help with leaf spring bolt

[99XJLove]

What happens when you use a grinder to cut off the bushings then you realize the metal sleeve is rust/welded to the chassis. Mine will not budge, period. It pretty much sucks right now.

Lots of PB does the trick. Right now i'm stuck at the same spot in my 5.5"LA install. I can't get the drivers front bolt out. I worked on it for about 5 hours on the last 2 days and last night I decided to cut the head off of the bolt because I figured that the threads were all the way out of the hole. But nope so now I have a headless bolt with a seized crush sleeve, and the threads are still engaged in the hole. Any help?

 

[2000bluexj]

Lots of PB does the trick. Right now i'm stuck at the same spot in my 5.5"LA install. I can't get the drivers front bolt out. I worked on it for about 5 hours on the last 2 days and last night I decided to cut the head off of the bolt because I figured that the threads were all the way out of the hole. But nope so now I have a headless bolt with a seized crush sleeve, and the threads are still engaged in the hole. Any help?

Cut the bolt woth a sawzall near the frame rail. Drop spring out then get a pair of pliers to get the rest of the bolt out. did that on mine.

 

[justin_502]

Cut the bolt woth a sawzall near the frame rail. Drop spring out then get a pair of pliers to get the rest of the bolt out. did that on mine.

Haha just be very careful when cutting the bolt with the sawzall! I had my head in the fender the sawzall kicked back and the saw went through about 1/2" under my lip stright through!:dunce: Didnt bleed at first but then I had a small straight line 1/4 inch or so through under my lip. This was last week when I put my 4.5 re leafs in. Its healing up fast and dont think it will scar much, Some guys pierce there lips with lil studs, I use power tools!

 

[duntov]

Had stuck leaf spring bolts on mine too! Boy oh boy do they suck!





But it looks pretty sweet when it is repaired!!!

 

[99XJLove]

Had stuck leaf spring bolts on mine too! Boy oh boy do they suck!





But it looks pretty sweet when it is repaired!!!

That is what I ended up having to do to mine tonight. Is that little piece that you cut out part of the structural integrity? Did you just weld a nut to the back of the square piece? I just planned on leaving it open for easy access to the nut with a wrench.

 

[duntov]

You know, I figured it was better to go ahead and seal it back up to make it stonger. I'd hate to have it lose some of its' strength. This thing is going to see the trails as well as 70-75 mph highway speeds. Can't afford for it to give out. I have seen that some people do leave an access hole. Probably personal preference.

 

[99XJLove]

You know, I figured it was better to go ahead and seal it back up to make it stonger. I'd hate to have it lose some of its' strength. This thing is going to see the trails as well as 70-75 mph highway speeds. Can't afford for it to give out. I have seen that some people do leave an access hole. Probably personal preference.

Yeah I see what you mean about the highway speeds and stuff. My rig will be on the road more than off the road, for a while. I would hate to hurt my family or anyone elses. What size metal did you use for repairing the nut square?

 

[dneitzling]

Is it worth it to go find a tap and try to chase the threads on that nut if they have been buggered up?

 

[Ron Hyslop]

This procedure worked for me several times. Cut off the spring as close as you can to the bushing with a cut of tool. The bushing has a thin metal shield around it, cut it in two places an inch apart and peel that part of the sleeve off. Use a razor to cut throught the rubber bushing in two places were you cut the outer metal sleeve. Keep cutting and pealing the rubber bushing out til you get down to the inner metal sleeve and expose as much as of the sleeve as you can. Now turn the the spring bolt until you see the seam in the inner metal sleeve. Soak it good with penetrating oil. Use a chizel and hammer and whale on the sleeve at the seem. After a bit, the sleeve will split at the seem. Keep soaking it with penetrating oil during the procedure. Once the sleeve splits, a few back and forth turns on the spring bolt and the bolt will come right out.

 

[jaqattack02]

Wow, you guys seem to be doing this the hard way. The bolts on mine were stuck in the metal inside the bushing and wouldn't come out. They were loose from the threads though. We took a Dremel and cut halfway through the bolt on the outside of the mount, and then smacked it with a big hammer until it broke off. Then took a grinder and ground down the bolt till it was flush. Then we took a big chisel and hammer and drove the chisel between the spring and the mount, and pried the mount out enough that the bolt dropped out of the hole. Then we took the bolt out of the shackle side of the spring, and worked the spring around until the side we cut off came down far enough, and then the other end just fell out of the truck. We just left the 2/3 of the bolt in the spring since we were replacing the springs anyway.

 

[99XJLove]

This method seemed to be the easiest way for me. It only took like 10 minutes and the nut broke loose from pounding on the bolt. The hole in the hanger was necessary for me but may be not for others.