EXCELLENT post bigvig. I am scared to death of this project myself but will be ordering my OME 2" rear leafs and front 2" coils any day now when I work up the courage.

I am expecting to just go right to the grinder with cutoff wheel for fear of breaking that weld nut...

Also, I dont think you mentioned what you did with the upper shock mount bolts. Didnt you say those all broke? How did you get the bolt pieces out?

 

I've got a question for all you guys who said you broke the welded nut. I too am planning this swap soon and am not really looking forward to it.

When the nut broke and you got everything out, what did you do? Just use a new nut and tighten it down without welding? Also, is it possible to just go to the hardware store, and get a grade 8 stainless bolt and nuts for this swap? I know there is some super rare bolt the leafs use for the XJ that can be ordered from teamcherokee, but why can't the same diameter bolt be used from a hardware store, where you can buy grade 8 and stainless or zinc plated so this rust crap doesn't happen again?

 

blinkbears: No problem. Like I said, Im going to write up an in-depth, how-to and hopefully get it posted here. Might take a couple days, but in the meantime if you need help drop me a line.

jdumont: Thanks. I was hoping it would help some people. The cutoff is a fine idea, but make sure you take all the weight off the leaf first. Jack her up and put her on stands under the frame, lower the rear a little and undo the u-bolts. Then lower the pumpkin till the center bolt pops out of the leaf plate and keep the pumpkin right there. Then there is no stress and they can be cut worry free. ALSO, do something similar to what I did: Cut the leaf off on the front bushing as far forward as possible and it will let the leaf fall. You might have to turn the bushing some and cut the leaf again where it wraps around the bushing (this is what I did) to free it all. Then cut the bushing with a razor knife, then you can see the sleeve. If there is ANY rust, use a couple small chisels and open it up. THEN back the bolt out. THIS should work no problem. Its what I did on my drivers side after going through all the pains with the passenger side. The rear on mine came out fine. BUT, I had a full set of nuts and bolts plus new shackles so you might run into more trouble than I did because all I had to do was pull the rear bolt, which came no problems, then do the front. I also had all new u-bolts and nuts.

1991Jeep_Man: The only one that actually broke on mine was the passenger side, where I had all the trouble. If you do it like I did my drivers side, you shouldnt break it. And actually, I spent 3 hours today trying to BREAK the drivers side because I wanted the boxed in nut exposed AND I wanted to use my new one. I couldnt find the bolts or nuts anywhere except the dealer and TeamCherokee. TeamCherokee had a full set of 6 for $49 bucks. The dealer was $72. No other place I checked had them. They are a metric bolt, but others have used a similar standard. For me personally, I wasnt worried about saving a few dollars, I wanted what the XJ called for. I dont know what they would cost for standard, but I cant imagine it would save more than $20 or so dollars, you just might be able to find them easier.

Good luck guys, again, Im going to do a how-to on these with LOTS of pics. Ill post a link here when I do.