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installing lift- leaf spring bolts

fallacist

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Durango
rust sucks

installing a 3" RC lift, and its been taking much longer than planned. thank god for angle grinders.

I was going to re-use my rear sway bar brackets, but while loosening the bolt holding the bar and bushing, it just started turning, without un-screwing. I don't feel like dealing with it, so thats that.

My question/problem is that I think the same thing might possibly be happening, or about to happen to the front bolt on the rear leaf springs. I've turned it a bit with a breaker bar, but I didn't mess with it too much.

Any tips/advice for getting that bolt out without messing it up? I'm worried that if i mess it up, and it just spins in place I'm going to have a serious issue. I've already been hitting it with PB.



And someone please tell me the front is easier than the rear :wow:
 
have a welder???? 110 is fine. dont need a bead. just weld a random useless ball on the end of the bolt. Lotsa heat and anot a lot of wire. goal is to use the heat to break the rust free. immediately after burning the end, spray the OTHER side (where the nut is) with pb, it should draw in between the nut/bolt and help loosen it up more. burn on it again and try to break it loose while its still hot
 
There are two main problems with stuck leaf spring bolts, they either rust seize to the inner sleeve of the bushing, or they rust seize to the welded nut inside the frame.

If you are not going to re-use or salvage the leaf springs, using an angle grinder and a 4" cutting blade, cut off the majority of the leaf spring, cut open the spring eye on the end of the leaf spring , remove the bushing, and pry or chisel the rusty spring bushing sleeve off the bolt. Trying to force a rust seized leaf spring bolt out of a spring eye can break loose the weld nut inside the frame.

If you want to re-use the leaf spring, you can slip the angle grinder with 4" cutting blade along side the spring eye and cut off the head of the leaf spring bolt. If the leaf spring bolt spins freely you can get the remains out of the weld nut. If the bolt is rusted to the weld nut, removal of the last bit of the bolt can be difficult. At this point, welding a nut to remains of the bolt, or applying heat and penetrating oil, both will be in direct contact with the weld nut instead of being 3+ inches away on the far side of the leaf spring pocket.

If you are positive that the welded nut has broken loose from the frame, either of the above methods will work to remove the leaf spring bolt.


There are plenty of threads on how to deal with weld nuts that have broken loose, just do some searching or scroll down to the bottom of this page and see the Similar Threads.

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Yeah, unfortunately I don't have access to a welder or impact tools. But I do have an angle grinder.

I will not be reusing the leaf springs- I got a new pack. Could I cut the head of the bolt off, and then drill a hole on the other side of the frame rail to pull the rest of it out, and then replace with new hardware?
 
Reading your post makes me flamming mad again! Just went through the process of installing OME leaf pacs. PB blasted the 4 bolts from every direction possible every other day for a month. Had a younger fell'er with lots of muscle use a breaker bar, and a 4 foot cheater pipe work 'em. Guess he did not hear me say the first time.., to just go back and forth fractions of an inch each way for a while, lol.., he just leaned into it, and SNAP! Rear driver's side, aft end. SO, after old oem leaf out of the way, the remains of the bolt was flush with the channel. The next step: Drilling into the bolt with bits, progressively larger each time in order to attempt an 'easy-out'.., but with no success. (used short time torch heat too). Took off rear bumper, opened up some sheet metal with a sawzall, just 3 cuts thusly creating a flap.., flipped the flap upwards, and grabbed onto that bolt remanent with a socket bolt extractor. Worked well, installed new leaf, greased the new bolt with marine grade never sieze, closed flap, and all is good. In other words I did something very close to what you are thinking of doing, just a slightly different location of design. Good luck.
 
wtf were they thinking when they designed these things? "lets make a vehicle thats gonna be great to wheel, ugly and shitty stock from the factory, and incredibly difficult to work on and modify"

I'm gonna get to it tonight. ive never had to cut and drill this many things in a vehicle EVERRR
 
I just installed the same lift. On the front bolt I found a system that worked for me. I would turn the bolt about a 1/2 turn. This would push the bushing away from the frame rail. Then I would wack the head of the bolt with a rawhide mallet to force the bushing back towards the frame. Repeat until your arms fall off or the bolt comes out. Worked for me but they don't salt the roads here so my jeep's not too rusty.

I also drilled a 1/4" hole into each bolt pocked and sprayed oil in the hole for a few days.

On the back bolts this plan failed and I had to cut the pocked upon like others. I'm not happy with the results so I think I'm going to build new shackle boxes to replace the stock ones.
 
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