Installed new Rancho RS5000X shocks today

Here's the video describing were to drill the frame and insert the grade 8 carriage bolts.
It lools like a real time saver as I have no desire to drop my gas tank. If I get lucky and the stock bolts don't break I'll just replace them with stainless other wise this is my plan.

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Goatman said:
A carriage bolt is grade 3. Same a 'all-thread'. A shock absorber has to withstand a hell of a lot more stress than a grade 3 can provide. Especially when in single shear.
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Goatman the plant I work at has a toolroom full of thousands of stainless nuts and bolts, if you have a hard time finding grade 8 or stainless carriage bolts PM me and I'll send you a couple, just pay shipping.
 
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Makes me wonder how terrible my Quadratec Hydro shocks really are... I know it’s a cheap lift but It doesn’t seem all that terrible to me, but I don’t have any friends that have what you all consider “good” shocks to compare it too.
 
Your picture is NOT a carriage bolt.
A carriage bolt has thread the whole length. The head is a dome shape that does not accept a wrench. There is a square section underneath the head that is made to bite into the wooden board that a carriage is made from. And I have never seen one in grade 8 as the wood will disintegrate long before the bolt would shear.
 
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Goatman said:
Your picture is NOT a carriage bolt.
A carriage bolt has thread the whole length. The head is a dome shape that does not accept a wrench. There is a square section underneath the head that is made to bite into the wooden board that a carriage is made from. And I have never seen one in grade 8 as the wood will disintegrate long before the bolt would shear.
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I have seen them where the square section goes into a square hole in metal... But usually in stuff like lawn furniture or harbor freight carts and work tables and they always seem pretty soft.

That said, and I wouldn't have believed it without seeing it myself, but apparently grade 8 carriage bolts do exist.
https://www.boltdepot.com/Product-Details.aspx?product=19341
However, it doesn't really do you much good in this application unless you're set up to drill a square hole in your frame, so the term "carriage bolt" isn't being properly applied in this conversation.
 
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Goatman said:
Your picture is NOT a carriage bolt.
A carriage bolt has thread the whole length. The head is a dome shape that does not accept a wrench. There is a square section underneath the head that is made to bite into the wooden board that a carriage is made from. And I have never seen one in grade 8 as the wood will disintegrate long before the bolt would shear.
Click to expand...

I thought it was odd in the video he referenced to the hex head bolt as a "carriage bolt" since they usually are fully threaded with a mushroom tip and a square locking block. They do make them in grade 8 strength though.


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We have a Goatman in our town as well, he lets the goat drive in the back seat. I always wondered house you would secure a goat in the back of a TJ. Do you put a harness on your goat or do you just let him roam free in the Jeep when driving?

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Look up "plow bolts". they are used to attach cutting edges on plows, grader blades, backhoe bucket cutting edges, etc. Those are grade 8 carriage bolts.
 
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Fughuert said:
You ever see boots on equipment hydraulics?

That’s my logic behind not running them, and they’re ugly.
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I'm not advocating for or against, but your logic seems flawed. Equipment hydraulics are usually up in the air and/or on slow moving vehicles, (or stationary). Not exactly a fair comparison to Jeep shocks.
 
bobthetj03 said:
Look up "plow bolts". they are used to attach cutting edges on plows, grader blades, backhoe bucket cutting edges, etc. Those are grade 8 carriage bolts.
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I was under the impression they are called 'clipped' bolts.

I stand corrected on the grade 8 carriage bolt. Not sure of the application. Even in the old farm equipment that had the square hole punched into metal to use them it was always (that I have seen) used in a lower stress area or where frequent and small adjustments were being made. Often to secure a sleeve on a shaft that can slide up and down. Like on plow coulters.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
Soak the nuts and bolts several times over several days with Liquid Wrench, Kroil, or Break Free, in that order. Any of those will help significantly with seized hardware. Don't waste your time trying WD40 or PB-Blaster which are nearly equal where it comes to being ineffective compared to the three choices given above.
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Have you tried this?
 
the shocks on mine had boots on the front but not the rear when I bought the Jeep. I'm gonna be replacing them soon, probably leave the boots on since most of my wheeling surfaces are covered in sand and tiny rocks.
 
Food for thought... I saw a drip under one side of my rear axle today and looked to find the lower shock mount soaking wet from fluid bubbling out of the shock shaft seal on my bootless rancho rs5000. I of course have no idea how old the shocks are but they seemed newish when I bought it 2.5 years and 16k miles ago. Looks like I've finally got the excuse I need to upgrade to the rs5000x, and charge it to "vehicle maintenance" instead of "jeep mods". 😉
 
freedom_in_4low said:
Food for thought... I saw a drip under one side of my rear axle today and looked to find the lower shock mount soaking wet from fluid bubbling out of the shock shaft seal on my bootless rancho rs5000. I of course have no idea how old the shocks are but they seemed newish when I bought it 2.5 years and 16k miles ago. Looks like I've finally got the excuse I need to upgrade to the rs5000x, and charge it to "vehicle maintenance" instead of "jeep mods". 😉
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Gas charged will fix that!
 
Goatman said:
Your picture is NOT a carriage bolt.
A carriage bolt has thread the whole length. The head is a dome shape that does not accept a wrench. There is a square section underneath the head that is made to bite into the wooden board that a carriage is made from. And I have never seen one in grade 8 as the wood will disintegrate long before the bolt would shear.
Click to expand...
Seems like every "vintage" car with chrome bumpers ran chromed versions, or stainless "capped" versions of the carriage bolt to hold the bumpers to the brackets behind them. Hell, I grew up calling 'em "bumper bolts". Back in the day, you'd weld them to the bumper from the backside, then grind off the heads to smooth out the bumper, and then have the bumper re-chromed. They were often referred to as California bumpers. @Kiwi TJ knows what I'm talking about.

Of course, this has nothing to do with TJs. Sorry! ;)
 
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I put in 5/16nc x 1” long bolts from the top down and used one of those springy lock washers to hold the bolts in place until I could get the nuts and washers tightened up on the shocks. Works great and I can smoke wrench them off if I ever get one stuck. Use an air chisel to hammer the weld nuts up from the bottom instead of trying to drill them out. It’s way easier to break the weld but off than to drill that stupid nut.
 
Squatch said:
Seems like every "vintage" car with chrome bumpers ran chromed versions, or stainless "capped" versions of the carriage bolt to hold the bumpers to the brackets behind them. Hell, I grew up calling 'em "bumper bolts". Back in the day, you'd weld them to the bumper from the backside, then grind off the heads to smooth out the bumper, and then have the bumper re-chromed. They were often referred to as California bumpers. @Kiwi TJ knows what I'm talking about.

Of course, this has nothing to do with TJs. Sorry! ;)
Click to expand...
Yes Ive had a few cars with 'bumper bolts'
 
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Squatch said:
Seems like every "vintage" car with chrome bumpers ran chromed versions, or stainless "capped" versions of the carriage bolt to hold the bumpers to the brackets behind them. Hell, I grew up calling 'em "bumper bolts". Back in the day, you'd weld them to the bumper from the backside, then grind off the heads to smooth out the bumper, and then have the bumper re-chromed. They were often referred to as California bumpers. @Kiwi TJ knows what I'm talking about.

Of course, this has nothing to do with TJs. Sorry! ;)
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's old school.
 
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