Broken off bolts

    I am in need of some advice. My 89 xj is in need of some new rear shocks. When removing the top bults of the shock mout they all broke off clean at the surface. I have tried to drill them out but i cant find a bit hard enuff to drill thought the bolts. I have gone through 2 cobalt bits. one bit broke in half the other has worn the head off and does not do much of anything now and all i have managed to do is put a small divit in one of the bolts. anyone have and ideas to get these stupid bolts out. P.S. yes i used P.B blaster.

    use a punch/screwdriver and smack the floor next to the shock. pull back the carpet... use a grinder/cutoff wheel to cut an access hole around the dent you made. we only cut 3 sides, so we could bend it back down into position later.


    now you can drill from the top. you could try using a big punch with a nice hammer to try to pop the bolt up. the nuts are welded to the frame on the top. you'll see it after you look down through the floor.


    good luck.

    Jerry / Whatevah

    2020 Gladiator Mojave - 33" Falken mud tires, LoD side steps, Zroadz bed rack, Quadratec QRC winch bumper, Superwinch EPi 9.0, Kleinn on-board air, Kleinn air horns, lots of lights, Yaesu ham radio with GPS tracker.

    Gone- 2012 JK Rubicon with stuff. Long gone- Long-arm 2001 Cherokee with stuff.

    thanks for the advice, I would normal think you were crazy for telling me to put to holes in a floor, but after fighting with this bull crap for two days. Two holes in the floor sounds like what this old jeep needs.


    Sounds like a plan.

    I think on Jerrys jeep we cut 3 sides (like he said) so when we folded it back down we could put silicone in the cut marks. Lay your carpet back down and forget about it. :innocent:

    yes this is real pain. Just tried myself doing a lift on mine. Jerrys Ideal seem like the best but I just didnt have the tools available and was plain feed up at that point. Took it to the shop and had them weld the extenions for the shocks to the floor were the old were bolted. Then bolted shocks to the extention. Was much quicker and easier in my case with the parts alread in hand. One shop did advise me that they found that there is some kind of a kit that you can purchas to repair this. Sounded pretty much like what I did. How ever that shop could not find that kit anywere. Good luck.

    repair it? nothing that I know of. I just replaced the bar pins with the Teraflex Bar Pin Eliminators. Now I won't have to mess with those bolts again. :) only issue is that it's not aimed exactly at the shock mount on the axle with my 7" lift. The bushings will take care of that. I will highly suggest this for any future XJ lifts. http://www.quadratec.com/products/16191_502.htm

    Jerry / Whatevah

    2020 Gladiator Mojave - 33" Falken mud tires, LoD side steps, Zroadz bed rack, Quadratec QRC winch bumper, Superwinch EPi 9.0, Kleinn on-board air, Kleinn air horns, lots of lights, Yaesu ham radio with GPS tracker.

    Gone- 2012 JK Rubicon with stuff. Long gone- Long-arm 2001 Cherokee with stuff.

    I like that kit, looks like a very good idea. Not shore if ill ever do any lifting to this jeep, don't know if it would last long enough to even think about it. But if i go to do another in the future i will diffidently look into that.

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