Stabilizing bar issue

Hi everyone,
I have a 1999 Xj. Today I wanted to tighten the front stabilization bar bracket that contains a bushing and keeps the bar attached to the frame of the vehicle. That piece is equipped with two bolts. They spin freely and wont loosen or tighten. The piece on the drivers side is fine, if anyone has any tips how to get these two bolts to tighten it would be helpful.

I think you are boned.
either cut access holes in the frame to get to the broken weld nut, or grind / cut the bolt heads off from the bottom and fabricate new mounts from 1/4" plate threaded for bolts and welded to the frame. I had similar issues on mine.

Yeah i thoght so, this will be fun :helpme:

I happened to have my bumper off when I did this. I was able to reach in with a "parts retriever"...one of those long cable like do dads with jaws...and remove the original nuts, then place some new bolts in there and wedge/jam them while I tightened the bolts.

It's do-able if you want to remove the bumper, not that hard.

ParadiseXJ said:

I happened to have my bumper off when I did this. I was able to reach in with a "parts retriever"...one of those long cable like do dads with jaws...and remove the original nuts, then place some new bolts in there and wedge/jam them while I tightened the bolts.

It's do-able if you want to remove the bumper, not that hard.

Click to expand...

Good to know. Way better than what I did.

If you wanted to be real fancy about it, you could fabricate a bolt strip with some 1" flat stock, drill holes & drop bolts through, weld heads to the flat stock & slide it in place. Then use nuts to secure the sway bracket from the bottom. Basically leave you with studs where you used to have bolts. If I run into this again, that's probably what I'll do.

ParadiseXJ said:

I happened to have my bumper off when I did this. I was able to reach in with a "parts retriever"...one of those long cable like do dads with jaws...and remove the original nuts, then place some new bolts in there and wedge/jam them while I tightened the bolts.

It's do-able if you want to remove the bumper, not that hard.

Click to expand...

yossarian19 said:

Good to know. Way better than what I did.

If you wanted to be real fancy about it, you could fabricate a bolt strip with some 1" flat stock, drill holes & drop bolts through, weld heads to the flat stock & slide it in place. Then use nuts to secure the sway bracket from the bottom. Basically leave you with studs where you used to have bolts. If I run into this again, that's probably what I'll do.

Click to expand...

Here's another method. Go by any place that installs trailer hitches. They have extra parts laying around from installations. Pick up a couple of frame bolt backing plates (my name for them). These are approx. 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" plates made to use carriage bolts and designed to slip inside the frame for hitch installations. The guys at PEP BOYS gave me a couple just for asking . Worked like a charm and no welding involved. It was a challenge getting them in place with the carriage bolts without taking the bumper off though, but I got 'er done !