The previous owner of my xj welded his aftermarket shocks onto the jeep, after it appears the bolts originally used sheared off. The weld on One of the rear shocks broke off and I drilled out the old sheared off bolts and re-bolted the shock. But now, the other rear shock's weld broke. There's still enough material to bolt the shock back in place. But my question is: is it better to bolt them in or weld them and make sure it's a good strong sturdy weld? Both seem to be a weak point prone to breakage

 

I'd bolt it just in case you ever have to remove them. just drill and install new bolts If needed.

 

Only takes a few minutes to knock the broken bits out. Then you can bolt it. Serviceable that way.

 

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/.../Rear_BPEs.htm

Alternatively some folks weld the brackets onto the crossmember. This may work for you or your gas tank might explode and you die a fiery death.

 

And hit a bus load of Nuns?

 

Ya id like to avoid fiery deaths

 

I welded 4 hex bolts to the unibody (threads facing down) and mounted the shocks to those bolts.

 

Its really common for the old ones to shear off but I would definitely bolt the new ones on. I used some grade 8's that I had on my shop floor. Fender washers can help with lack of material. If you want to make it easy on yourself you can also take a very little bit of krazy glue and stick the new nut to a long wrench so you can hold it in place while lining the new bolt up. There isn't much space to work with...

 

I actually ended up using a magnet to hold the nut and bolted them on. Sure was a pain to do though. Especially because I couldn't use a lift for one side and had to crawl underneath

 

What I did was pass up some wire through the hole so it came out over the axle, then grab a grade 8 bolt and wrap the wire around the thread. Pulled wire back and presto... bolt came through too. I had just enough room to get a wrench on the head and holt it while I removed the wire and attach the nut.

I actually tried using a telescoping magnet but i have too much rust. lmao