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Rear Shock Nutsert Replacements: Weld or ???

J

jnewell

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Eastern Mass.
As posted earlier, even with extensive PBlaster use all 4 upper shock bolts on my '00 XJ snapped. I'm evaluating whether to drill and tap or just knock the nutserts out. I have some 8mm flanged nuts which would work great for the second option. My questions are:

1. If you knock the factory nutserts out and replace with a new nut, do you need to secure the replacement nut with a weld or in some other way?

2. Has anyone put the BOLT on top so the bolt extends downward and the nut threads upwards from the shock side? I am guessing there are clearance problems unless you cut a hole in the rear deck?

Thanks for your help with this. :smsoap:
 
knock them out. no need to secure them with any welds...but you can if you want?

You can go either way, but if you want the bolt up top, you guessed it, you have to cut some little holes in the floor and then patch them up.

Searching should turn up lots of info on this!
 
Thanks, I did actually do a pile of searching and came up with the two basic answers: drill & tap or remove & replace.

I was going to drill/tap, but thinking about trying to keep a tap wrench straight while working around the exhaust, upside down, gives me visions of broken taps, and drilling those out would be basically impossible...too hard.

So, I'm leaning toward just knocking 'em out and using new flanged nuts from above. The clearance for fishing nuts and keeping a wrench on them looks relatively generous.
 
I would just pop em out. I did this on several jeeps. It isnt to hard you can either hit with an air hammer or a punch and a BFH. i was able to put my hand up inside the access hole and push bolts down through. You dont need long ones just an inch or so. but either way works. Not too hard to do. i think the last one took me about 30 minutes to do all 4.

Bug
 
I've ended up doing a couple different things. On my last one I got lazey after a tap broke and just used self tapping screws. The one before I knocked the old nuts out and then tack welded a length of coathanger to the new nut to hold it in place and get started.
 
Plenty of good threads on this...

Pop them out. Drop new bolts down through the holes. No need to cut holes in your floor - just feed them through the access holes in the unibody nearby. Some people use the "fishing line" method... I used a magnetic pickup tool to carefully scoot them over the holes and drop them in. Took some zen patience for me but it worked very well.
 
So, there really is no need to fix the bolthead or nut that's on the top side in place somehow? It seems a little odd...I guess I'm worrying a little about wallowing out the holes from pressure on the shocks, or something like that...
 
Last edited:
took me about 30 mins to drill and tap all 4 on my 95 last month ... I drilled a small hole in the broken bolt then the bigger hole then the tap ...

Make sure you have new drills bits and a good tap and wrench .... Good Tools make all the differance in the world
 
Everybody talks about the access holes and such. On mine one of the sides looks like it might be possible to fish a bolt or but through the access hole, but the other side looks nearly impossible. The access hole isn't even close to the shock mounting point so I wonder how you could even fish one over there.
 
I broke 3 of the 4. Just burped them out with air impact. Used wire to fish new bolts in thru the top. Whole job took less than 30 min's. But. with air tools.
 
Access is very close on my 2000. Would be better yet if the exhaust weren't there. I do have all the right/good tools, and just bought some LH drill bits in case I decide to go that way.
 
So far I've always drilled and tapped them. The drilling is a bit tedious but not too bad. For tapping, I welded a tap to a piece of rod about 18 inches long with an L-shaped end for a handle. Retap in US coarse thread, and it's pretty easy to do.

However, next time I run into this (my 99 is probably about due) I think I might just knock the inserts out and make my own tab nuts. Take a couple of strips of metal 1/8 inch or so thick, drill and tap them near one end, and use them instead of nuts. You could just slip them in to the space and hand hold the tabs without needing a wrench.

Think of this, with a longer tab:

img_gripco_spot_s1.gif
 
Tab Nuts, That's a great Idea! I wonder if McMaster-Carr has them? I drilled and tapped my 97. I bought a 5/16 tap and drill set at Home Depot. New drill and tap makes all the difference. I have a tap wrench, that the slide bar come's off and has a 1/4" square on the top so you can put a long 1/4 extension on it and a ratchet. This way you can tap it with out parts getting in the way.
 
Sad to say but when my XJ needs shocks I take it to sears, if they break a bolt they fix it. :D :D :D :D
 
bowzone_mikey said:
took me about 30 mins to drill and tap all 4 on my 95 last month ... I drilled a small hole in the broken bolt then the bigger hole then the tap ...

Make sure you have new drills bits and a good tap and wrench .... Good Tools make all the differance in the world
Click to expand...

That is my plan for step one. Try drilling with new LH drill bits, starting 1/8" going up from there, to see if they will back out. If they do, I'm done. If not, I'll evaluate based on access and how well centered the holes are.

If access is ok (yeah, right?) I'll give the taps a try. If not, I'll probably just go straight to the air hammer and knock 'em out.

It still makes me nervous that the replacement nuts (or bolts, whichever) are only being held in place, and therefore the shocks are only being held in place, but the holes in the sheet metal that's attached to the floorpan. I guess they should be fine - it's only shock absorbers, not springs or something like that, and there are two on each shock. What's bugging me is visions of the holes becoming egg-shaped and having the shocks move around under load.

But, if that were a problem, I'm guessing I would have read about it. I've searched this on several forums and also searched the 'net with Google and no one mentions that issue/concern.
 
You could always replace them with bar pin eliminators.
 
Blaine B. said:
Everybody talks about the access holes and such. On mine one of the sides looks like it might be possible to fish a bolt or but through the access hole, but the other side looks nearly impossible. The access hole isn't even close to the shock mounting point so I wonder how you could even fish one over there.
Click to expand...

Not impossible. I didn't even use fishing line or wire. I greased up the end of the bolts and stuck them on the end of my wrench. That worked fine, but the wire method leaves less room for error.


jnewell said:
It still makes me nervous that the replacement nuts (or bolts, whichever) are only being held in place, and therefore the shocks are only being held in place, but the holes in the sheet metal that's attached to the floorpan. I guess they should be fine - it's only shock absorbers, not springs or something like that, and there are two on each shock. What's bugging me is visions of the holes becoming egg-shaped and having the shocks move around under load.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the bar pin is resting against the sheet metal. The bolt keeps the shock in place. The bar pin is being pressed against the sheet metal by the pressure of the shock and the weight of the jeep. The only time the bolt receives any significant stress is on down travel. The only time I could see a problem occuring is if you were maxing out your down travel at high speed.
 
Yeah, I eventually got comfortable with that yesterday. I went out today; here's my report.

Tried to drill w/ LH drill, hoping for self-extraction. BZZT.

Thought about tapping - decided I was too likely to break a tap and that would be very bad. BZZT.

Got the air hammer out. I think the combined time to remove all four nutserts was about 3.2 seconds, total. Well, maybe 32 seconds. Not much more. Took longer to roll from the left side to the right side on the creeper than to get two out. I have a selection of 8mm and 3/8" hardened fasteners; I'll use whichever fits better and we'll be done. I was replacing the rear leafs too and have a question on that I'll post separately.
 
A quick zap with a punch on an air hammer removed the broken trash like it was glued in . I used one of those magnets on a telescopic handle with a 1" bolt and flat washer across the end of the magnet to put it in the holes . Once you get the hang of it it isn't to bad and then I had a 7/16 wrench that worked fine to hold them . Their is a post someplace that I learned the magnet idea but they used 1/4" bolts which don't even sound right when speaking of shock mounts . I used I think 5/16" which fills up the bolt hole in the shock much better .
 
I'm an old hand at fishing nuts in the frame rails...won't be a problem at all. Pretty poor comment on the hardware, though, that nearly everyone breaks 'em.
 
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