Rear leaf springs forward bolts

Ok so I am at the end of day two of trying to install my lift kit on my jeep and my issue is I cannot get the front bolts out of either side of the rear springs. they are just a bolt and no nut, so I take it, it threads into the unibody. My concerns are that the PO added rock sliders and utilized that same bolt to hold the bars on. I am worried that they used tread locker or a torque wrench. Any ideas? I have sprayed it continually with PB.

Do they not move or are they just spinning? Two different problems. Also are you spraying the pb blaster in between the spring bushings and the mount to get it down where the bolt and threads are and not just hosing down the outside of it?

The sleeve inside the spring bushing is probably seized to the leaf spring bolts. If the springs are not to be saved, cut them off. Split open the spring eye by cutting, and remove the bushing. A 4" angle grinder with a 030-.060m thick cutting blade works perfectly.

Now apply heat and penetrating oil directly to the weld nut inside the frame rail. A 3 foot breaker bar will also help.

It is just not moving, that is a great idea about cutting the old leaf off. I thought about buying an electric impact gun to try and see if that would help bump it loose.

There's a weld nut inside the frame pocket there. Usually there is corrosion build up behind the weld nut and also inside the bushing inner sleeve. Usually the bolt seizes to the inner sleeve. Couple of options

1) Use a reciprocating saw and cut the bolt on both sides of the leaf bushing and let the leaf fall out with the chunk of bolt still in the bushing. If needed, use a Dremel to cut a slot in the remaining part of the bolt and use a screwdriver to back it out. I prefer this method IF the bolt is known to be turning in the weld nut. You need to have new bolt for this too. I did this on my junk and another XJ just recently, pretty simple operation.

2) Use a cutoff wheel on an angle grinder, and cut the leaf at the bushing to get it out of the way. Then cut into the leaf eye and start hacking away at the bushing rubber, working to expose the roll seam of the inner sleeve. If you get all the way there, use a chisel or screwdriver to separate the inner sleeve, and the bolt should break loose and then turn out. Usually it breaks free before you get all the way there. This approach takes a lot more time and is smelly and dirty, but it saves the bolt.

3) Sometimes the weld nut breaks loose. If that happens, you will need to cut a small hole in the bottom of the pocket, cut the bolt, and pull the nut out, then use a wrench on a new nut in the pocket. This happened on my POS.

When you reinstall it all - be sure to use anti-seize. I used it on mine when I installed my lift 5 years ago. I took it all apart this weekend for the first time and all the bolts broke free with little effort.

Cottontail said:

When you reinstall it all - be sure to use anti-seize. I used it on mine when I installed my lift 5 years ago. I took it all apart this weekend for the first time and all the bolts broke free with little effort.

Click to expand...

Yes! When installing use lots of anti-seize. Cut the spring eye off. Even using penetrant for a month I still had to get out the cut off wheel. Its easier to cut the spring and get the bolt out than it is to destroy the pocket in the unibody frame or worry about the weld nut on the inside of the unibody.... If the bolts are that screwed up, you might need new bolts.

Thanks for the advice guys, I cannot get the bolt to even begin to move. I am also doing it on jack stands in my garage and have zero leverage.

Cut the spring. It takes about 10-15 minutes. Most of time the bolt is seized to the sleeve and no amount of force will make it break lose. Besides, you risk breaking loose the weld nut inside the frame. Usually you can even clean up and re-use the bolt.

you can try what i did, using an 18" 1/2" breaker bar and a 13/16" socket(supposed to be 21mm but this fits better) and if you have a floor jack you slide it under the breaker bar and jack it up! also heating it up with a propane torch for a minute helped me as well

I went out and gave it one more heave ho so to speak on the drivers side and used all the force I could muster in my body in a contortionist angle and got it to break free. I finally got it out and the drivers side leaf spring is free, now to install the new one and work on the passenger side. I have to get done today as I have to work tomorrow.
'

If you can see the roll seam on the inner sleeve, you can try drilling a hole through the rubber as a guide, and spray PB Blaster into it. That will help to break up the corrosion.

Hey guys thanks again for all the advice, I finally took your advice ehall and drilled a hole and sprayed pb into it and both bolts came free. I just finished putting the lift on and just mounted my rubicon wheels and tires. I will post some pics up in a bit.

invest in a cheap compressor and a 1/2" impact gun above your budget. the bigger gun will make a difference and you wont regret spending the extra $$.
air tools make all the difference when working under your rig.

This sounds like such delightful fun :shiver:. I think I will take the weekend off
and drink a few beers, LOL, instead.

Awesome thread, awesome warnings of what to beware of, and great ideas on how to tackle it. Already snapped a u-bolt trying to free up one nut after using plenty of pen lube.

I don't see enough space to get a high power impact in there, or even a small one.

Cutting the already busted spring would also insure there is no weight or force left on the sleeve and bolt, adding to the problem.

The main spring on mine is already busted at the back side of the axle. So it sounds like all I need to do is get the u-bolts loose/off and open up the clamp things holding the leafs together and I have no more weight on the bushings??

QUOTE=ehall;246226944]There's a weld nut inside the frame pocket there. Usually there is corrosion build up behind the weld nut and also inside the bushing inner sleeve. Usually the bolt seizes to the inner sleeve. Couple of options

1) Use a reciprocating saw and cut the bolt on both sides of the leaf bushing and let the leaf fall out with the chunk of bolt still in the bushing. If needed, use a Dremel to cut a slot in the remaining part of the bolt and use a screwdriver to back it out. I prefer this method IF the bolt is known to be turning in the weld nut. You need to have new bolt for this too. I did this on my junk and another XJ just recently, pretty simple operation.

2) Use a cutoff wheel on an angle grinder, and cut the leaf at the bushing to get it out of the way. Then cut into the leaf eye and start hacking away at the bushing rubber, working to expose the roll seam of the inner sleeve. If you get all the way there, use a chisel or screwdriver to separate the inner sleeve, and the bolt should break loose and then turn out. Usually it breaks free before you get all the way there. This approach takes a lot more time and is smelly and dirty, but it saves the bolt.

3) Sometimes the weld nut breaks loose. If that happens, you will need to cut a small hole in the bottom of the pocket, cut the bolt, and pull the nut out, then use a wrench on a new nut in the pocket. This happened on my POS.[/QUOTE]

I found when I did my leaves in June that the bushings didn't spin freely on the bolts, they seemed to bind on those inner sleeves (and these were MOOG bushings).

I antisiezed the insides of the sleeves, but after I had it all together I wondered if it wouldn't have been a good idea to run a drill bit through to get the sleeve properly rounded inside so it'd spin free. Would that have been a good idea?