Ok so the title says it all, last night I tried loosening the cross member bolts (after a week of pb blasting them) for a transfer case drop and the first broke off at 1/4 turn.
I understand i need to drill out and tap. but time does not permit. do you think it will be OK to drive on a 3 hr trip (one way) with one broken bolt in the cross member. or should i take off work for a couple of hrs and fix it before I leave?

 

Everyone will say something different but I say run it. Don't get to crazy on the skinny peddle but you'll be fine. I had one break and I drove it daily for about 6 months before I remembered to drill and tap it. I have 33's and no problems. Plus I wheeled it a few times.

 

Kind of what I was thinking myself

 

I would say you would be fine, until you get a chance to fix it.... Just make sure the side with only 1 Bolt holding it on..... is the old german word...."goodntight"

 

As others have said, 3 bolts will hold it but definitely something I would put on my list to address at some point.

Drilling and tapping isn't gonna be a good option. The crossmember bolts go into welded nuts in the frame.

The 2 "easy" fixes are to punch out the welded nut and install a nut sert (This is what they do at the dealer) or weld new nuts to 3/16" steel plate, make the holes bigger so the nuts can sit up in the frame rail and weld that plate to the bottom of the frame.

 

if you can wheel hard on 4 bolts, you can definitely daily drive just fine with 3

 

i read somewhere else that the nuts are big enough (wall thickness) to be tapped to 7/16s. Look it up its on this forum.Ive been driving with 3 bolts for about 3 months now. Its on my list of things to do but its ok. Im gonna tap it to 7/16s, after i re-check the info.

 

My point was that those welds love to break off. If you can get it drilled and tapped without it shearing then go for it.

 

One other thing to watch out for when drilling it is that a 7/16 is 11mm. The stock bolts are 10mm. 1mm isn't a lot of room for error there in regard to having enough material to re-thread.

 

drill with 3/8ths and tap with 7/16th. heard alot of ppl do this. as long as the welds hold that is

 

What did you end up doing? I am in this exact same situation...

 

This will work if your using a tcase drop spacer

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/ho...-studs-130729/

 

I also think it would be fine.. Witch side is the bolt you snapped on? Just worried about how the torque from the engine will twist on those 3 bolts...
The PO of my xj snapped on and welded it down, I wish I had realized that before purchasing a T-case drop

 

I am staying stock for the TC. I snapped the bolt on the passenger side. I just need to make it to Wednesday when I am going to be putting my motor mounts in also. I thought I'd get a head start by doing the trans mount now, an it's good I did!

Edit: I lied, it was the bolt on the drivers side. I felt pretty stupid when I jacked up the wrong side, climbed under with my drill and went, "Whoops..."

 

I fixed it! I just used a drill bit and tap set that I bought at Lowes. It was about $3 and it included a 3/8" drill bit and a 7/16" tap. Bought a 1" grade 8 bolt and washer and a half hour later, all was well with the world again! (I will post a picture a little later)