broken shock bolts.

Replacing old, probably original shocks on stock 2001 xj. Front went fine.
rear- broke top bolts on first one. Did PB plaster everything a few times over the last week. Did try to wiggle or just move / loosen / tighten a couple times before turning. The mounts have fixed nuts you can't get at.

Had a very hard time drilling, could not break with easy - out / screw extractor despite lots of pb , wd, and mapp gas and fear near the fuel tank. Finally drilled thru with 1/4' bit and tapped 5/16 - 18, with much difficulty turning the crummy harbor freight chinese tap handle, which broke of course. I know, I know it's junk, but the room to turn the turn the tap was the hardest. I put the old shock back on since the new ones are Monroe Load levelers for towing stability, still need to address the spring sag.

ANYWAY, I know 10 yr old rusty bolts can be a PIA, but any tips on this??

very easy actually... first there are a few threads on this so search, but in a nut shell.... take a punch and a heavy hammer and hammer on those nuts...they will pop off from their tack welds. now you have open holes. Now buy yourself some bolts/nuts (I went 2mm larger than stock, and they still fit through that cross bar piece on the shock, 10mm IIRC) tape the nut to the end of your wrench mine were 17mm for the nuts, then fish that over the hole and thread the bolt in. takes a bit of trial and error but it isn't horrible. I forgot where exactly but look around, there is a side access hole about 12" away from where the bolts and nuts go.

Some people fish the bolt in through the top...however the bolt length is very critical doing thing b/c it needs to make a 90 degree turn from horizontal to verticle to drop in. a little too long and your are SOL doing it w/ the nut on top (OEM orientation) allows you to be off w/ the bolt length by a good bit w/o it becoming a hassel.

This should go in the FAQ. It's news to me...

thanks, I was just about to post that I musta been delirious cause I didn't SEARCH it before posting:worship: