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AAL forever???

Cherokeekid88

NAXJA Forum User
Location
North Carolina
Well when i bought my lift, i ordered new leaf packs. When i went to install them, i couldnt get the bolt out of the frame side of my stock leaf packs. i used pb blaster, heat, and couldnt get it loose. So i took my jeep up to the shop i ordered the lift through, and had them look at it. One of the guys up there, who i am friends with, told me that it was rusted through and that they would have to cut it and weld it back, and he said that he didnt think it was safe to do. So I threw together a leaf pack that came out to about 4 inches, but its very stiff. Now i want to upgrade but am wondering about this problem i've just thrown under the rug. what are my options here?
 
One of two things happened, first the bolt in the front of the leaf pack is rusted to the bushing inside the spring and the whole thing is just spinning and not moving out. The second is inside the end that disappears into the body, there is a weld nut in there that might have broken loose and it's spinning. The correct fix is to take a 1 or 2" hole saw, flip your rear seat forward and drill a hole out over where the nut is, measure carefully :D. Get a wrench on it and then remove it. It could also be BOTH in which case once you have the hole drilled and can get at the nut and if it is broken free just cut the bolt on both sides of the spring pack, it will drop out, then remove the nut and whatever is left of the bolt, put the new spring pack in and put a new nut on the end, get every thing tight and then either weld a new piece of metal over the hole or put in a rubber plug after rust proofing the edges of the hole you drilled. Someone might even have pics of where the hole went on here.
 
the bolt doesn't go directly into the frame, there is a small pocket coming off the side of the frame that the bolt goes into. cut up throught that with an angle grinder from the bottom. use a die grinder to cut the bolt inside the pocket, then use new nuts and bolts in there. thats what i did and it worked fine.
 
Went through something like this last May. After cutting the bolt and removing the nut, I set the replacements, tacked the nut, welded the bracket shut.

It's a daily driver with some moderate trail use. So far, so good:
front_eye.JPG


HTH
 
theNAST1EST said:
the way i got around the problem was to just drill straight through the frame and use some long bolts...

2 years later, absolutley no issues

good luck
I've thought about this on my XJ since I was having problems with that anyway. Right now it's just sitting with the front bolt/nut loose on both sides. I've got a 12" long 1/2" aircraft bit that would go all the way through the frame rails...is that how you did it? I figured I'd have to use about a 6.5" bolt with it that way.
 
The frame rail behind the pocket does have a hole in it for the end of the bolt. If you have the time, and a holesaw, try drilling the inner big enough to get a flat washer and nut through.

I was in awshit mode when I did mine. Now I have the same problem with the shackles I never took out. I'm still deliberating how I want to approach that one.
 
I would not have thought that you guys would actually cut the frame. I cut mine through the floor between the frame rails and remove the old nut. Put a new bolt and nut in, tighten to specs then tack weld the new nut in place. Cutting the frame is not something I would do.
 
I left two sides of the bracket intact, that kept the location in reference. I'm confident of my welding ability for this repair.

I appreciate your concern, I'm also not going to split hairs on the best way to work this old sheet metal menagerie.

The method I chose was quick and dirty; I picked my wife up in it a couple hours after cutting the seized bolt. Had I the time to tear out that much interior, or absolutely no welding experience, cutting a hole in the top of the structure sounds pretty darn good.
 
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