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Issues with my rear shocks, would my idea work??

xjrrrdx

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Denver
Today I jacked up the XJ ready to install my lift, I have been spraying all my bolts with rust eater for the past few days. Well my problem was, the bolts that hold on the rear shocks are the most crappy things ever. Hell my left shock was even held on by just one bolt (which causes the rattle). So I took the remaining bolt out of there. I move to the right shock and all I do is just spin the nut with the bolt, I did everything I coudl really think of at the time. I gave up just with that, my question, could I just dremel those bolts out and then add my own aftermarket bolts? And if the remaining bolt did fail and the shock fell would that be an extremely bad thing or would the leaf springs hold up?? I know I ask dumb questions, but hey I am not that bright either
 
yes you can. that is what i ended up doing with mine. make sure you get new bolts for the side with only one bolt too... dont leave it with only one. you can make... handles i guess u would call them... out of sheet metal to feed the bolt through the hole at the top and to come out of the bottom where you mount the shock. just make sure the bolts you get are of the same grade or stronger and that they will be long enough but not too long ot they will be a pain to fit through. cut long 4 strips of sheet metal (one for each bolt.) drill holes in one end of each strip then put the bolt through (if the hole is small enough that you can't slide the bolt through but you can thread it through, that is good because it will help reduce the chance of it spinning later.) then put a nut on the bolt and tighten it down so that it holds the bolt to the piece of sheet metal without the bolt spinning. then you can feed the bolt through the top of the hole where the original bolt went and bolt the shocks to the part of the bolt sticking out. I hope I explained that well enough. if not you can PM me or im sure some one else can explain it to you. im not great with explinations.
 
Well I was driving tonight and the rattling stopped, and I guess when I got the left shock off, whatever was holding the unbolted side on came off so I was driving and all of a sudden it stops. I get to my destination, I look and the shock is just kind of laying on the axle just being held on by the bolt on the axle.
 
Going in from the top such as in the Rock Lizard Article is the way to go and can be done with metal clippers if you don't have a grinder. My local dealer u mentioned that they have used this approach for years since it gives them the chance to upgrade the bolts to better hardware and makes access fairly easy the next time the shocks are ready to be changed.
 
Thanks to the promise of free shock installation, handled by a unexperienced mechanic with a impact wrench obsession, the same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. You will have to pop the old ones out, but it was very easy on my 99 (The spot welds are quite weak, at least on mine). There are 2 triangular holes on each side about 6 inches away from the mounts, If you are very paitent you can get new nuts (get those ones with the squished end that won't unthread) and sneak them in with long needle nose pliers. (they sell a set at harbor freight for about 8 bucks, Crafstman has them too) Then I used a long thin Snap-on wrench and was able to tighten them down all in a short period of time. Still intact even after off road abuse, but I am about to upgrade and will have to go through it again. I never got any satisfaction from the "Big Box" tire store that hammered it to start with. I would not have even known, but I was watching the tech work, one broke on each side and he just reinstalled the good ones. They told me it was not their problem, take it to the dealer.
Good luck. (oh yeah, biger washer on the inside to cover the hole)
 
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