Shock bolt replacement: a fix with pics (Heavy)

[THISISWEIRD]

I did mine like this on Saturday. All four bolts snapped off, and I just used a punch and a BFE. All four welded nuts came right out. Took about 30 minutes.

Now, I just need to decide what to do for new shocks.

[FISTFULL]

Man, where were you when I needed you!

[xjfever]

I can't believe anyone would cut a hole in the floor, when the method above took me 30 minutes. I installed BPE's with grade 8 bolts, and never have to mess with them again.

[jeepnick]

I installed a set of Edelbrock IAS shocks on Saturday. It turned in to a 2 1/2 hr job with the broken off bolts. I elected to drill out and retap. The time eater was the fact my Milwaukee keyless chuck kept letting the drill bits slip and I was using less than premium bits in at least grade 5 bolts. I finally got thru and used 5/16" x 18 Stainless bolts with marine grade anti seize.

[Bryson]

If you have a welder, I'd opt to do the easiest method out there:

Weld the stock sway bar U-bolt plate brackets in place of the bar pin bolt bull ****. If the shocks you have incorporate the factory bar bin, simply pick up some poly shock bushings from any auto parts store and a 1/2" metal sleeve from any hardware store. Total mod time: 15 minutes and roughly $5.00. git er done.

[robmckim2]

Great write up and pics! I was literally just about to go down and drill thru my floor to fix this problem...Thank you for the many great sticky's!

You guys rock!

[Moogie]

Same idea, only took less time.
I used my hole saw to cut two holes in the floor, directly above the top of the shocks.

You could remove the carpet but i couldn't be arsed !

Soak the top of the bolts thoroughly with WD40 or similar.
When you go to remove them, give them a slight tighten first.
I managed to get all four out with no trouble at all.
Total time, 10-15 minutes.

[x99j]

here is what i did. been in service a year an 20,000 miles, holding up great. by the way i used the stock holes from underneath.

[Jeepsr4me19]

That carpet took me a whole 5 minutes to pop out. Hardest part was those d rings. Didnt even need to remove the plastic trim as the carpet just tucks under.

[Bryson]

Originally Posted by x99j

here is what i did. been in service a year an 20,000 miles, holding up great. by the way i used the stock holes from underneath.

[oldmanriver]

Originally Posted by xjfever

I can't believe anyone would cut a hole in the floor, when the method above took me 30 minutes.

Took me at least half an hour just to get one of them out using this method (beers and air chisles dont mix..), but I still couldnt imagine cutting through my floor to save a little bit of trouble

Very nice write-up xtreme

[Arcticcat843]

Originally Posted by x99j

here is what i did. been in service a year an 20,000 miles, holding up great. by the way i used the stock holes from underneath.

I have to admit....i did the same thing. lol it has held up fine for me too....I was going to fix it the right way when i put new shocks on a while back but i desided it was to much work....Im going too 4 link it soon anyways so im not that worried about it...

however, i have done it the way the OP did it on at least 3 other jeeps and that way works MUCH better...

[2fast4u66]

This is deff the way to do it and is very, very common sense solution. Doing it the red neck way is NOT the way to do it and i dont see how people dont find it a problem cutting holes in the floor. I guess i just dont like things looking tacky and will spend the little exta time that is required do make it look rite and function correctly.

x99j do you do any wheeling with your jeep? It's just that all the strain is on the floor and not the mounts when the shock is pulling down that would make me scared. Pushing up the strength its just the same. Just under heavy wheeling conditions might wonder if the floor would cave in?

[Arcticcat843]

Originally Posted by 2fast4u66

This is deff the way to do it and is very, very common sense solution. Doing it the red neck way is NOT the way to do it and i dont see how people dont find it a problem cutting holes in the floor. I guess i just dont like things looking tacky and will spend the little exta time that is required do make it look rite and function correctly.

x99j do you do any wheeling with your jeep? It's just that all the strain is on the floor and not the mounts when the shock is pulling down that would make me scared. Pushing up the strength its just the same. Just under heavy wheeling conditions might wonder if the floor would cave in?

yep it will, trust me....mine ended up pulling the floor down so it was pretty much flat with the shock mounts....but it has held up....Ive beat the hell out of it offroad and that was teh last of my worries....Again, there are better ways but that DOES work fine.....

[x99j]

Originally Posted by 2fast4u66

x99j do you do any wheeling with your jeep? It's just that all the strain is on the floor and not the mounts when the shock is pulling down that would make me scared. Pushing up the strength its just the same. Just under heavy wheeling conditions might wonder if the floor would cave in?

yes i do wheel it. in my original post i stated, i used the original mounts from below plus the floor! the small gap in between the floor and the shock mounts were compressed tight when the bolts were tightened. so they are not connected just to the floor. they are connected to the original shock mounts (in the unibody cross member) and the floor.