Please forgive me if I missed it in your OP, but what about pre-soaking everthing in PB Blaster, ATF/Diesel, or whatever other concoction you feel is best for penetrant? Several days ahead. More than once if its really nasty looking. Makes life a lot easier than working with dry hardware, especially if its gonna be challenging to work with.

If I know that I have something "interesting" ie potential PITA coming up, I pre-soak the hell out of everything. Even nearby hardware that I probably won't need to remove but just in case...

Just my .02 FWIW...

 

It's odd but I've done literally 100's of these and the bolts always break. On my 86, I planned on the bolts breaking but all of them turned out without a problem. On my boss' 2000, the bolts all broke. Punch the nut out, drop a bolt in put the shocks in.

 

I don't own a punch. Can I just use a hammer and screwdriver?
Or do I really need to get the punch? Which one for a single use?
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...result?q=punch

 

North Texas Jeep here still had OE factory shocks with 180k on odometer not one shock bolt broke while putting shocks on. I did strip the coil spring retainer bolt out on the pass side tho that pissed me right off.
Did whole lift install get down to one fricken bolt and it strips out

 

Mine broke, well the driver side broke. I didn't do the passenger side. I tried smacking the nuts with my 5 lb sledge. Yeah right, I'll be there all night. Luckily my shop had an air hammer. Took a good 5 minutes to break each nut off. Suckers are welded on there pretty good. Fished some bolts in from top, 10MM wrench to prevent them from spinning and zipped the shock back on. The other issue is getting the shock off the axle. Pretty sure it rust welded to the shock bolt.

 

Thanks for the write up and yes, it's a pretty common problem for the 'braggarts' to over simplify things.

There is a LOT of misinformation on this forum that can lead you into a tight spot if you're not careful, hence why i've started double checking EVERYTHING I read here before ever attempting it.

There's a lot of good information on here, but it's best to take everything with a grain of salt because you just never know who REALLY knows what they're talking about, and who is just so arrogant that they wouldn't even assume for a second that they could be wrong.

 

Agreed about the forum braggarts. The short answer is the fronts are pretty easy and the rears are not. Do the fronts yourself and take it to Sears when they have a sale or any other place that is reasonable. Tough to screw up rear shock install on an XJS...just a simple but tough job without a lift and some air tools.

 

I still don't get one thing. If the bolt breaks in half, how the heck do you air hammer that with a point? The point will just slide right off. It's like trying to hammer a nail on the end of another nail. No way. Do you need to air chisel the protruding bolt down to flush with the hole, and THEN use the point tool to pop it out? You can't use the point tool to pop out a bolt protruding 1 inch out of the hole.

 

If the pointed end is giving you problems, use the chisel attachment and knock it out that way. The weld nuts are just tacked in and come out easy. I've never resorted to the chisel, just the tapered bit.

 

I read all the problems with these rear shock bolts and was ready for a hard time when I changed them. I sprayed the bolts liberally with PB blaster everyday for a week before I attempted to to remove them. Well a funny thing happened when I put a wrench to them. They came right out without breaking. I strongly advise trying PB blaster. The key is to give it time to work. I'm not saying it will work for sure but it did for me. Can't hurt. You don't even have to jack up the jeep to spray them.

 

You need to research air chisels and bits.

 

It makes sense when you do it the first time. The air chisel will push the point back and forth, and you aim for where the threaded part meets the body. It will punch the whole weld nut and remains of the bolt out.

All four of my top bolts broke, and an air chisel was a must-have for the job. I tried hand tools and I just couldn't put out enough force. (Maybe I'm just weak, lol)

To put the bolts in, I poked a long drill bit through the bolt holes and drilled holes in the floor of the trunk. I used those as pilot holes and drilled holes with a 1" hole saw, cutting almost a complete circle, and peeled the circle back to drop the bolt in. Kind if like opening a can of beans, and leaving the lid attached, like this:

I had a friend hold the bolt up top, while I attacked everything with a ratchet on bottom. I then pushed the circles back down and generously applied RTV to seal the cuts in the floor. (I would recommend a sharp utility knife to cut the carpet in a flap before attacking with a hole saw)

Edit: If I would have actually had an air chisel with me when I started, instead of having to drive into town with no shocks to get one, it would have only taken me about two hours the first time. It took me too long for me to decode I needed the air chisel, lol.

 

Mine here in CA went OK. I suppose if you can fish a bolt through from the top you could also "blast" PB blaster up in there for some days, (or weeks) before you see if they break. Even just water some hrs ahead might make a difference. I did a search in writeup's here and found this with a photo of a small point on the air chisel. Myself, I might drive to a muffler shop or somewhere with them ready to be knocked loose...(my air chisel is a joke)

I gather the nuts are just spot welded. Might be easy to smack them loose.....


Anyway>>> https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/br...-guide-150384/

 

Just removed them from my 88 cherokee thats lives in Pa its whole life. No breakage!

 

Mine from Southern Ohio were rust, and some metal in the general shape of a bolt, lol