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Broken off hitch bolts

NVRicochet3006

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Dayton, NV
Hey there. New to the forum, new to the 99 Sport I just recently purchased. Question about the U-Haul 2” hitch installed. Its rusted. Badly. So I removed it last night because my plan is to install a new one. The three drivers side bolts came out. The passenger side bolts not so much. Broke the heads off all three. I have yet to pull the rear bumper so I can’t really see what’s going on inside the uniframe. Research has me confused. Will I be up against nuts welded to the frame? Or is there a nut strip in there? I also read that it could be a nut strip riveted to the frame? I have yet to unbolt the exhaust hanger, or the other bolt for the fuel tank skid. At this point I’m afraid to keep snapping hardware and want to get that bumper off so I can look down inside there. Please tell me I’m not screwed by breaking off those three hitch bolts?
 
It's a relatively easy fix. For a hitch / skid, you'll need two nutstrips to secure things. You remove the bumper, to access them through the uniframe.

The originals are riveted in place. Just grind off the rivet head to release them. I used small wing-type drywall anchors to hold the nut strips in place. Once the gas tank skid / hitch is installed, they won't move.

Just google "Jeep Cherokee nut strips". There a quite a few places that sell them...
 
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Thanks for the reply Ivan. Yeah I definitely need to get new strips. My concern is will I be able to remove the old strip since the threaded portions of the bolts are still lodged in the nuts? I guess time will tell. Hope to work on removing the bumper tonight.
 
They should come out. I used a cold chisel to knock the head off the rivets. When you put the bolts back in use anti-seize.
 
Cool, I hope so. I was not happy when they broke off last night. That feeling of a simple 10 minute job turned into a PITA week long project! Oh yeah, LOTS of A/S will be applied on re-assembly!
 
There have been times when a snapped bolt was a blessing. It gave me the license to say ****it! And move on with the parts that were salvageable.
 
Yep, there was no saving the old hitch or hardware planned from the start. Luckily the uniframe isn't rusted. I got that bumper off and the old nut strips removed, although I did have to cut and fold back the passenger side access hole a bit to get the threaded bolt sticking out of the nut out of there. No big deal. New strips and hitch are on order. In the mean time I'll be shooting the roof and rear bumper with Raptor bed liner this weekend.
 
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