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Help Me Help Me- Rear leaf Spring removal problems

M

mark268

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Indiana
Hey guys, This may sound very stupid :( but..... I am having the darndest time removing my bolts that mount the spring to the hanger. Darn these things are tight ! :bawl:
I am thinking (tell me if I am wrong) that over time the bushing have seated (locked, gummed, whatever) to the bolt and are making it extremely hard to turn.
Does anyone know of a trick or am I doing something wrong? Looks like this is a bolt in from outside of vehicel to a threaded back, not a nut. Correct?
I am to the point of torching (cutting) the spring to remove it from around the bolt and free up the rubber bushing. I have no problem doing this in front, but the rear as we all know is next to the gas tank :explosion :flame: :gee:
Please help oh great ones :worship:
 
PB Blaster!

And lots of it for a long period of time. It needs to soak into the nut.
 
Ooops, I forgot to add that as a possible solution. Man I hate these. Can't anything with a Jeep be easy :rolleyes:
 
wait, you mean it just wont turn? if it just wont turn get a 6 ft steel pipe, a breaker bar, and some nutsac on it. if it turns but the bolt wont leave the leaf, you prolly had the same problem i had which was the bolt cold welding itself to the metal sleeve (forgot its technical term :confused: ) in the bushing. so, we bent the bracket back a little and then cut bolt head off next to the spring and ripped that SOB out of there and threw it down the driveway
 
The problem is the metal sleeve inside the rubber bushing is probably rusted to and turning with the bolt. Once you turn it a couple times it hits the outside frame bracket or shackle, at which point it gets even harder to turn. It's not uncommon to break the nut thing loose inside the frame rail on the front bolts, which is a PITA to fix. My solution was to sawzall the bolts off, trying to leave enough on the frame side to grab. If you cut off some of the rubber bushings that stick out of the spring eyes, that gives you a little more room. The PB Blaster works great on many things but if the bolt is rusted to the full length of the metal sleeve, it's just too deep to penetrate. If you do break off the nut inside the frame, my fix was to cut a small hole in the bottom, just big enough for a nut with tab on it. I then had my buddy weld the tab to the side of the hole, then weld a patch over it.
Good Luck
 
Lesslimited92, I believe that is what is happening here. I got the bolt out maybe 1/16" or so, now it just seems tighter than ....? you know ;)
 
BIG ASS PIPE. mine screamed all the way out on the other end. tons of rust. we even woke up the neighbors enough times that he came over to complaign.
 
well, It looks like I will just have to muscle it out. No biggie, I just wanted to hear an easier way. :(
 
I had to do the exact same thing as Lesslimited. The bolt rusts to the bushing. The when you try to force it out, you break the nut inside the frame pocket. Just get ahold of a sawzall, and cut on both sides of the bolt, behind the head, and on the frame side. Beware though, this bolt is very hard, and you are better off getting a carbide-tipped blade to cut it. I ate up like 4 regular blades before going to the carbide one. Good luck!
 
I found that the Dewalt metal cutting sawzall blades would last much longer than the off-brand ones. I could actually get two cuts from the Dewalts, while the off-brands would take two or three to make one cut. And no, I don't work for Dewalt- I'm a remodeling contractor so I've tried lots of different blades.
 
I had the same problem getting my leaf springs off. If you have a torch you can cut the eyelet from the main spring then cut through the bushing and you will be all set.
 
I just had this problem yesterday. The sleeve breaks free from the bushing and turns with the bolt. TRNDRVR came up with a nice solution by hammering a punch into the sleeve along its seam. It was good enough to hold the sleeve in place as I turned the bolt out.

Tom
 
I have not had time to mess with it, going to start again tonight. I think I will try the sawzall idea. Pulling the tank and torching will be my last option as I really dont want to mess with pulling the tank.
So, cut on either side of the spring, then use vise grips on the end still attached. Sounds easy enough. What am I saying, nothing is easy on a Jeep :D
 
Since we tend to do things again sometime (like adding taller springs, putting in poly bushings, etc.), do yourself a BIG favour- coat the bolt with anti-seize compound along the shaft, so that it won't rust in again. I use antiseize on everything under the jeep- keeps life smoother. 4xBob
 
It's amazing how solidly the bolts can rust to the sleeves. I have a set of 2.5" springs I'm trying to sell. A week ago I dug them out of the corner and discovered that one spring had both cut-off bolts still in, while the other was fine. I laid the one with the bolts on it's side so the PB could soak in, flipping it with every other application. After 2 days one came out with a lot of help from the air hammer. As of today the other one is still stuck. When I backed up the sleeve with a socket so the air hammer was only working on the bolt, I blasted the socket into my garage floor. I think I'll try a chisel on the sleeve to see if I can spread it a little.
 
. If you do break off the nut inside the frame, my fix was to cut a small hole in the

I broke my nut off inside a few weeks ago and it's been sitting ever since. Can you give more details of how you did this? Another idea my dad came up with was to cut a trapezoid-shaped hole at the bottom and grind a chunk of metal to fit up in there, then drill and tap the chunk of metal in the right spot and weld the chunk along the bottom as well as on the side(s) through a hole that I'd drill. Opinions? By the way, that pocket sits outside of the frame rail about 1/2" or so. Does the frame run behind it or is there a hole in the frame rail at that spot? TIA.
 
Re: . If you do break off the nut inside the frame, my fix was to cut a small hole in the

xj92 said:
Another idea my dad came up with was to cut a trapezoid-shaped hole at the bottom and grind a chunk of metal to fit up in there, then drill and tap the chunk of metal in the right spot and weld the chunk along the bottom as well as on the side(s) through a hole that I'd drill.
Click to expand...
I just went to look at mine, your dad's idea is pretty much what I did. I only had 1/4" steel so I made a tab about 1" wide x 3" long, drilled and tapped it, ran the bolt thru, put a nut on it, welded the nut to the tab, removed the bolt, stuck it in the hole I made in the pocket on the side of the frame(I'd forgotten about that pocket when I posted before), ran the bolt all the way thru the spring to position the tab/nut properly, then welded it to the side of the pocket, then had my buddy weld the patch( and re-weld the tab-he's a pipefitter and a much better welder than I'll ever be). Obviously, if you've got some thicker metal to work with, the nut wouldn't be necessary, but cutting, drilling, and tapping the thicker metal would be more work, too.
HTH
 
Well here is my update. I started on her again last night. Darn Jeeps, I just love em' !

I broke the inside nut free from the frame so out comes the torch. I first cut the spring from the end wrap. Then I started cutting away at the wrap part of the spring. My plan is to cut off steel around bushing, then either burn or cut bushing off bolt with a sawzall. When I get to the bolt I am going to just cut it to get the darn thing out. I will have to cut a small hole in bottom to get a new nut on new bolt, reassemble and weld on a patch.

Planning on doing the same to all four locations (front and rear spring hangers both sides)

I must remove tank first, I am not comfortable torching next to a gas tank:flame: :explosion I like my garage, house, and life ! Just another pain in my a#s.



:( :(
 
I'm working on the same problem. I've got my springs out and I cut a trapezoid-shaped hole in the bottom of the pocket sitting outside the frame rail. I'm in the process of grinding a solid chunk of steel now that will fill up that entire void, which I will drill and tap and weld in. Turns out that pocket is 7/8" out from the frame, so that's how thick the steel I'm working with is. I'm cutting through it with a cut-off wheel on a grinder. Talk about time consuming. :)
 
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