I’m in the middle of this process and how do you guys access the weld nuts to cut/break them off? Also how do you access that space again when inserting the nut to a new bolt after the new shock is in place?
Broke upper rear shock bolts!
- Thread starter Erik V
- Start date
I used a dremel silimar to this video, but watch this to get an idea of what you need to do.
Yep, I cut the bolt off, pulled the shock and used a dremel through the shock hole with its largest disk. Went most of the way through and then used a pry bar and hammer from the fender opening, possibly a punch from the bottom.
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There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
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There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
I haven't had to deal with these shock mounts yet, but I remembered this thread when I was replacing my body mounts, and noticed that when you have the tub lifted up, you can get at these nuts pretty easily.
Loosen all the body mount bolts — there are 11 of them. Then remove the bolts on the side you're working on (but only remove bolts on one side at a time so things stay lined up). Use a jack with a piece of wood on top to lift the tub from right in front of the rear wheel. You should be able to get a couple inches of gap to get at the nuts for the upper rear shock mount.
I personally didn’t have this issue, but as I was preparing I saw a video of a guy who drilled a 1/2” hole in the frame and put it a through bolt with washers. He had to remove the T-bar from the shock. It was an interesting and easy way to solve the issue. Not sure if strength would be an issue.
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Yea I saw that video. It was good. But I’m not looking to drop the gas tank and raise the body mounts.
I think I’m leaning towards this route. What are some of the opinions?
Here’s the video link
So you're going to lower the upper shock mount by about an inch? You're going to lose some space for the shock body at full compression. I think you'd want to double-check your rear bump stop so the shock doesn't fully compress before you hit the bump stop.
Honestly, just go for the body mounts. All the bolts are easily accessible and relatively low torque. Only the one bolt by the rear shock mount needs a socket extension. All the others are right out in the open. It's a simple operation to undo them. Took me about 15 minutes to undo the mounts, get into that space on both sides, and torque the mounts back down to spec — and I'm not exactly a skilled mechanic.
You do not need to raise the body mounts, nor lower the gas tank. I was able to do it without. Using a dremel With the flex shaft extension and metal cutting wheel. You can get it at Home Depot or Lowes.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000302Y8/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I had bought all the bolts and such to do the drill through the frame route, but luckily the regular mounts were fine. I think this is a great alternative. I’d like to know how it would work in the long haul though.
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Thank you everyone for input. Really appreciate all the help. So I’m going to exercise some patience and keep soaking the passenger side rear uppers for another week and keep trying to ratchet them out without muscling too much. I’m going to really try to remove those without breaking them.
As far as the driver side, I got it out with one snapped bolt and other is good. Gonna abandon the carriage bolt frame approach. I can feel the bolts from the drain hole behind the back seats so I’m gonna cut a small 2x2 access window above the broken weld nut, like some owners have done. I’m hoping not having to do the same on the other side (fingers crossed).
I wasn’t crazy about drilling the frame (except for drain holes) and I’m thinking/hoping this would be the only time I need to change the shocks. Also I would anti seize the bolts and it is garage kept and not driven during winter so future removal *should* be fairly easy if needed.
As far as the driver side, I got it out with one snapped bolt and other is good. Gonna abandon the carriage bolt frame approach. I can feel the bolts from the drain hole behind the back seats so I’m gonna cut a small 2x2 access window above the broken weld nut, like some owners have done. I’m hoping not having to do the same on the other side (fingers crossed).
I wasn’t crazy about drilling the frame (except for drain holes) and I’m thinking/hoping this would be the only time I need to change the shocks. Also I would anti seize the bolts and it is garage kept and not driven during winter so future removal *should* be fairly easy if needed.
Also has anyone placed bar pin eliminators on the upper mounts after replacing shocks? Does it make it any easier for future shock removal? Other than reducing shock bar travel by an inch or less, any downsides?
I had an absolute bear of a time with this job & in the end came to the same conclusion & I think in the end you'll be happy going that route. The access holes are easy to cut out & easy to cover back up, the rest of the job not so much
.I used black caulk so it'll be really easy to pop them off if need be in the future. I dunked them in anti-seize too. After setting the access panels in I gave everything a shot of paint, doesn't look too bad, the only thing that's ever in the back is my wheeling tool box anyway which mostly covers it up.
Driver's side
passenger side:
by the way I'm right down the road from you in Chester County if you ever need a hand
Just a suggestion, but instead of cutting 2”x2” squares cut an oval the same size as the floorboard drains and buy plugs for them.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSJT6QQ/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Regarding bar pin eliminators, why would you want to reduce shock travel?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSJT6QQ/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Regarding bar pin eliminators, why would you want to reduce shock travel?
Great! Thanks for the offer! If I’m still struggling in a week I’ll resort to help. What did you use for the access panel covers? It looks really good. I can’t even tell where the accesses are.I had an absolute bear of a time with this job & in the end came to the same conclusion & I think in the end you'll be happy going that route. The access holes are easy to cut out & easy to cover back up, the rest of the job not so much
I used black caulk so it'll be really easy to pop them off if need be in the future. I dunked them in anti-seize too. After setting the access panels in I gave everything a shot of paint, doesn't look too bad, the only thing that's ever in the back is my wheeling tool box anyway which mostly covers it up.
Driver's side
View attachment 59701
passenger side:
View attachment 59702
by the way I'm right down the road from you in Chester County if you ever need a hand
That’s the plan to use those. But We will see if the hole would be big enough to get the dremel thru. Im gonna start small then make bigger if necessary.
In reference to the BPE, I wasn’t thinking more about shock travel but more in the sense of ease of future removal of the shocks (only one bolt and can be cut off if seized). But thinking about it if I make access panels then I wouldn’t really need BPE for the fact I can access the top nuts that are usually a PITA to access.
I picked up a piece of sheet metal at Home Depot, can't remember the gauge but it was pretty thick, no bend to it at all so more than sufficient for these purposes as it's not weight bearing or structural anyway, came in a sheet maybe 8x12 or so & I think it was less than ten bucks.
I'm not sure what you're going to use to cut the nuts off but I used one of these Dremel 90 degree attachments which made cutting the access holes the size I did necessary, at least 2x2 on the driver's side & even bigger on the other. I have a drain hole near one of the shock bolts but no way is it large enough to fit this thing in there to get after those bolts... seriously it was one of the low points of my life
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...rning-read-for-amusement-purposes-only.12686/
Wow I feel like you just wrote my tj shocks journey. I’m in no way shape or form a mechanic but I consider myself fairly handy (I finished my own basement). In hind sight I wish I took it to the Jeep guy, paid whatever install cost is and be done with it. Now I feel like I paid what I would have in tools and 4x that in aggravation and time. Needless to say after this job I’m hanging up my mechanics tool belt except for relatively simple tasks. Wrestling these rusted screws and bolts is horrible. Not to mention I smell like PB blaster all the time now lol. And I’m not even finished the job yet
So after cutting the nut off, what’s the best approach to remove the rest of the bolt? Drill and punch? Or another easier method? I bought my dremel the other day and used it to cut off one of the lower bolts on the front shocks
Never! Hahaha
Seriously, I suck as a mechanic but when I came to that crossroad I sucked it up & in the end I'm glad I did. I went on to change my front springs out which practically required removing the axle, also put in new control arms & a bunch of other odds & ends since then so there was no backing down. The shock job was by far the worst thing I've ever done not only to the TJ but in 25+ years of home improvement projects, it just really sucked that bad but it was mainly due to my lack of basic knowledge & experience. If I had to do it over (with bolts in the same condition) I'm fairly sure I could knock it out in a matter of hours rather than taking more than a week. The knowledge base builds. Just saying don't let it get you down.
I used a punch & ultimately broke through & cleaned it out with a drill.
By the way ditch the PB Blaster in favor of Kroil or Liquid Wrench, I've not picked them up yet but everyone swears by them.
Same thing I suggested on another thread. Gotta hand it to @Westtown Willy, though, the job he did looks really clean. Very inconspicuous. :thumbsup:
Ok now i cut a window to access the nut. I cut the nut off. Prob should have made a slightly bigger access hole. But now I have the piece of bolt stuck between. Did I not cut enough of nut off? I tried pounding it out with a punch and a BFH but it’s not really budging. So what are my next steps? Grind it down some more? Keeping hammering away? And unfortunately I broke one of the two bolts on the other side too so I have to do it again on the other side.
