gvnc

My rear bump stops need to be replaced and 3 of the 4 bolts snapped right off.
Rather than try extracting I was just going to go out and buy a cheap mig welder (been wanting to learn anyway).
My question is, if I just spot weld the bump stops in place, where do I put the ground clamp? There is one bracket attached to the frame in that location that I could get a clamp on, but I'll have to take the paint off (I think). Are there other options? Anyone done this before? How did it go?
Thanks.

Ralph77

Nothing wrong with wanting to buy a mig welder and learning how to weld.
But in this case I say invest in a rivnut gun instead.
Whack the 3 broken ones into the uni-body and and get some rivnuts in the holes.
I busted one bolt on my '00 and did that.

IIRC bolt is 5/16-18.

gvnc

Thanks @Ralph77 . That looks like a good idea. Pretty sure you're right about the bolt size. Did the 5/16 rivet nut fit snug in the factory hole?

Ralph77

I think it did.
Of course when I installed the bump stops I did not torque the crap out of the bolt. LOL.
It was a little tight getting the rivnut tool in there to do the one I did but I managed.

Rogue4x4

To answer your questions about ground points, anywhere nearby you can clamp onto is fine, just make sure to grind away any paint/scale, down to bare metal, and make sure it's clean. If you can't find a good spot, you can always just grind off some spot nearby, and use a small piece of scrap to attach a ground point.

Oh, and ALWAYS disconnect your battery before welding anything, unless you want to risk frying your electronics!

Dave51

I used lag bolts. Quick, cheap, easy and effective.

gvnc

Thanks to all for the input. I tried a couple of routes.
First I bought a cheap little AC stick welder (mig would've been easier, but oh well) and built up a bolt, attached a nut. I was able to get it moving a little. Tried to finesse it back and forth. It sheared lower down this time. It also took me forever, so I gave up after a couple of attempts.
Then I tried pounding out the nut to replace with rivet nut. But I don't have an air hammer and couldn't get it to bust loose. If I was pulling more stuff off, maybe with a bigger swing... but I didn't want to dig myself into a deeper hole.
In the end I just took some paint off and attached the bump stops with tack welds. Ugliest welds known to man, but I think the rubber will come off the plates before the welds fail. At least thats the hope. Covered up the bare metal with paint/primer. For attachment points, I clamped a vise grip on the nearest nut in the frame and clamped to the vise grips.
Again, thanks for the input. It's still running strong after 237k and a new head 50k ago. This forum has saved me over and over.

dzywicki

Glad you got it solved. I recently went through this on my '99. I have a compressor and air chisel (both have been great investments). The broken off bolt and capture came right out with the air chisel/hammer. I bought this ( ) rivnut gun and a set of rivnuts. Made the fix really easy. Hard to argue against getting into welding. My welder and learning to weld has paid for itself many times over on multiple Jeeps and other projects.

robsjeep

use sheet metal screws in new location holes to mount the bump stop. They is plenty of extra room on the bump stop for new holes. Get some large diameter short sheet metal screws for this, hex head prefered. match drill the bump stop and the frame rail together with a pilot drill so the holes line up perfect. I have done this, it works. plus it makes replacing the bump stop easy in future, no welds to cut, rivets to drill out.