I was putting new shocks on the rear of my xj and the weld on the nut that for the top of the shock must have snapped when i was tighting the bolt and is now spinning freely. Theres a hole in the metal bracket and was hoping i could maybe get a wrench in there if I new the size the get it tightened down. I was talking to a vuy that said i would have to cut a hole in the floor of my jeep to fix it but I definetly wanna avoid that if i can.

 

The PO of my 97 did that. Used a 5" hole saw. Idiot.

Look into "bar pin eliminators". That's one solution.

The other is to take a stiff wire and weld or epoxy it to a nut and snake it up in there. It's a pain but it can be done.

 

Take all the bolts out, move the shocks out of the way, use an air chisel with a point bit to break the other 3 out, then install these
https://www.quadratec.com/p/rough-co...yABEgIV3PD_BwE

Absolutely no need to cut a hole in the floor.

 

if i understand him correctly, he still has to get the bolt out that the nut is half threaded onto, but everything is spinning.
i don't think you can get a wrench in there, so you may have to cut an access hole under the carpet, which i was once against, but a buddy had to do that to his, which is in much nicer shape than mine, which is now mine. (2001)
you don't see the hole, you can tack in a larger piece of metal to cover the hole, and gain access to it later if needed.

 

Cut or grind the bolt head off.

A Dremel with one of those reinforced cut off wheels will do the trick just go slow

 

If you can cut the head of the bolt off or drill the head off you can push the remainder of the shaft and the broken nut out thru the top. I broke them on my old 92. you can get up into that hole and drop a bolt in from the top and then put a nut on from the shock side. . You can get a wrench up there to hold the new bolt head when you are ready. Its not that hard..biggest pain is keeping all of that crud from dropping in your eyes while trying to do it. If your shock mount bar has a slot instead of a bolt hole, its even easier ..get the nut and bolt started without the shock in the way then when there is just enough gap...slide in the shock mount and finish tightening. Im pretty sure they are American threads , make sure you weren't trying to crank a metric bolt into them

 

I dont have air tools or know anybody that is close to me with them. Would it work with a punch and a hammer?

 

yes. A long punch with a narrow flat tip should work just fine.

 

Wear eye protection. Cant be said enough. The ER is not a fun place. And your arms might feel like lead weights after your done as those nuts do not always break loose easily. Can be a lot of swinging.

 

On my 94, I just drilled out the nut with a 5/16" bit and tapped it, then used a 5/16" bolt.


The stock bolt is 1/4".

 

When I did mine one of them took some significant effort with an air hammer to break off. I can't imagine doing it with a hammer and chisel would be fun. Drill/tap might be the way to go. Or just don't mess with the ones that aren't broken/stripped.

You can snake a wrench in there to hold the top of the new bolts after you fish them through.