How to install rear shocks?

Maybe a crazy question here but I am putting on some shocks till I put on my lift in a month and the crazy thing is I haven't put shocks on in a long time...so I was wondering on my 97 XJ how hard is it to take off and put on shocks and is there anything I need to think about or do.

Basically, how do I it...do I need to lift up axle with jack, just lift up Jeep? Trying to get this done tonight.

Thanks,

Chris

The rear shocks are mounted to the frame/body at the top by 2) 1/2" head bolts on either side. Careful taking these off. I would reccomend some PB Blaster or WD40. I took mine off a few weeks ago and broke 2 requiring new taps(SUCKED). They are attached to the axle by an 18mm (i think?) on either side. You shouldn't need to jack the vehicle up as long as you dont mind lying on the ground and dealing in close quarters. Honestly i dont even think you will need to take off the tires.

Just do the top first and then you won't need a jack to lift the axle to get the bottom mount off.

Should take you an hour tops to do both. Good luck...

siminsez01 said:

I would reccomend some PB Blaster or WD40.

Click to expand...

Forget WD40 but use PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench to prevent headaches.
Yes yo ucan do it without taking the tires off and no it's not that tight. It does make things eeasier if you got a long extension for your ratchet

It's a pretty simple job. Did not have to jack up the truck at all. I didn't have a problem with mine but I can see where those upper mounting bolts can pose a problem. I PB Blasted the suckers and left them to soak in overnight. And yes, have a ratchet extension on hand.

Well...let them soak in PB and tried the first upper mounting bolt and yep...broke. Now what do I do? How do I get that sucker out of there?

Chris

Double Down said:

Well...let them soak in PB and tried the first upper mounting bolt and yep...broke. Now what do I do? How do I get that sucker out of there?

Chris

Click to expand...

You might want to run a search as there are plenty solutions available: drill, tap, easy out (some say it's not as easy)..... first thread that I found playing with upper shock mount is this:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29174&highlight=upper+shock+mount

Anyways, consider all your options before you proceed as you don't want to make it worse (for example I heard some people successfuly use easy outs while others succesfully break them in there making it harder then it was).

my rear shocks have have been a pain in the a$$!!!! broke three bolts off so i drilled them out and re taped them then on the last one broke the tap off. so i drove it with one shock for about 3 months [ it sucked ] then i had it in a body shop for some custom body work that i wasn't cumfeterble [sp?] with and he was able to get it out then just three days ago it fell off again. so i finely just drilled two holes in the floor and dropped some bolts down through the holes and put nuts on them .

the top bolts happened to break on me on my friends 98 xj. my 94 werent a problem cause i sprayed everyday for about a week with pb blaster. my friends on the other hand were last minute. anyway i took a bigass hammer and a chisel and broke the broken studs out. the in there place i just took the proper size and strength bolts and put in em in. honestly its a little of a p.i.t.a. holding a wrench on a nut inside that tiny area, but its better then welding stuff in there place. it only took me 45 minutes to do the job start to finish. good luck

Did mine today on my 2000, put on the OME 35L and 36L and it took lessa than 1 1/2hrs for front and rear. It's a very easy job if the bolts come out easy.

Cheers
Steve

Okay, let me tell you how much this SUCKED :flamemad:

I soaked the heck out of my bolts and then when it came time to losen the first one...POP. So I soaked them some more overnight....went to do the second one...POP...third...POP...fourth...POP. I could not believe it...I was actually laughing in madness and foaming at the mouth, cursing in different languages.

And screw that easy out crude, cause that sucked worse than anything. I had to buy a carbon bit and drill right through everything and then retap them. And then, on one of them, was tightening one of the NEW bolts and POP! I couldn't frickin believe it....I was under that Jeep replacing stock shocks for more than 4 hours or more.

But hey...could have been worse :roflmao:

Chris

yes it does suck alot when the bolts break. what i did was take a bigass hammer and chisel and just break it out. then just take a couple of bolts, nuts, and washers and do it that way. so the next time they break its not sucha pian in the ass to fix it.

I changed the long neglected shocks in my 93 Country when I bought it and along with the PB I used an impact wrench to remove the bolts. I only broke one bolt, it was the first one and it was the one I tried to remove by hand. It seems the impact is harder on the rust and easier on the bolt. My .02Cdn.

J.R.