Which Would You Do?

Greetings,
First off, glad to be back on the boards. Was a member about a decade ago but my wife made me buy a new (brace yourself) RAV4. The horror! The horror!
Just bought a 92 XJ. Taking my time repairing and upgrading. Was replacing the sway bar bushings and sway bar links bushings. The rear bolt on the passenger side sway bar bushing bracket busted off. After much cursing, heating, easy outs and more cursing, I ended up getting it out by inadvertently busting off the nut welded to the inside of the frame. So here are some possible solutions, would love your comments (on the repair, not the RAV4).

1. Buy a long 12x3.5" bolt and use some slightly larger nuts as spacers to be able to put a nut on and tighten. Problem is that the access hole, silver dollar size at the top inside of the frame does not give much margin for error. Additionally, taking it appart in the future could prove interesting.

2. Use a metal hole saw and cut another hole below the current access hole giving me more room to work with.

3. drill a whole in a bolt at the end and drop the bolt in from the top and thread the nut in from the bottom/outside and use the hole drilled to keep the bolt in place while I tighten.

So what are your thoughts? Is there some easier solution (there probably is) I am missing?

Thanks,
George

I take it you traded the wife in with the Rav4? Now you can have your Jeep?


I'd probably have to go with cutting an access hole, fixing it and patching the hole back up.

I think if you pull the front bumper you can get at those nuts through the front of the frame rail. Not entirely sure.

Welcome back!

Actually, I kept the RAV4. Turned out to be a much more capable vehicle than I thought. However, longed for the fun and rugged abilities of my XJ. So, can anyone confirm that I can get to it by removing the front bumper?

BTW, it is nice to get to a point in life where you can buy an old beater for fun. Makes turning a wrench much more enjoyable.

kastein said:

I think if you pull the front bumper you can get at those nuts through the front of the frame rail. Not entirely sure.

Welcome back!

Click to expand...

Yes, you can. The drivers side is less accesible due to the steering box bolt(s), but still as accessible as threading a bolt in there. I broke both nutserts on the passenger side and actually had the bumper off at the time so it was easy BUT if I could not get to it I would use a slightly larger thread cutter bolt and f**k the nutsert.

I used thread cutters on my TC "skid plate" as the others just spun. It's been holding tight for years, yet I do realize there is more actual torque in the sway bar brackets. I also used the thread cutters putting my canoe trailer together. Still tight after 3 years of bumpy dirt/gravel roads.

I'm leery about cutting the frame/rail at all, but that's just me.

So I think I will try to remove the bumper first, see if self cutting bolt works/feels secure enough second, and cut/repair access third. BTW, you all happen to know the torque specifications for the sway bar bushings and the bolts on the sway bar links? I thought it was 20lbs but that seems too light.

Ft. Lbs. (N.m)
Stabilizer Bar:
Frame Bolt - 55 (75)
Link Bolt - 27 (37)
Stabilizer Bar Link-To-Bracket Bolt - 70 (95)
My wife has a RAV4 and we really like it. Handles the rough roads to the cabin pretty well. Its much more powerful than my poor tired XJ.

So the end of the frame was not open. So there went idea #1. Only had about 1/4 of metal to work with so did not feel good about the self taping bolt. So there went idea #2. Ended up using a cut off blade to create access. I am going to wait until I get all the suspension taken care of - got a touch of death wobble - before I patch it back up. Okie, thanks for the numbers. BTW, have been spending alot of time up your way (I live in Moore) exploring the Nickle Preserve the other side of Talequah. Thanks all, going to have to renew my membership.

Wtf, it's not open?! I know it is open on my 91, maybe they changed something or I am misremembering.

For sure not open on my 92. Not sure if there was some design change but it had a stamped metal closure. Now I think there is one thing that might influence it. The jeep ha a towing set up, up front. Maybe some unique production model? The frame closure was not after market but there were some fairly substantive attachment points (nutserts) father back on the frame.