JRusty15

I hope this is the right section for this post. Anyway, I'm in the process of installing a 3" lift kit on my '99 Cherokee. I just finished up the front and boy, was that a disaster! The kit came with new tubular lower control arms, and removing the old ones was a nightmare! On both sides, the rear bolt that attaches the control arm to the frame was seized in the bushing sleeve. The passenger side bolt ended up coming out after applying some heat, grinder, hammer, anger, voodoo, hate. But the driver's side? Well that one was a mother******. I ground the head clean off and tried to punch it through, but no dice. I couldn't get my grinder to the back due to the front driveshaft. I ended up bending the bracket and wiggling it out. This was about 2-3 days worth of effort too.

So now I'm tackling the rear. I've got the rear end in the air and the wheels off and I've had everything soaking in PB blaster for about 2 days now. I just wanted to see if anyone had good tips or tricks for removing these bolts before I start breaking stuff again. I'm particularly worried about the upper shock bolts and the front leaf spring bolt as they go into the frame and breaking those off would probably be a real pain in the bung hole.

THANKS!

Tbone289

I'm not going to sugar-coat this for you.

Chances are if you had those issues in the front, you will have the same issues in the rear. PB Blaster (good job there, but I would do it for at least a week, 2-3 times a day), heat and more heat, cussing and possibly cutting of springs and bushings is frequently required for removal. One other thing that is sometimes mentioned in the forums is to drill a small hole in the bottom enclosed pocket that the weld nut is in so you can reach the nut with the PB Blaster straw. You're more likely to get the penetrant into the threads that way than around the bushing. That sounds like a good idea to me.

The bolts in the rear are the same ones you dealt with in the front on the control arms. They have thread locker on them from the factory, which the heat will take care of but at least one of them is likely to be rust-frozen to the inner bushing sleeves. If you run into that on the front eye bolt, cut through the leaf at the eye, cut through the bushing all the way to the sleeve, then use a chisel to separate the seam on the sleeve. I usually get lucky with the upper shackle bolts, but I heat the snot out of them.

Buy new bolts and use anti-seize in liberal amounts and chase the weld nut threads with a tap when putting it back together so you won't ever deal with this again.

jordan96xj

Sometimes, a large pickle fork can be used between the bracket and the bolt head to knock it out of the sleeve, or at least get it started in that direction and break the "fuse" that they have formed over the years. I got two of my leaf spring eye bolts out using this technique (after the bolt was turned out of the threads, but still stuck to the bushing sleeve).

Tbone289

I tried that method last time as well, and it didn't work for me, unfortunately. It's definitely worth trying though!

fb97xj1

Expect the upper rear shock bolts to snap. All of them. Sometimes you get lucky, but plan ahead. You can fish new bolts in from the backside (you will have to fish a wrench back there as well), or you can buy Rough Countrys Flag Nut Kit, part #1082, and snap the old bolts off using an impact, then use an air hammer (hand tools work, but takes longer) to break the nuts free. I fished them out with a telescoping magnet afterwards. Had to get creative and tape a magnet to a coat hanger for one of them.

The leafspring bolts had red Loctite from the factory. You will need a torch to soften that stuff to break it loose. The metal sleeve inside the bushing likes to rust to the bolt, too. If youre replacing the leafsprings, just cut them clean off at the bushing and work at it layer by layer.



Pry whats left off, then cut through the bushing shell, then cut the rubber bushing itself. Pry that away from the sleeve. Take a hammer and chisel and pry the sleeve open as best you can (look for the groove). Once thats loose and the bolt can spin, you can start working on the bolt. This is where you need the torch. Youll have a lot more room with the leafspring and stuff out of the way. If you do manage to break that nut loose, cut a an access hole in the bracket, just under the nut, as pictured above. You can do this at any point really if you feel the need. You can leave the hole as is, or weld it back up.

If you are not replacing the leafsprings, its going to take a bit more work as you wont be able to get to that metal sleeve. But you can still cut that access hole for the bolt and shoot some heat up there. But keep in mind that the carpeting is just on the other side of the floorpan. Unless the interiors gone commando.

jordan96xj

Yep, it worked on 2 of my bolts, and did not work on another 2 bolts.

My opinion now, after having been through it, is the best approach is to have at least 3-4 new bolts on hand, and spin the existing bolts out far enough that they are no longer in the nut threads, then grind them off. As long as they are not still in the nut, they are easy to remove once cut. Replace with new.

The number one mistake I see here and on youtube is cutting the bolt before it is completely out of the nut. Because without a head on the bolt, it gets much much more difficult to get it out of the nut. Any time saved by cutting bolt, is wasted dealing with the remaining bolt fragment that must be some how twisted out with no head to work with.

BlueRidgeMark

This.

No penetrating oil will get around this. Heat is required.

jordan96xj

x2 This. The oil wont make a dent in the loctite.

Oil helped in getting axle u-bolt nuts and sway bar link nuts moving. But didn't help with the spring eye or shackle bolts at all. A small hand-held MAP gas torch got them softened up and moving pretty quickly.

Tbone289

Agreed. I had all new Mopar bolts in hand last time, and I actually ended up cutting off as much as I could of one of the front bolts and prying out the cut-off eye as one piece.

However, it's not as easy as it sounds, because about 5-10mm of the end of the bolt will still be in the weld nut since there are no threads there. I was concerned about breaking the nut off, but it didn't. The threads were boogered a bit by the end of the bolt, but nothing so bad that a tap didn't take care of.

JRusty15

Wow, thanks for all of the responses so quickly guys! I have a small torch I can use to heat things up. I guess I'm just a bit concerned about being so close to the gas tank?

Otherwise I don't mind breaking off bolts. This is a project car and so if it sits in the garage while I get new bolts, that is not a problem. I ended up replacing two of the lower control arm bolts in the front. Luckily Ace Hardware sells 10.9 grade bolts in the right length and thread!

Tbone289

wow... I couldn't find those bolts anywhere. Not the correct thread pitch, anyway. I believe it was 14x120mm (110?), 2.0mm pitch. NAPA was the only place I could find the tap, and I probably hit 6 different places. Keep in mind that the stock bolts are shouldered to leave more room inside the bushings.

JRusty15

I found the information on the bolts here: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1029694. I know Ace hardware sells Grade 8 and Grade 10.9 bolts, so I looked around and found ones to replace the lower control arm bolts.

Tbone289

I was right about the size, but I sure couldn't find them in my area. Glad somebody can.

jordan96xj

I couldn't find them locally either. I tried Ace, Fastenal, Lowes, and my local hardware store (which usually has pretty good selection). I ended up lucking out, because I had bought 2 dorman HD shackles to replace my originals. These are the ones that come with bushings installed, and bolts included. As it turned out, the bolts they include are the larger bolts that are exact match for the front leaf eye, and shackle to frame bolts. They are a bit over priced (paid about $50 for each shackle), but having a couple spare new bolts ended up being a day saver, and making it worth it.

JRusty15

Just an update, instead of trying to get some of the suspension off yesterday I decided to try applying heat to everything with my little propane torch, then soaking everything in PB Blaster again. Then this morning I did another PB Blaster soak before I left for work. I'm going to keep trying this every day until Sunday, when I'll get a chance to work on the Jeep.