Broke Track Bar Mount

It has been a while since I have been on here, due to my house project, but, I need some help..

I drove an hour from home to help my gal move back into school. So, luckily we had her car too. Went down fine (loaded with bunch of stuff), but pulled out of a parking spot, steering wasn't quite right, and eventually the steering wheel ended up 3/4 the way around... Still going straight... Drifted off to the side, found this:



I was able to hobble back to the parking spot, and left the XJ there, and took my gal's car back home...

So, I need opinions on what to do. I do not want to have it towed to a garage, and pay what I could to put a HD bar and mount, but I am not sure what work I can do in a parking lot in winter?

I was looking at some "double sheer" set ups (no pressed ball joint) that look possible for parking lot work? Though, does a stock mount entail a pressed joint? Never replaced this before..

Let me know what you guys think... I really appreciate the help, so a big thanks in advance.

Oh yeah.. 97 Sport, 2" spacer lift, 30" a/t tires. Other than spacers, stock suspension, and front end.

You could install a double sheer track bar/ mount in the parking lot. Pretty straight foward.

4 bolts hold that mount on fairly easy to get off just make sure to take a long breaker bar with you since I am guessing it has never been removed since the Jeep was built and being in Pennsylvanian your bolts are going to be very stubborn. Also spray the bolts and nuts down with penetrating oil like PB blaster or even WD-40 would be good here. For warning you since you live in a salt area you do run a higher risk of having seized or frozen bolts and they may break when you put the breaker bar on them to remove them but that is no guarantee and I don't think it absolutely will happen just saying there is a risk but it would happen to a shop just the same and they will charge you more shop time to repair it. Either way definitely try this yourself don't waste money having it towed to a shop for a normally easy repair.

Found this:

http://ironrockoffroad.com/Merchant...=IROR&Product_Code=IR-STBCK&Category_Code=PFX

Since time is of the essence, kinda jumped on this one. I hear a lot of good from this company, and the price was competitive. Talked to them on the phone, and they are getting it out the door for me today.

They said the bolts that hold the mount typically come out easy, and they recommend re-using the bolts for their mount. As good as that sounds, I am not trusting the bolts to back out! At least one will shear... Planning on a full can of PB and a propane torch to heat things up a bit! Ill have a drill on stand-by and new hardware.

They said 12mm bolts, any idea how long? Ill have to do some searching when Im off work...

Anyone out there have thoughts/experience on swapping out this mount?

The upper bolts are welded to a piece of flat stock, so you dont need a wrench on the backside.
The lower ones coming up from the bottom were 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" long iirc

M12x1.75x40

They are m12s but make sure you get hardened ones not PC 8.8s. They will have a 10.9 or 12.9 stamped into the head, I forget which.

Also buy a new bolt and "flag nut" for the other end, it is a 10mm iirc, but best bought at the dealer since it has an unthreaded pilot point on it to help get it started. They like to seize into the bushing. Sometimes the nut will even break off the flag and since it is in there so tight you can't get a wrench onto a junk flag nut very easily, so you end up cutting it out. Bring an inverter and an angle grinder...

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. Finishing up my breakfast this morning, then going to gather up my tools.

I got the IRO track bar and mount on Thursday, and its BEEF. Very nice looking track bar, and came with hardware for the bar itself, not the mount. So, thanks Hubs for the sizing! I will be picking up a few.

Kastein - Funny you mention the angle grinder/ inverter... Just blew my inverter. I do have a 12v impact gun though, I am planning to take!

Well, I am glad to say the parking lot repair went rather well! The 4 bolts (2 were studs, removed the nut) for the mount backed right out, no problem. The bolt on the track bar/axle was a bit of work though, as kastein mentioned of it seizing to the bushing. But it too (aside from a bit of elbow-grease) came right out.

Looking closer at the mount that was broke, to my surprise, I found this:





It looks as though it cracked on the previous owner, and was job-shop welded!!! WOW. This could have killed someone!!!

And here is a shot of the new HD bar and mount from IRO. Very nice set up, BTW, and very easy to install!

Looks like it has been broken for a while before it completely let go. Glad you got it all sorted now.

wow, that looks incredibly sketchy (the old one, that is.) Glad you got the bolt out without too much of a fight, they've always fought me to the last drop of knuckle blood.

Wow... Glad you got that squared away. Wondering if that's a remnant from the wreck.

hubs97xj said:

Wow... Glad you got that squared away. Wondering if that's a remnant from the wreck.

Click to expand...

Ooo could be? Just surprised after me being under there countless times, and two inspections that it was not caught before... Goes to show, buying a used vehicle, really got to check things out.

Loving the new track bar though, feels much better in the steering. Needs aligned, surprised to get it as close as I did though!

One thing though, and this goes for anyone buying this setup - It calls for a 3.5 to 7in lift. I am at about 2in of lift. My coil bucket is bottoming out on the bottom of the mount on hard bumps. Now I got a reason to lift it!!!