Hey guys, I got started on my lift yesterday, and almost have the entire front taken apart but one bolt is giving me one hell of a time. The bolt on the unibody mount of the driver side LCA refused to come loose, so I have a couple options:

1) cut the thing off with a torch and just buy a new bolt (I'm replacing the LCA's)

2) come up with some magic solution to remove the bolt.

A sawzall just laughed at us when we tried cutting that 10.9 bolt. Now, if I cut that thing off, does anyone know where to get a replacement bolt for that control arm? I'm looking through o'reillys parts, but can't seem to find anything with that actual bolt.

I can probably hit up a hardware store too, but I'm curious if I need to stick with that 10.9 grade bolt or would something like an 8 grade be fine?

Thanks for the help.

 

I had to torch a leaf spring bolt, and went to the jeep dealership for a replacement.

 

I'm hoping there's some other place that's actually open on Sunday to find replacements. Fastenal has this bolt, but they're closed:

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products...0122048&ucst=t

 

junk yard

 

did ya try an air hammer? rattle the f### out of it

 

Tried pounding on the back side to break it loose, have used a 3 foot breaker bar on it, etc. The breaker actually does spin the thing, but I cant tell if its just the bushing spinning or if that bolt is actually backing out.

An impact does nothing to it. I'm not sure if we have an air hammer... I'll have to look


Something tells me I'm going to have this same problem getting the leaf bolts out too. Already tried removed the upper rear shock bolts, and all 4 of those broke.

 

So you have it loosened and cant get the bolt out or you cant get the bolt loosened? Hard to figure out which step your at.

If you dont have the axle weight supported you will never get it out because it will be in a bind. Loosening the bolt at the axle end will help as well or even removing it.

 

Finally took a torch to it and just cut the head off. we were able to pound it out after that. What a pain in the ***. Still need to do the rear, we broke 2 21mm sockets trying to loosen the front leaf spring support. Gotta go pick up an impact socket. I hope to god those two arent seized.

 

before you tackle the rear leafs go ahead and spray those rear bolts and shackles and the fronts too, even down here in the mostly rust free zone we have problems with those... Spray it about 5-6 times a day for at least 1-2 days if you want the best chance of it coming off easily.

 

good luck with the rear have new bolt ready and seak them with plenty of pb

 

PB is definitely your friend! Shocks bolts, leaf bolts, LCA bolts - pretty much everything. Let it really soak in there for 2 days, spraying a few times a day like xj_maniac_newb said. Having a small punch or a pry bar to be able to tap the bolts out a little really helps as well.

 

Already broke all 4 upper shock bolts. They came out with an air hammer fairly easily though.

If it goes anything like the rest of this install, it's gonna suck.

 

yeah, good prep is the key to installing a lift. Without it, the process is gonna suck. With it, life's a breeze. My lift took me about 5 hours to do by myself including a lunch break. Yes, a lot of it is knowing what needs to be done, but if stuff isn't prepped, it makes the process a lot slower due to stuck/broken bolts, and then having to go get new ones.

 

My lift would probably take 5 or 6 hours if I wasn't replacing all the control arms, trac bar, quick disco's, etc. Putting my springs in has been the easiest part so far.

I've been spraying those bolts the last couple of days, so hopefully they've loosened up a bit. I guess we'll see!

 

Yeah... the steel sleeve is seized to the bolt. Gonna back it out till its out of the nut, then comes the torch!