Broken shock bolt... HELP!??

I have an 88 XJ and need to know if there is anyway to fix a broken bolt in the upper rear shock mount? It's in there pretty good and I tried drilling it out but ended up breaking a bit in there. Is there any website that sells a repair kit for this or anything an owner did to fix this issue? Any help is great!

If it's rusted but good, and breaking drill bits, then it's probably not repairable.

I'd pull up the carpet in the cargo area, then determine where the floor covers the shock mount area. Use a small hole saw and make a hole to get to the top of the mount. Drill out or remove the problem nut that's welded in there and replace with a new bolt/nut. Then make a sheet metal cover for the hole. Replace the cargo carpet.

-take hammer and punch
-punch out the welded nut and broken bolt (its 3 or 4 spot welds)
-find slender hands
-install a nut and bolt with washers while slender hand holds a stubby box wrench from behind.


so far i have done this on 3 renix's

goodluck

rag said:

-take hammer and punch
-punch out the welded nut and broken bolt (its 3 or 4 spot welds)
-find slender hands
-install a nut and bolt with washers while slender hand holds a stubby box wrench from behind.


so far i have done this on 3 renix's

goodluck

Click to expand...

Same method worked perfectly for me, but I just taped the new nut to the box end of the wrench, once it's threaded just pull, the tape won't hold it so you get your wrench back. Drilling holes should be a last resort.

Please don't pull back your carpet and cut your floor.
Brother Rag is 100% correct.

Get a BFH and a punch and wack the nut and broken bolt for the upper mount. The nut is just held on with a few spot welds...then drop a bolt down through the hole and slap a locking washer and nut on.
I believe I used 13mm bolts...stainless steel...works perfect!

Have fun out there....

Or... After drilling out the remains of the broken bolt: Just use a slightly longer bolt, and put the new nut on top of the old nut. Done this both on my 88 and my sisters 99....

(if neccessary, unless you have squirrel-hands, fix the new nut to a rod of some sort with tape or glue, to hold it in position when entering the bolt then pull out the rod. Worked like a charm for me. :roflmao: )


PS: 13mm bolts to hold the shocks is a bit overkill don't you think? I suppose you mean 8mm with 13mm head...

I had the same problem. I broke the tap and drill set I bought to get it out. I was able to just punch the screws out with a hammer and screwdriver easily enough, but couldn't get nuts back in there (don't have squirrel hands). What I ended up doing, as I was installing a lift at the same time and removed the rear sway bar, used the rear swaybar mounts and welded them up where the shock mounts, basically creating a bar-pin eliminator. That way you can just bolt the rear shocks on. Worked great!

Like others have already posted... I just fed a new bolt & washer down through the hole after punching the welded nuts out (a magnetic pick-up tool is good for this, or a box-end wrench and some tape on the back side with the head of the bolt stuck to it). It's fairly easy to get a box-end wrench back on the head of the bolt for tightening or removing later through those little access slots.