Spent 3 hours yesterday after work working on just one side of my drum brakes. Got dark so had to wrap up.
Learned a ton from my mistakes (first time on drums). It only took about 2 hours today to do the other side and replace the rear shocks. Didn't have the first problem with the upper bolts.
Next big task: I have scheduled all day Saturday to replace my springs.

 

Victory is sweet!

Drums are very tedious at first.

If by "springs" you mean your leaf springs...then may the force be with you. My number one piece of advice... if you get stuck... DON'T DO ANYTHING RASH. Take a break and read up a little. Too many people go to cutting before they understanding what the options and trade-offs are.

 

Nice job

 

yeah, the rear leafs. I've been pb blasting them as well as I can and I got a bottle of mapp to heat things up if necessary. I was able to get the bolts to move, just to test the torque, so I'm hoping they continue to turn without breaking anything.

Thanks bruv!

 

I threw my bottle of PB in the trash. I've been using the 50/50 mix of ATF & Acetone. Works like a charm. Maybe give it a try sometime. Buy yourself a cheap oiler can from an auto parts store and mix up the solution as you need it (acetone will evaporate over time if left to sit in a vessel that is not air tight). Shake up the oiler can before use as the ingredients are resistive to mixing.

Victory is a sweet feeling.

 

Thanks for the tip. Once my cans are empty I'm going all atf/acetone.

 

BrawnyDog to his Jeep:

 

lol, I am feeling a little froggy. I want to work on the springs after work today but probably be best if I wait until Saturday. Being able to actually move the bolts has emboldened me to the point of arrogance.

 

Just got through fighting the rear bumper, good grief that thing is a task. I pulled it so I can put in the nut strips for my hitch.
That gave me better access to the upper shackle bolt so I hosed it down with pb.
I was fairly easily able to turn all bolts to the point of actually getting easy. If this keeps up changing the leafs Saturday should be breeze.
I'm not too worried about the ubolts. I have new ones so I'm thinking about just cutting them off with a grinder if the nuts act up.
Oh, and anyone need a rear anti sway bar? Only 18 years old, hardly any rust, no pitting at all!

 

LOL...ditch the sway bar. No one wants it, haha

My advice, cut the u bolts if you have new. Way faster.

 

LOL I just came in from the garage, started ripping my rear "anti-fun" bar off.

 

I've been thinking about my jeep vs almost everyone else's. I feel like the red loctite guy was off the day my xj was built. The first thing I did was replace the o-ring in my oil filter adaptor. I anticipated a ton of trouble but it wasn't bad at all. Those leaf bolts were amazingly easy compared to the horror stories I've heard. I'll admit that I'm pretty rust free but i feel that red loctite would have given me more trouble than I've gotten.

 

Having recently been through this pain on 2 jeeps at the same time (I bought a donor jeep with a lift kit), here is what I can say.

Be prepared to cut the front leaf spring and shackle bolts at the leaf. They will spin freely...you get your hopes up that everything is going well, just to find the bolts cold welded themselves to the bushing sleeve. No heat or penetration solution broke that free. Get a big *** breaker bar for the front leaf bolts. Watch the pinch welds when getting on the front bolts....it will chop up your head and hands.

Be prepared to break the leaf perch bolt depending on the rust build up.

From a perspective of beer scale....
~Front Leaf Bolts - 3 Beers
~Rear Leaf bolts - 2 Beers
~Ubolts and Perches - 2 Beers
~Risk factor of knuckle busting on pinch weld - 4 beers, and something that you can throw that will be gratifying, yet non-destructive to what ever it comes in contact with.

 

I always like a bottle of water for that. Generally pretty satisfying to throw, doesn't hurt too much.

 

Had a full 10 hour day at work, then volunteered at a homeless ministry, got home around 9:30 pm.
Couldn't wait until tomorrow to work on heep, ahem, I mean jeep.
Figured I would at least get a head start on tomorrow but didn't stop until both leaf springs were replaced.
This leaves tomorrow free to attach hitch, replace front shocks and springs, get new tires (if they came in, oh man is walmart slow in shipping), and replace injectors.