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broken shock bolts

I'd say you did pretty good with only 3 out of the 4 snapping. Those things are notorious for snapping even with the use of penetrant and heat. I snapped all of mine off when i was installing my lift. :smsoap: I just drilled em out, retapped them, and bolted them fast.

It is a major PITA to be drilling upside down like that but it will work.
 
easier to pop them out w/air chisel & drop in new bolts from the top
 
nick86 said:
easier to pop them out w/air chisel & drop in new bolts from the top
Click to expand...
+1

Just did this tuesday. Amazingly I only had to do 1, I tried a drift punch and the BFH and had no luck. Ended up drilling out the bolt, Drilled a small pilot hole through the floor. and used I wanna say a 3/4" hole saw and dropped a bolt through. The hole ended up being almost a perfect fit for the same plug that is in the 8.25 Diff cover ;)
 
theres a few threads at the bottom of this page just like yours if you want a quicker answer

CumminsJeep said:
X2
Click to expand...

just like this =)
PIC-0259.jpg

PIC-0260.jpg

these tacks are all that hold it together
PIC-0261.jpg

i tied a fishing line to the threads and fished em thru... it was a piece of cake.
PIC-0265.jpg
 
When I broke mine I had to cut access holes from the top to get them out. My welded nuts had it seemed Extra welds on them. The above posted picture shows just spot welds. Mine had those spot welds then around maybe 1/4 - 1/3 of each nut was a solid thick weld seam. I beat on them with a 3lb hammer from below for a long time and got nowhere.

I ended up using a dremal from above to cut through weld. Not sure if the extra weld is from the factory on some XJs or if mine had been done before and someone decided to extra weld...
 
yeah mine was like iwannadie's. It's a rusty-ass 96...

I ended up boring straight through the nut and stacked another nut behind it. When I went to replace my rusted out floors I junked the entire shock crossmember and rebuilt it with 2x2x1/4" rectangular steel tubing and dumped the bar pin setup entirely, I made my own shock tabs and have grade 8 bolts going through each now.
 
Same experience here in my 2001 (3 out of 4 snapped). I knocked the sheared ones out with an impact chisel as suggested by others, but fed new nuts into the top side using a telescoping magnet (made the process quite easy, honestly). I'll be installing a lift and new shocks this weekend so I'll likely have to do it again...
 
I don't know why people drill holes through the floor to gain access. After punching the welded nuts away with a long drift, I simply taped the new bolts to an open end wrench and passed the bolt through the open channel near the shock bolt holes. Once in, I threaded a nut on and broke the masking tape free. Fishing line would also work, like MAxxXJ said.
 
I didn't have to drill, all I needed was a pair of pliers :eek:

I hate rust.
 
rocknxj said:
I don't know why people drill holes through the floor to gain access. After punching the welded nuts away with a long drift, I simply taped the new bolts to an open end wrench and passed the bolt through the open channel near the shock bolt holes. Once in, I threaded a nut on and broke the masking tape free. Fishing line would also work, like MAxxXJ said.
Click to expand...

iwannadie said:
When I broke mine I had to cut access holes from the top to get them out. My welded nuts had it seemed Extra welds on them. The above posted picture shows just spot welds. Mine had those spot welds then around maybe 1/4 - 1/3 of each nut was a solid thick weld seam. I beat on them with a 3lb hammer from below for a long time and got nowhere.

I ended up using a dremal from above to cut through weld. Not sure if the extra weld is from the factory on some XJs or if mine had been done before and someone decided to extra weld...
Click to expand...

That's why?
 
rocknxj said:
Makes sense. That would suck to pound those out from underneath and get nowhere. I broke all four bolts on my first XJ and used my tape and wrench method. The bolts came right out on my current Cherokee, cuz it's a sweet machine.
Click to expand...

Yea I mean I really beat on those things with everything I had and it didn't make the slightest difference. They were nowhere near breaking loose. After seeing the thick weld I think an air hammer wouldn't have done any better.

I actually went to sears and bought a punch just for that job, it was the strongest one they had supposedly. The ends started to mushroom and my mini sledge was getting dents from where I was beating the punch.
 
iwannadie said:
Yea I mean I really beat on those things with everything I had and it didn't make the slightest difference. They were nowhere near breaking loose. After seeing the thick weld I think an air hammer wouldn't have done any better.

I actually went to sears and bought a punch just for that job, it was the strongest one they had supposedly. The ends started to mushroom and my mini sledge was getting dents from where I was beating the punch.
Click to expand...

Carbon steel 16" pry bar from Harbor Freight for 2.99, or the three-piece set for 6.49. Great for punching the bejezus out of spot welded shock nuts. I keep the 6" bar in my glove box for unscrewing my recovery shackle bolts when I need to. Also handy for prying down the sway bar when fastening the disconnected sway bar end links.

image_3828.jpg
 
Last edited:
rocknxj said:
Carbon steel 16" pry bar from Harbor Freight for 2.99, or the three-piece set for 6.49. Great for punching the bejezus out of spot welded shock nuts. I keep the 6" bar in my glove box for unscrewing my recovery shackle bolts when I need to. Also handy for prying down the sway bar when fastening the disconnected sway bar end links.

image_3828.jpg
Click to expand...

dont ya just hate that you have to torque down your shackles to keep the honest man honest?

@ iwannadie- did you try kickin off ur high heels and putting down your purse before you swung ur hammer at the punch? :gee: i didnt mess with a lil 3 lb hammer i went for the short handled 5 lb hammer =) put the punch up there closed my eye's and swung as hard as i could!

(for those wondering, i close my eye's so all the dirt/rust/etc doesnt get into my eyes, even with goggles/glasses i always seem to get something in my eye unless i close them)
 
i did the fishing string as well and to get the fishing string out i tied some paper to it and use some air to blow it threw.was pretty easy
 
Broke all 4 of mine, just drilled and re-tapped. Been holding since May - kinda wished I'd just punched out the old nuts though.
 
It's way past time somebody posted a reminder to use anti-seize on suspension bolts if you live in rust (salt on winter roads) country- unless you enjoy breaking the same bolts again next time....always sooner than you think, too!
 
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