Shock absorber screws broken

Hello guys, I'm Giorgio , I'm writing from Italy, I have a 1998, 2.5 Turbodiesel XJ . Last week I had a problem with a rear shock absorber, the left one. The two little screws (too little) in the top of the shock absorber was broken, I dont know why, I dont do hard off road usually....
So, I have done some operations for repair the damage...



1, This is the start situation: both screws are broken, I have already removed one and I made a hole much bigger




2 I had no chance of unscrew the two screw so 'I removed the cover



3 with a drill I made a hole under the car passing through




with a pen I drew a rectangle




and then I cut with the grinder (with a drive to cut)




this is the square, just above the shock absorber housing





then I got a steel plate, with hammer and pliers, I bent and I made two holes



then I put on all the antioxidant (above and under the car)




also on the plate....




this is the plate with the new screws, bigger than the original screws for heavy duty use (INOX STEEL)




I put the plate in its housing





I put the shock absorber and I tightened the new screws




I closed the hole with tape but will replace it with a metal sheet cover





so Iago was able to return to his place



Sorry for my bad English, I hope my post it's interesting for you and help or give you an idea in case of problems like this.

I could weld the screws but the fuel tank was too close....and full!!!!

Greetings from Italy too your all
Bye Bye

Giorgio

Nice fix. You can actually just punch those out with a hammer and punch and drop a bolt through there without cutting the floor. Thankfully mine has aftermarket upper shock mounts on it. I am jealous of your diesel!

A lot of us have to do similar things on ours here due to salt put on the roads in the winter... annoying isn't it? If they had just NOT welded those nuts in it would have been so much simpler.

I think they came like that from the factory lol. oddly enough i had that problem on both of my 2000 xj's but my 92 xj came out just fine.

nice XJ, i dont think ive seen a late model deisel before. and what tires are those? ive never seen those either.

good fix as well. ive got one screw that decided to go bad on me. i managed to get it tapped and simply put a new/bigger bolt in there. once new shocks are on the chopping block itll be time for BPEs.

nero_di_china said:

Hello guys, I'm Giorgio , I'm writing from Italy, I have a 1998, 2.5 Turbodiesel XJ .

so Iago was able to return to his place



Sorry for my bad English, I hope my post it's interesting for you and help or give you an idea in case of problems like this.

I could weld the screws but the fuel tank was too close....and full!!!!

Greetings from Italy too your all
Bye Bye

Giorgio

Click to expand...

welcome! dont worry about your english, it's better than some native speakers! glad you got everything sorted out, but i think you can reach around from the bottom, supposedly theres enough room for a open end wrench, with a nut taped into it to hold it.

seems like youve got it solved though! you should post some pics of jeepin in italy

Nice work. I almost feel bad telling you this, but there is a much easier way. That is from underneath the truck, you take a punch and a hammer and pop those tack welded nuts off. Then you get some new bolts and nuts, and go in from an access hole on the underside of the jeep. You tape the nut to the end of your wrench and then just screw in the bolt.