Rear Shakle Bolts are a B-a-itch

Hello y'all,

I am putting on a RE 4.5 superflex lift, but I CANNOT GET THE BOLTS OFF THAT FASTEN THE REAR-END LEAF SPRINGS TO THE FRAME!!!!. HELP!!!! We have used an acetylene torch to heat the area where the bolts connect to the frame and with a 13/16 socket and a 5 foot breaker bar were able to finally break their recommened 65 ft/lbs torque hold and loosen them ALL THE WAY OUT. But......They still will not come all the way out. I have spent too much time using the rachet just twirling the loose bolts to no end. I talked to the tech at RE and also consulted my Chilton manuel and have found out that there is indeed a nut tack welded inside the frame. The RE guy said the bolt/thread (?) is a weird triangle shape? HOW DO THEY COME OUT. I don't want to torch off the brackets and weld new ones on just to get the bolts out but I am almost there. God forsaken RUST, its the devil!!!!
Anyone else had this problem?

HELP!!!!!

Dust

considering where you live that wont be your only problem.... breaking rear shock bolts etc.... PB Blaster is god... remember that.... good luck on the install.. do some searches on breaking bolts.. if your not very far along on the install. that may give a hint of what to spray.. and spray often

tarantula8 said:

Anyone else had this problem?

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Yeah -- about two-thirds of the people who have installed new leaf springs. I don't normally welcome folks to by just telling them to DO A SEARCH, but in this case -- this problem has been discussed and written up so many times that you'll be doing yourself a favor if you set the wrenches aside for an hour or so and peruse some of the previous threads on this same topic.

This is the 4th day on the install and everything (SYE, spicer driveshaft, front adjustable lower and upper controll arms, X-Heavy duty track bar with relocation bracket, Sway bar disconnects with relocation brackets, 2" front coil spring spacer, X-Heavy duty pitman arm, brake lines, etc) is done but the back. Thought the back was going to be cake campared to the front, but damn those 4 bolts!!! All is going smoothly xcept for the rust, but the impact wrench seems to take care of it except for the bolts it can't reach. Kudos to fellow jeep owners that have full vehicle lifts, has made my life and my back sleep easier. I have used 'bout a gallon of WD40 on all bolts. Having an engineering degree from Pudue hasn't helped the ego on these 4 bolts I must say!

I have read the forums on for over a year now before joining and have noticed that everyone seems to kick the new guy or crucify someone who asks a question that has been asked before, so to "Eagle" just want to say sorry and I didn't mean to bore you with a question that you already know the answer 2, and thanks for the most kind welcome I have seen on this forum. Before posting my question I clicked the little button that said "Has this question been asked before?" and no match came up. So I asked the question. Eagle, what should I type in for a search on this topic?, I have search the archives by just looking at individual post and can't find anything?

Thanx
Dust

Don't know if this is your problem, but...

You have the body on jackstands, right? Have you tried putting your floor jack under the diff and lifting it a little? This will take the load off the bolts and make them easier to take out.

I have the luxury of having a good friend that owns a full hydrolic car lift, so the XJ is completely in the air, the axle is disconnected and resting on jack-stands, and we have used the acetylene torch to cut the old leaf springs in half so there is no tension on the bolts at all!!!!! The damn bolts are loose but just wont come out???? We have used a prybar and an gear-puller to coax them out to no avail. They are not stripped cuz I can see the treads. I am just afraid that when we heated the frame rail to loosen the bolts that the tack-weld that held the nut to the fram may have come loose.But I dont think the nut is loose cuz the bolt has continued to screw out slowly like the nut is still threre.

Dust

Have fun with the front ones. My rear ones came out fine. Front eyes had to be chopped into a million pieces.

Thanks for the incuragement. No matter.......... fire always beats steel in the end!!!! I don't want to torch off the mounts and reweld but if I have 2 I will, and then I WIN.

may sound like a bit of insanity but start to put the bolts back in and find out if the nut really is still there or not, i just did this today with mine and the rust on the end of the bolt and in the bushing sleeve made the bolt thread out all the way till the shackel fell in my lap! pain in the butt and the hands. my nuts were still in tact. ( bolth sets, LOL...LOL )

good luck, and if the nut is broken loose i would use a 1.5" hole saw and cut an access to where the nut goes and re weld it in place then weld the hole back up. thats my thoughts. good luck again

Well I dont have a welder...what I did on the front mounts for the rear leaf springs, is once I got the bolt out of the tac welded nut inside the frame rail, I cut the bolts with a sawzall and a metal cutting blade, twice just on both sides of the inside of the mount, that is, between the bushing and the insides of the mount. THen I used new grade 8 bolts that would fit into the tac welded nut...from there the problem was getting all the holes and eyes lined up to actually get the bolt through!
Have fun!

tarantula8 said:

I have used 'bout a gallon of WD40 on all bolts.

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taht is your problem...

WD is a decent lubricant, but makes a chitty penatrating oil...

XJ_ranger said:

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:worship:

whatever...i used tons of that stuff and it was still a bitch to get it all apart. PB does nothing if the nut inside your frame breaks off, which is very likely since the sleeve in the bushing is most likeyly siezed to the bolt. this causes extra tension on the whole assembly and helps that bolt break off, making everything 10X harder. to even get mine to unscrew i had to melt the bushings...can you smell that smell? i did indeed do a search and you will find tons of other stories of what worked for some and not for others. i had to go the most drastic route, cutting the frame pocket. the rear probably will require cutting too, though it may be a bit harder to get at. i had a problem with cutting a hole big enough to fit a big enough wrench in there. (15/16" in the front i believe) i really didn't want to put a gouge in my frame that big, but you gotta do destructive stuff sometimes i guess, to improve the rest.

Front bolt? you broke the nut loose from the frame, not due to heat, the welds break. Either cut a hole thru the floor to get a wrench on the nut, or cut a hole thru the frame to get a socket on it, or cut the head of bolt, cut hole thru frame, push old bolt/nut out and install new bolt an nut.
Rear bolts, the bushing sleeve on the shackle is probably rusted to the bolt, figure out a way to cut the bolt.. and still be able to get the rest of the bolt out of the frame.. I ran into this, but just retightened it.. need to remove the shackles at some point, but havent had the time..
tons of posts, i had this happen to mine like others..

if you are talking about the bolts that go from the shackle to the uniframe i had to cut the spring eyes to heat them closer to the nut

best tool Ive ever bought nut splitter....5 minutes no fuss no muss use it all the time.........when I can find it. I avhe used it on from arm nuts and rear spring nuts. works better than PB BLASTER

could not find it to get fergie his springs...used a porta band to cut the bolts in half....

here's a tip in case you might EVER have to remove them again, i use it on all kinds of stuff-when you put the bolts back in, get ANTISEIZE paste at your local parts store and put it on them, including between the bolt and bushing. it is the same stuff that you gotta put on your o2 sensor threads if you ever want to be able to remove it again, it comes in a tube. it's also great on exhaust clamps, manifold bolts, etc.

xjohnnyc said:

Don't know if this is your problem, but...

You have the body on jackstands, right? Have you tried putting your floor jack under the diff and lifting it a little? This will take the load off the bolts and make them easier to take out.

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I second this remark...I'm just lucky I didn't have to cut any bolts. BFH and a center punch worked for me. My jeep was born in Michigan so I know what the rust is all about.

Finally got the little boggers out today! Bought some PB Lubricant even though I knew this wasn't the problem, (didn't help). Initially we cut the springs in half but did not cut the eye of the spring completely off of the bolt to expose it. When we did this we discovered that the metal sleeve around the bolt (the part of the bolt that is inside the spring-eye bushing) had severely rusted to the bolt and this was why the bolt wouldn't come out>>>>>the sleeve was too big around to go through the hole on the outside of all the brackets. I will never get use to the smell of liquified, burning, rubber, spring-eye bushings.

Should have used a sawzall like "theschwarz1" suggested to make 2 cuts on each bolt, cuz when I used the torch to cut the bolts it melted 1/2 of the threads inside the nut that is tac welded to the inside of the frame on both drivers side bracket holes.

Thanx to all members who offered their advise on this matter. I will post a picture of my rig once the lift, tires, and new engine are installed (if that ever happens).

D

XJ_ranger said:

taht is your problem...

WD is a decent lubricant, but makes a chitty penatrating oil...

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Not even a good lubricant since it dries away...but it's pretty good at Water Displacement, at least!