Coil over shocks

Bought a 96 xj country a little over a month ago.

I was drivin down the road and all of a sudden I started getting a wicked clunk after going over bumps.

Crawled under and looked at everything, finally I saw it, previous owner had stripped 3 upper shock mount bolts. He welded one side that he broke 2 bolts on. On the other side he used 3 sheet metal screws to hold one side of the pin up.

Well, the weld broke (very amature weld). So now the right rear shock is not doing any work.

For now I only use my jeep on highway for commute to school-


Now I have a few options.

Keep in mind. I'm getting a 3" RC lift when my funds are right.

I also found it peculiar that there are coil over shocks in the back when I have leaf springs ??

Soo do I......

- pop out the old bolts and install new shocks. Labor intensive. And I'm spending more

- re-weld both shocks up until I get my lift kit



-thanks all!

Those are 'helper coil overs', to assist in carrying heavy loads, or fighting rear end sag. I see them at the junkyard all the time.

There are tons of articles about repairing broken shock bolts, they break rather often.

Ok helper coils. Thanks. So they are good to go there's no need to replace em.

I know how to repair the shock mounts. Read most of the articles.

I'm asking for more of an opinion I guess on whether or not welding the shocks up is safe enough? I'm a fairly good welder and my buddy I'm doin the work with is even better.

We're gonna highlift the jeep and try to fit the shock back into place. do you guys think this is possible?

Seems like a quick fix till the lift comes


Thanks

Safe? SURE. It may be a pain in the ass later on, when you gotta cut the welds to change shocks though.

I'd say its up to you. PERSONALLY i would fix them, but i wouldnt dissagree with you if you said you welded it just to get it fixed... and then deal with it later.

YOUR JEEP, your call =)

fix it the right way. Cut a hole in the floor for access above the shocks. Drop bolts in from the top and weld the bolt heads to the sheet metal so you have studs for the shocks. then seal the access hole.

I did this when I installed new shocks and it took about an hour to do it.

I love people like you.....

"cut a hole in the floor"

Why there is no reason to cut a hole in the floor. There is more then enough room to reach up from underneath, drop a bolt in, and also get a box wrench up there when you need to tighten it all down.

Wil Badger said:

I love people like you.....

"cut a hole in the floor"

Why there is no reason to cut a hole in the floor. There is more then enough room to reach up from underneath, drop a bolt in, and also get a box wrench up there when you need to tighten it all down.

Click to expand...

This is what I did when replacing my shocks. Worked great.

I have coil-over "helper" shocks on mine. It compensates for the saggy leaf springs and has me sitting exactly at factory ride height now instead of sagging.

Gonna try and hammer the old bolts out and try the old fishing line trick. Then ill put a tiny tack on each bolt and either get new shocks or try and use a high lift to get the old 1 in .

Wil Badger said:

I love people like you.....

"cut a hole in the floor"

Why there is no reason to cut a hole in the floor. There is more then enough room to reach up from underneath, drop a bolt in, and also get a box wrench up there when you need to tighten it all down.

Click to expand...

Yes I cut a 3"x3" folded it over. Did the bolt fix as described above. welded it back up completely and ground smooth. The re-truckbedlined it.

I will never have to deal with it again when I change shocks out. as there is just a nut to loosen now.

what is wrong with that solution???

Im pretty sure you can do the samething without cuttin. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow