Sway Bar Bushing / Bracket Bolt Thread

[Pravius]

Today must be sway bar forum question day. I apologize if this is redundant in anyway, it does look like there are lots of topics on the forum regarding the sway bar, but I have not found one specific to my issue.

1999 Wrangler, have only owned it a couple weeks, slowly starting to make it mine and fix dumb shit the previous owners did. I recently removed a winch from the stock bumper that was not intended for the stock bumper. It was rubbing really bad on the grill down to bare metal and was old and did not work. Upon removal I noticed that the front sway bar bushing brackets were missing front bolts on both sides.

I ordered some Class 10.9 M10-1.5 x 35MM bolts to replace them. My Jeep drives a bit like a boat, I am not sure if what I am feeling is normal. It's got a 2.5'' lift on it, I believe the sway bar is original. There was some play in the sway bar if I move it left to right so I was thinking getting bolts on those brackets and tightening them down might help the ride (I am new to Jeep and have really mainly only driven newer modern cars over the last 10 years or so).

The issue, one of the bolts did thread in, it was tough to get it on but I was able to get it tight (not too tight). The other bolt stops about 3/4 of the way in and seems impossible to get threaded all the way down, I did not want to break the bolt head off so I removed it and did not keep going. I was able to look inside the frame and it looks like there is a nut welded on the inside bottom of that threaded hole, and it is a bit rusty. I also tried to use some break free to get it to thread in easier, no dice. If I get a shorter bolt (if they exist) I could probably make it work or do you think the hole needs to be re-tapped?

Thanks for any advice. Super N00b, but have a burning desire to learn and get better!

 

[Ramona Wrangler]

re tap it.

 

[Pravius]

re tap it.

Thank you.

 

[mrblaine]

do you think the hole needs to be re-tapped?

Not likely since it has existing threads but they do need to be chased with a tap. The distinction is important because they make thread chasers that will break if you try to thread a hole with them. You would ideally like to use a decent plug tap since it has a nice balance of tapered threads before the full thread starts. A bottom tap might not work if the lower threads are a bit more messed up than typical. The 3 most common tap styles are bottom, taper, and plug. Get the plug style.

 

[Pravius]

Not likely since it has existing threads but they do need to be chased with a tap. The distinction is important because they make thread chasers that will break if you try to thread a hole with them. You would ideally like to use a decent plug tap since it has a nice balance of tapered threads before the full thread starts. A bottom tap might not work if the lower threads are a bit more messed up than typical. The 3 most common tap styles are bottom, taper, and plug. Get the plug style.

Very much appreciate this advice.

 

[Pravius]

Very much appreciate this advice.

Unsure if

Not likely since it has existing threads but they do need to be chased with a tap. The distinction is important because they make thread chasers that will break if you try to thread a hole with them. You would ideally like to use a decent plug tap since it has a nice balance of tapered threads before the full thread starts. A bottom tap might not work if the lower threads are a bit more messed up than typical. The 3 most common tap styles are bottom, taper, and plug. Get the plug style.

Found one I can get relatively quickly, unsure if spiral point is anything to care about for what I’m trying to do.

Any thoughts to help out?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z9QVQCR/?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[mrblaine]

Unsure if

Found one I can get relatively quickly, unsure if spiral point is anything to care about for what I’m trying to do.

Any thoughts to help out?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z9QVQCR/?tag=wranglerorg-20

I'd do it for that few holes up there. Uxcell typically hasn't delivered crap but I don't use any of their taps as of yet.