[wyojeep92]

so i'm lifting my 99 4.5 inches, sounds simple right? not at all. i spend 2 hours at school trying to get stuff done but everything is stuck. it took forever to get the brake line of the bracket. then i started soaking everything extra with pb (used everyday this past week) and managed to get the rear shock mounts to the axle somewhat done (just the nut and washer off) and went to do the dreaded uppers and went one side that had soaked longer to try and get these suckers off. tried and tried and then finally got a different tool to do it and broke the head off of the drivers side one and left the other and sprayed more pb. went to the drivers side, sprayed more and then went in, wouldn't you know it broke it off too. so now i soaked the other bolts and went in to remove the rear sway bar, more fun =] stuck and then when i finally broke it loose all i could get my hands on to get them out was an old fashion wrench. now tomorrow i have to try and get more done. i thought my xj liked me but today she proved to be cold blooded. with as little work time i get, this is gonna take forever! i mean i only have an hour each day to work on it basically. tomorrow i'm going in at lunch to try and plan out what to do.

anyone got a good idea how to deal with the broken bolts?

[LandRover]

A Grinder. And this is what sick days are for.

[wyojeep92]

like cut the bottom out around the spot?

[XJH-007]

Haha, we've all been there man.

I actually drilled the top shock bolts out into the rear cargo area, that worked awesome.

Unfortunatly your worst nightmare is yet to come.....

<evil music>

The FRONT BOLTS ON THE REAR LEAF PACKS.

<screams heard>

[89xjchris]

10 foot breaker bar lol

[xjfever]

The best way to fix the upper shock bolts is to break them all, then punch out the weld nuts prefferably with an air chisel but a Big hammer and punch will work. Then run a wire up through the hole, and out the access hole. tape a new grade 8 bolt to it and pull it through. Do all four, then put the new shocks up there and put lock washers and nuts on the bolts. Then using a long boxed end wrench through the access hole to hold the bolts, tighten up the nuts. It took me 45 minutes to do all four, with the air chisel.

[ChemeXJ]

After I broke the 1st one I just cut to the chase and broke the rest. I drilled out the old bolt and tapped the hole to 1 bolt size larger and bought new bolts to match.

The front bolts leaf spring are a tougher fix if you break one of those like I did.

[Lynch_6913]

ya i think anyone that has changed rear xj shocks has gone a little more mad on the inside... but ya xjfever has got the rythm down... and i agree with the ten foot breaker bar, i used a pipe from a cattle bad lol!!

[joec89]

I had the same problem as you, all the bolts on the top of my rear shocks broke and I had to drill them out, and yes the front bolts on the leaf springs is gonna suck taking them out lol but once your all done with the lift its all gonna be worth it

[CJCXJ]

I had the same problems, soaked all bolts in PB a week in advance still managed to break the head off all rear upper shock bolts, didn't have the tools to fix it so I had to take it to a shop to get fixed.

[TreddyoXJ]

Sorry man... that's what Jeeps do: seize together, especially on the rust belt. Hang in there, it will be worth it in the end.

Here's a couple of options:
http://jeephorizons.com/tech/xjshock.html
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/shock-bolt-replacement-fix-pics-heavy-323809/

I went with the latter method. You can also cut holes in the cargo floor to gain access to them, but this isn't my favorite.

So I take it you haven't gotten to the leaf spring hanger bolts yet? Haha, you thought the shock mounts were bad, just you wait.

[CherokeeGT]

try hitting the nuts with a hammer to shock them it some times helps

also if you have access to a torch heat everything around the bolts up some times even heating it and cooling it a couple times will do the trick

and if you can heat up something with a siezed bolt then melt a canlde on it youd be amazed how good that works the candle wax works its way in and your set

i just lifted my 91 at christmas and everything was pretty rusty (no problem for my 2135 ti)

rear shackles required a 36" breaker bar and a solid yank

[wyojeep92]

yeah right now till money comes back and everything from how much i'm having to spend i'm just doing aal in the rear with shackles and then hopefully soon i'll put on new leaf packs and when i get there i'm going to spray pb forever and heat up everything and hopefully it'll come out within a day. whoops i'll jinx myself haha. i hope all this stress and bloody knuckles and money is going to be worth it

[wyojeep92]

i also bought bar pin eliminators to help me out in the future, and i big thing of anti seize