Broken leaf spring bolt

i was loosining the bolts that hold the leaf spring up in place, those one that are located behind the doors. well i broke those and i cant really get them out cause there like seized. is there a way i can remove them without dealing with the fuel lines on driverside (my main concern) anyway i can cut them out.

i blew a hole on the passenger side. i ended up blowing the bolt out with a 6011 welding rod cranked at 210v. has anyone had this problem. i need help bad.

Paul

Yeah, many people have had this problem but I've never heard of blowing a hole or blowing the bolt out with a welding rod. If the bolt is siezed to the spring bushing, most people use a sawzall to cut it out.

Damn... Ive heard about this happening to people. I just installed a lift myself and fortunatly didnt run into this problem. Im probably not the best person to get advice from just because of lack of experence. did you break the head off of the bolt? did you say you used a welder to melt the bolt out on the passenger side? damn. well the only thing i can think of is taking the bolt out on the shackle end and letting the weight come off the leaf spring. then drill a small pilot hole through the center of the bolt followed by with a larger bit to completly drill the bolt out. Sorry thats the best i can come up with at the moment. im sure if you wait a little longer someone on her who knows more then me can give you another idea. I wish i could be more help. good luck

Idk if you can use a sawzall though can you? isnt that bracket that the eye of the leaf goes into welded to the subframe? i guess you could cut it and weld it back on if you have no other choice. but i wouldnt want to mess with that

there are two things that can happen

A. the nut breaks off inside the frame
B. the bushing seizes to the bolt

for problem A, you have to cut a hole in the frame and use a wrench. i find it easiest to cut right under the bolt with an angle grinder.

for problem B, you might be able to heat up the bolt and somehow get it out, but i doubt it. i tried that for a long time and it didnt work. i cut off the bolt head, then pulled the rear of the spring around towards the front of the car. this will get the spring out, but most likely cause problem A as well. so be prepared to cut...
good luck

paul_xj04 said:

i was loosining the bolts that hold the leaf spring up in place, those one that are located behind the doors. well i broke those and i cant really get them out cause there like seized. is there a way i can remove them without dealing with the fuel lines on driverside (my main concern) anyway i can cut them out.

Click to expand...

What broke? What's seized?

Did the bolt(s) break, or did the nuts that are tack welded inside the frame pop the welds so they are free-spinning?

what broke was the bolt itself. it had been a pain in my ass to brake loose and when it was loose it still was a bitch to unbolt. i had to use my body weight to get this thing to loosin alittle bit. then it broke a 1/4 of the way in the leaf spring itself. i had unbolted the shackle and jumped on the spring to slide it off the bolt.

for redyouch you cant get to the back of the bolt with a wrench. there is a small box thats on the outside of the frame rails that the leaf sets next to when its bolted up, thats where the nut is. i tried that way and i cut a hole for no reasone except now i can put a nut through that way (inside the frame and have to use a socket to loosin it). someone suggest me on another forum to just cut that little box that holds the nut in. then run a bolt straight through that into the inside of the frame.

should i try that, how will that gap between the leaf and the frame affect me or can i suck the gap closed with the bolt tight.
thanx for the advice.

Paul

I hadnt read any of these posts until this happened to me. I am building spring packs (old xj + S-10s). My situation was the weld broke on the nut inside the frame, so the bolt spun freely. I knocked the head off it, and tried to knock it through enough to get the spring off. no good. Sawzall blades dont like the bolt either. I am planning on doing the hole saw thru the back of the frame trick. I figure a circle in the frame is much better than a cut, that could spread.. if need be I will reinforce it.... this one of Jeeps great ideas though....

A wise man said to me once; I was doing a dakota leaf build.. he simply said "leave the main XJ leaf on" since we're just going to add leafs to that.... I haven't had problems since I installed it that way.

Ludakris said:

I hadnt read any of these posts until this happened to me. I am building spring packs (old xj + S-10s). My situation was the weld broke on the nut inside the frame, so the bolt spun freely. I knocked the head off it, and tried to knock it through enough to get the spring off. no good. Sawzall blades dont like the bolt either. I am planning on doing the hole saw thru the back of the frame trick. I figure a circle in the frame is much better than a cut, that could spread.. if need be I will reinforce it.... this one of Jeeps great ideas though....

Click to expand...

NO WHAT EVER YOU DO DONT CUT THE BACK OF THE FRAME! its a waste of time, you cant get to that nut from the back. look at the spring hanger. where you slide the bolt through that first hole then it goes into the spring, theres a box thats on the outside of the frame, its about a 1" square box. thats where your nut is and thats what i had to cut off to get to mine. i cut the back of the frame on mine and now thats where i have access to the nut if i ever had to use a rachet to undo that.

its a bitch!

what you have to do is cut a small slit maybe 2 inches long and half an inch wide in the bottom of the nut box. then you can slide in a wrench and hold the bolt in place. i did this. it works great. u can use an angle grinder to make the hole.

that is what i was thinkin' i would do if i broke mine redyouch. it hasn't broken yet but it isn't loose either. I hace tried a tire iron on the end of my 1/2" drive ratchet, pushing up like a bench press and even a jack under my ratchet. I don' t think a breaker bar will help as the latter two methods probably generated nearly as much torque. The weight of the XJ couldn't turn this bolt. I even stood on the door sill and jumped (250#). All to no avail, maybe I have the toughest bolt of all...

We had to do that on a buddies rig. Put a tire iron on the bolt and a jack stand under the tire iron, then he jumped on it. It worked, but I have air tools now.................... :laugh3:

you can get the bolt off. use on of those 18" wratchets with the swiveling end. get a 3 or 4' peice of pipe to put over the end. i guarentee it will come loose.

ended up using a 4-way tire iron after melting the bushing and getting everything real hot. the passenger side was siezed to the sleeve and eventually did break as i tried to get it out. i just cut that one off and put a hole in the pocket to reattach a new bolt, as the old one had come loose from its welds.