts again.

 

Do this^. I used an air hammer. It knocked them out in a few seconds. You can also use a magnet wand to fish the bolts back in there. It's a lot faster than taking every thing off in the rear cargo area and then cutting a hole in your cargo floor.

 

ya sounds soo easy lol

 

This is going to be my method. Thanks. I <3 Chicago rust

 

Hi, I own Karnage Off Road Products, a metal fab shop dedicated to the XJ. I myself am very tired of this same problem so I designed these bolt on plate brackets. They add tons of strength to the original mounting area, as well as making shock installation and removal simple. all of my products are available on ebay. just search for Karnage Off Road in the ebay search engine. I use these mounts on even my stock XJ's. I am always available for any questions you may have. Thanks, Daniel

 

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