mike97xj

Today I was coming home from the gym and heard a funny noise coming from what sounded like the rear end. I sort of thought maybe my U-joint was going in my rear DS, as I've heard that particular noise before. I got underneath the Jeep to check it out. U-joints seemed fine so I started just doing a quick inspection of other things to see if anything was just coming loose or whatever. I just HAPPENED to glance up at the crossmember and noticed that it was sitting oddly, so I started looking at that.

Long story short, one of the bolts had pulled itself completely out of the unibody, and the other one looks to be one sharp bump away from pulling ITSELF through its hole in the crossmember, which would leave me with a grand total of nothing holding it up on that side.

Obviously, this is a concern to me as this Jeep is driven daily and I'd really prefer my drivetrain to stay in it's intended spot.

The reason I'm posting is this: when I installed my t-case drop, I had to drill and tap where the studs were and it's looking like I'm afraid that I'm going to have to drill and tap again. I'm almost 100% certain I tapped for 7/16" last time. Would it be too much to tap for a half inch bolt? Or should I just find someone to weld some nuts on the outside of the frame, effectively installing a permanent drop?

jeepxj19

Just retap the holes and you'll be all set, im assuming u had to drill out the old ones because they broke off? Make sure you use the correct size hardware and maybe throw some threadlock on em

mike97xj

Yes, we royally f'd the studs up trying to get them out and so we had to drill them out. It's worked fine for the past 8 months or so, I'm not sure why one suddenly decided to just fall out. It didn't shear, it's just gone completely (taking the stupid spacer with it as it went). Good time to invest in an SYE, I suppose.

89stroker

always use grade 8 too