Busted rear shocks bolts

Fergus Curler

Fergus Curler

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Joined
Aug 3, 2020
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29
Location
Fergus ON Canada
Well it happened. First bolt, rear shocks.

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Time to cut some access holes from the inside?
 
Fergus Curler said:
God I hope not. Have seen a video of a dude who used a hammer drill to remove remainder of bolt. Not sure how well it will work. Short of separating body from frame cutting off with dremmel.
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Overclocked has a good video of how he removed them
 
To get the others out without breaking them, this worked for me but requires a body lift.

If you have a body lift, you can get heat on the nuts using a propane torch. A few cycles of heat and application of a good penetrating oil while hot, then just heat and work it in both directions until it breaks loose. Then keep at it with heat and penetrating oil until you get it out. The key is not to apply too much torque while it's seized or you'll end up with more broken bolts.
 
When I purchased my '01 TJ Sport 4.0L in January I replaced the shocks within the first week. This is what I did to lessen the chances of snapping off the bolts.
I liberally (I hesitate to use that word with all that is happening the US) sprayed PB Blaster on the bolts at the top and bottom of the bolts; then slowly turned the bolt CW slightly and CCW slightly and continued with this until the bolts spun out freely. When I reinstalled the bolts; I cleaned the bolt threads, chased the threads with a tap and applied anti seaze to the bolt threads so that the bolts will be easier to remove next time.
 
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CharlesHS said:
When I purchased my '01 TJ Sport 4.0L in January I replaced the shocks within the first week. This is what I did to lessen the chances of snapping off the bolts.
I liberally (I hesitate to use that word with all that is happening the US) sprayed PB Blaster on the bolts at the top and bottom of the bolts; then slowly turned the bolt CW slightly and CCW slightly and continued with this until the bolts spun out freely. When I reinstalled the bolts; I cleaned the bolt threads, chased the threads with a tap and applied anti seaze to the bolt threads so that the bolts will be easier to remove next time.
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Ok. Will give that a try on second shock. Now dealing with broken one.
 
This is like divine intervention telling you to outboard your shocks. Or maybe some sort of spell cast by the wizard. IF your caliper bolts snap off... then you've definitely been cursed.
 
If you can get a Dremel cutoff wheel through the hole on between the bolts you could in theory cut the nuts off from below. I snapped all four of them, this was after months of soaking the nuts with penetrating oil. Ended up cutting access holes from above, and even then it was tough to get all the way around each nut with a Dremel. Some people report very small tack welds, mine were welded all the way around.

Other options are trying to drill and/or hammer them out from below. Hitting it with an air chisel from the side. Or dropping the gas tank, removing some body mounts bolts and lifting the tub a bit. That gives you plenty of room to get at the nuts.

It sucks no matter what you do, good luck.
 
WallyWest said:
If you can get a Dremel cutoff wheel through the hole on between the bolts you could in theory cut the nuts off from below. I snapped all four of them, this was after months of soaking the nuts with penetrating oil. Ended up cutting access holes from above, and even then it was tough to get all the way around each nut with a Dremel. Some people report very small tack welds, mine were welded all the way around.

Other options are trying to drill and/or hammer them out from below. Hitting it with an air chisel from the side. Or dropping the gas tank, removing some body mounts bolts and lifting the tub a bit. That gives you plenty of room to get at the nuts.

It sucks no matter what you do, good luck.
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Thanks everyone for the advise and support. I wish Sawsalls had a 90° option. Lol.
 
In my entire restore project this was the only bolt to break. Luckily it was just one, and I was already installing new body mount channels so I had the tub raised 3 or so inches off the frame. It was an easy fix in this regard. Good luck.
 
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i had this exact thing happen to me this weekend while installing my lift. were you able to get it out without removing the tub or cutting access holes?
 
KP_Jeep_TJ said:
i had this exact thing happen to me this weekend while installing my lift. were you able to get it out without removing the tub or cutting access holes?
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Nope, I had to cut access holes. To do so I drilled up from below then used that as a guide to cut in proper location. was still tricky trying to get the cut off wheel in hole but was able to make it work.
 
i saw a video where they used a dremel tool with a 90 deg head but they still dropped the tank and raised the tub away from the frame. im not looking forward to all of this. thanks for the replies guys
 
I would just cut access holes (use a nice circular hole saw and take you time. You can make it looks almost factory when you replace it. besides it is under the carpet as well and is easy to seal back.
 
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