gone postal
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- St. Augustine, FL
97 Country
I'm trying to do a transfer case drop and it's turning out to be a royal PITA. On my '91 I was done in 10 minutes - studs came right out. This beast is another story though. I soaked them for days w/ PB blast. Tried double nuts method. Tried vice grips. Still nothing. So today I took it to a shop and paid a tech a few bucks to tack weld the nuts on. I just got home, lifted the Jeep by crossmember and started on the first stud. It started to move w/ the first turn of the ratchet. "Sweet" I thought to myself. I got about 20 turns on it - could see quite a few threads and then "BAM" something popped and the nut/stud combo shot up flush w/ the crossmember again. It was actually quite a loud sound. The nut/stud now spins freely in either direction. So, I'm guessing I broke the welds on the inside. The weird part is that the nut/stud won't move up/down (in/out - however you look at it). My thinking is that if I had the stud out 20 cranks that it should have some play, but it's tight on the crossmember - just freely spins. I can't even pry it down w/ a flathead screwdriver!!!
So, now my delimna is what the hell do I do now? I can obviously cut the nut off, but how do I go about anchoring that corner of the crossmember? Feed a bolt in? I really don't want to cut any holes, but will if it's my only option. I have heard that there are already factory access holes on the inside of the vehicle - can anyone confirm this?
I'm trying to do a transfer case drop and it's turning out to be a royal PITA. On my '91 I was done in 10 minutes - studs came right out. This beast is another story though. I soaked them for days w/ PB blast. Tried double nuts method. Tried vice grips. Still nothing. So today I took it to a shop and paid a tech a few bucks to tack weld the nuts on. I just got home, lifted the Jeep by crossmember and started on the first stud. It started to move w/ the first turn of the ratchet. "Sweet" I thought to myself. I got about 20 turns on it - could see quite a few threads and then "BAM" something popped and the nut/stud combo shot up flush w/ the crossmember again. It was actually quite a loud sound. The nut/stud now spins freely in either direction. So, I'm guessing I broke the welds on the inside. The weird part is that the nut/stud won't move up/down (in/out - however you look at it). My thinking is that if I had the stud out 20 cranks that it should have some play, but it's tight on the crossmember - just freely spins. I can't even pry it down w/ a flathead screwdriver!!!
So, now my delimna is what the hell do I do now? I can obviously cut the nut off, but how do I go about anchoring that corner of the crossmember? Feed a bolt in? I really don't want to cut any holes, but will if it's my only option. I have heard that there are already factory access holes on the inside of the vehicle - can anyone confirm this?
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