removing head-less bolt!

[01din]

Changing my shock absorbers yesterday, and one of the rear, upper bolt's head broke off when I was removing it. I tried taking it out with a broken screw removing kit I have, but it didnt work...

The shock absorber is steady with the second bolt, but not good enough.

Ideas on how to remove it?

David
'99 4.0

[footdale]

Take a look through some of these
http://www.naxja.org/forum/search.php?searchid=1110264

[jeepsrock]

You only have a few options depending on your circumstances..If you have a bit of the bolt stick out you may want to try to use lock pliers first. If you dont get anywhere with that or dont have enough clearence i have had some luck on larger bolts by making a straight line ditch in the bolt (using a dremel), so that i can use a flat head screwdriver. THe last solution is that you are gonna have to peel your carpet back in the hatch area and cut a small flap in the back using a cutter and access the nut and remainder of the bolt- and repalce with grade 8 hardware.

good luck
pete

[ponyracer1]

I used a chisel and knocked the welded nut out, then drill pilot holes in the floor for reference, pull back the carpet and use a hole saw. Then dropped new bolts down through and welded them in place, welded up the holes, painted it and called her a day.

You can also use a magnet or a wrench to fish new nuts up there, hope you have better luck with that than I did.

[CountryXJer]

I knocked out the broken bolt/nut and fished new bolts through the crossmember. If you have a welder handy, you could then just tack them in place and make sure to apply anti-sieze liberally when putting the nuts on.

[XJ5]

I just drilled them out, tapped the holes and replaced with grade 8 bolts coated in plenty of anti-seize. I think it was a 5/16" by 1" bolt.

[edboyce1971]

Left hand drill bits work great. Better than most extractors.