front track bar removal?

hi all. i'm trying to put a 1.75" econo lift on my 1999 XJ. it's a VT car, and is thus a ball of rust underneath. it's pretty obvious that none of the suspension stuff has ever been removed.
i'm working on the front...
i got the shock bolts off the bottom, and the sway bar upper nuts off.

i just want to drop the axle down far enough to get the springs off to install the spacers/upper perches.

i'm assuming i'll also have to remove the track bar and at least two of the control arms? do i have to remove the tie rod?

for the track bar, i got the lower passenger side bolt almost all the way out, but it's a bear and i think it's because the bar is under load (squeeking/complaining bushing on every turn of the bolt)? i tried to remove the top bolt at the joint but the rusted cotter pin is sheared off at the castle nut :flamemad:.

is there a way to remove the axle attachment track bar bolt when it's not under pressure? alternatively, if i remove it will i ever get it back on?

any other tricks? what else do i have to take off? i have a spring compressor, if i use that how much of a short cut can i take?

also, all these bolts are going to need replacing. can i get them at my local auto shop?

thanks all!

Tricks? I'd say start w/ lots of liquid wrench first, jack up the car one side at a time, remove the tire, you may need to remove either the swaybar link or the shock depending on which way you want to pry out the spring I usually do it from the front, do the spring compressors, pop off the bumpstop, remove spring, install spacer and spring w/ bumpstop inside spring loose, pry bumpstop back in w/ prybar, move to other side, repeat. Most bolts can be had at your local hardware store. Good luck with it.

i did it one side at a time. i removed both tires, both top shock nuts, both coil retaining bolts. i may have disconnected the two outer tie rods as well. I then placed a piece of 2x6 under the lower ball joint on the floor. I then proceeded to jack the opposing side of axle up, positioning the jack again under the lower ball joint. Raise it all the way up till the low axle end is resting on 2x6. Spring should just pull out by hand, maybe some roughin about. Replace with new isolator and spring. Works like a dream. Spring compressors freak me out, at least the cheap renter ones do..hope this helps.

If you're already this deep into the process, just place a floor jack under the axle tube near the frame-side track bar bracket. Raise and lower the jack until you find a "sweet spot" in which there is little to no pressure/stress on the bolt. Might be tedious, but it works.

On the frame side, don't be dismayed by the sorry state of the cotter pin. Get a long breaker bar or an impact wrench and go to town. You may want to file or punch/hammer the sheared remains of the cotter pin so that they are flush with the castle nut sides (thus allowing you to fit the appropriate socket over the nut without hammering it on). With a bit of torque, the castle nut will slice right through the cotter pin.

Once done, either drill or punch out the remains of the cotter pin if you intend to re-use this track bar. I *think* it is a 3/16" x 2" cotter pin (AutoZone sells them).

i just put on my IRO double shear track bar. The lucky part is you can take off the track bar and bracket as one unit.

For the axle side it was a 15mm socket and it came out. From there I lifted the axle up and down until i found a spot where it was easy to get it out.

One tip i have once you get a bit of the head out, i used a plier and grabbed the bolt, then used a hammer to get it out.

my 96 has a nice coat of... "rust armor" on the underside as well. i broke the bolts trying to change my shocks. working on changing out my bushings a little at a time now. with the track bar, anthrax323 had the right idea. also, prepare to use a helluvalotta pb blaster and remember, if it won't move... get a bigger hammer. match the stock bolts up with some grade 8 bolts from the hardware store, they'll be stronger, last longer and resist corrosion alot better.

if you have air tools at your disposal, put an impact gun on the bolt and spin it while applying pressure on the "collar" of the bolt head with a pry bar. it should back itself out nice and easy.

the upper mount... try and cut off the cotter pin as flush to the castle nut as possible. then apply pressure form the bottom of the trac bar joint with a jack, and use a box end wrench, with a second wrench as a snipe and twist the nut off. the cotter pin is soft and should allow you to spin the nut. the pressure on the tapered stud, provided by the jack should keep the stud from spinning.

crash3400 said:

my 96 has a nice coat of... "rust armor" on the underside as well. i broke the bolts trying to change my shocks. working on changing out my bushings a little at a time now. with the track bar, anthrax323 had the right idea. also, prepare to use a helluvalotta pb blaster and remember, if it won't move... get a bigger hammer. match the stock bolts up with some grade 8 bolts from the hardware store, they'll be stronger, last longer and resist corrosion alot better.

Click to expand...

Gotta refute the grade 8 recommendation here unfortunately. The closest compatible SAE bolt diameter is smaller and can lead to death wobble and/or reaming of the axle-side track bar bracket unless it's torques EXTREMELY tight (learned this the hard way).

If you want to preserve the original bolt threads (likely a yes), use the jack method or get a helper (girlfriend, neighbor, mailman, whoever) to turn the steering wheel from side to side slowly until the bolt can gracefully slide out. Hammering and prying only marred the threads on my original bolt, which led to a cross-thread... Jeep is quite proud of their hardware, as a replacement nut and bolt cost around $30. Fortunately, I cleaned up the threads on the old pair and have spares now.

thanks. i had the sway bar links removed previously, and unbolted the bottom of the shock. i used the spring compressors but to get more clearance i put my bottle jack between the axle and the frame. worked great. no way that castle nut for the track bar is coming off the "traditional" way. :firedevil
at some point i'll go at that with my nut cracker i guess.

anyway, the front is done, just had to figure out the trick to work around my rusty bolts.

while i was in there i wire brushed and painted my calipers and greased up the linkages and ball joints.

the rear is currently soaking in pb blaster and i'll work on that one tomorrow. looks like my hitch might be in the way of removing the bolts.

anthrax323 said:

place a floor jack under the axle tube near the frame-side track bar bracket. Raise and lower the jack until you find a "sweet spot" in which there is little to no pressure/stress on the bolt.

Get a long breaker bar or an impact wrench and go to town. You may want to file or punch/hammer the sheared remains of the cotter pin so that they are flush with the castle nut sides (thus allowing you to fit the appropriate socket over the nut without hammering it on). With a bit of torque, the castle nut will slice right through the cotter pin.

Click to expand...

if there really is that sweet spot i'll try that again sometime. i tried and couldn't find it. w/ regard to the impact wrench/breaker bar on the frame side... how? it's inside that cup hanging off the frame rail up in the bay surrounded by steering linkage and the oil pan.

thanks again for the help!

if your just doin spacers no need to remove trackbar or control arms, ive installed 4 diff sets of spacers using the factory bottle jack to push the axle down far enough

anthrax323 said:

Gotta refute the grade 8 recommendation here unfortunately. The closest compatible SAE bolt diameter is smaller and can lead to death wobble and/or reaming of the axle-side track bar bracket unless it's torques EXTREMELY tight (learned this the hard way).

If you want to preserve the original bolt threads (likely a yes), use the jack method or get a helper (girlfriend, neighbor, mailman, whoever) to turn the steering wheel from side to side slowly until the bolt can gracefully slide out. Hammering and prying only marred the threads on my original bolt, which led to a cross-thread... Jeep is quite proud of their hardware, as a replacement nut and bolt cost around $30. Fortunately, I cleaned up the threads on the old pair and have spares now.

Click to expand...

Try metric if SAE is too small.

How did you find out Jeep was "quite proud" of their hardware?

$30 for a nut/bolt?

OoerictoO said:

if there really is that sweet spot i'll try that again sometime. i tried and couldn't find it. w/ regard to the impact wrench/breaker bar on the frame side... how? it's inside that cup hanging off the frame rail up in the bay surrounded by steering linkage and the oil pan.

thanks again for the help!

Click to expand...

Excellent point - I was explaining it from a more general standpoint (any castle nuts) and completely overlooked that detail, lol. An impact wrench is indeed definitely out of the question, but you should still be able to get a breaker bar and socket up in there... If fitting the socket over the nut and cotter pin remnants proves to be impossible, try an open wrench (or crow's foot with a breaker bar). It shouldn't take a huge amount of torque, as cotter pins are pretty weak (especially decaying ones)... They're really just used to prevent accidental loosening (due to vibration, for instance).

Built2Flex said:

Try metric if SAE is too small.

How did you find out Jeep was "quite proud" of their hardware?

$30 for a nut/bolt?

Click to expand...

True - unfortunately nobody around me sells metric 10.9 hardware (the rough equivalent of SAE grade 8).

The $30 figure was what I paid at the dealership for the bolt (something like $7) and the tabbed nut (over $20 IIRC).