It's always ONE bolt!!!

[LYKOS]

So I take the Jeep down to the fire station/rescue squad (I'm a volunteer Medic) to adjust the new LCA's and do an alignment. I normally don't use the station for repair (although it's allowed) but I needed a flat level surface and that I ain't got at home. The only two rules are that you can't do a fluid change and you can't have the car there after 23:00. :repair:


So anyway everything went smooth as silk. No problems at all!:worship:

Then I decided to replace the track bar with a new IRO unit I had bought and not put on yet. :idea:

It's 20:00 and I have to be at work at 23:30 but I have plenty of time.

The four bracket bolts came out like butter. :clap:

But when I went to take off the axle side bracket the bolt broke off inside the bushing. :explosion

That S.O.B. was FROZEN in there. :flamemad:

I banged on it, twisted on it, used a cold chisel, a sawzall and even contemplated some use of the Hurst tools (Jaws of Life) to get this thing off. What I needed was a torch but a torch is what we don't have.

I ended up using a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel to cut the track bar, then the outer bushing sleeve then the rubber, then the inner sleeve and bolt and ... :hang:

You get the picture.

I rolled out of the station at 22:45 and was late for work. All over ONE BOLT!!

Anyway, had to vent, please continue with your interwebs, these are not the Droids you're looking for...

 

[kastein]

I hate that bolt so much. Took me 3 hours to get it out when I did my d30 swap in the MJ.

On the 98 XJ, it took me 5 minutes... and another hour to realize that it had actually come out. Damn thing was seized, so I hit the nut with oxy/ace, then zapped it with the impact and it came undone so fast I thought the flag broke off the nut and spent a while cursing at it, trying to turn the bolt, etc. The bolt was seized to the bushing sleeve, but fortunately I still had the o/a so I burned the track bar in half, melted off the arm and outer sleeve, caught the outer rubber on fire, burned out the middle sleeve, set the inner rubber on fire... and by then enough heat hit the inner sleeve that the bolt slid out.

It's a really annoying design.

 

[LYKOS]

And what makes it worse is I have new UCA bushings laying here in front of me. But after that debacle I'm so fed up with crap that won't come out I might just take it to a shop to have these put in. Or just wait till I swap in my HP D30.

 

[kastein]

Just wait. They go into the axle on the axle housing end so you'd be wasting time AND money... and into the control arm on the body end, so you'll be one bolt from having them out to work on when you swap in the HP30.

 

[LYKOS]

I hate that bolt so much. Took me 3 hours to get it out when I did my d30 swap in the MJ.

On the 98 XJ, it took me 5 minutes... and another hour to realize that it had actually come out. Damn thing was seized, so I hit the nut with oxy/ace, then zapped it with the impact and it came undone so fast I thought the flag broke off the nut and spent a while cursing at it, trying to turn the bolt, etc. The bolt was seized to the bushing sleeve, but fortunately I still had the o/a so I burned the track bar in half, melted off the arm and outer sleeve, caught the outer rubber on fire, burned out the middle sleeve, set the inner rubber on fire... and by then enough heat hit the inner sleeve that the bolt slid out.

It's a really annoying design.

This is about the point I start throwing shxt and trolling Cragslist for Toyotas.

 

[GSequoia]

Man I love living in California.

 

[kastein]

Living in California would be nice except there are too many Californians.

 

[GSequoia]

Living in California would be nice except there are too many Californians.

Incorrect.

There are too many people who moved to California. The natives are generally alright.

Case in point: Cal.

 

[Vanimal]

Incorrect.

There are too many people who moved to California. The natives are generally alright.

Case in point: Cal.

i didnt know Cal wasnt a local


it's so nice working on my jeep 21 year old heep and not having one rusty/stuck bolt whatsoever.

 

[Wayne Sihler]

So I take the Jeep down to the fire station/rescue squad (I'm a volunteer Medic) to adjust the new LCA's and do an alignment. I normally don't use the station for repair (although it's allowed) but I needed a flat level surface and that I ain't got at home. The only two rules are that you can't do a fluid change and you can't have the car there after 23:00. :repair:


So anyway everything went smooth as silk. No problems at all!:worship:

Then I decided to replace the track bar with a new IRO unit I had bought and not put on yet. :idea:

It's 20:00 and I have to be at work at 23:30 but I have plenty of time.

The four bracket bolts came out like butter. :clap:

But when I went to take off the axle side bracket the bolt broke off inside the bushing. :explosion

That S.O.B. was FROZEN in there. :flamemad:

I banged on it, twisted on it, used a cold chisel, a sawzall and even contemplated some use of the Hurst tools (Jaws of Life) to get this thing off. What I needed was a torch but a torch is what we don't have.

I ended up using a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel to cut the track bar, then the outer bushing sleeve then the rubber, then the inner sleeve and bolt and ... :hang:

You get the picture.

I rolled out of the station at 22:45 and was late for work. All over ONE BOLT!!

Anyway, had to vent, please continue with your interwebs, these are not the Droids you're looking for...

I feel your pain,,,, had to burn mine out as well.
You will love the IRO set-up....

 

[xjtrailrider]

I've never had that bolt seize?

Glad you got it fixed though.

 

[cheapcherokee93]

my MJ came from the east coast, rusted out a couple areas of the truck but surprisingly i've only had a couple bolts break on me. this one was not one of them.

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

This is about the point I start throwing shxt and trolling Cragslist for Toyotas.

take it from me, the yotas are harder to work on.

 

[Talyn]

take it from me, the yotas are harder to work on.

x2

 

[87manche]

I've never had that bolt seize?

Glad you got it fixed though.

I have, it sucks.

I also had to use a sawzall to cut out my lower control arms from the chassis.

good times with a 20 year old jeep that lived in Ohio.

did you know that LCA bolts are quite hard? They strip teeth from sawzall blades...

 

[kastein]

Yeah... same with the damn leaf bolts too. In fact, same part number.

I wore the teeth off a few metal cutting blades before I realized I was wasting my time.

 

[87manche]

you can get through them with a sawzall, it just sucks. They're only case hardened, so once you waste three bladed getting past the first 1/4" they cut like butter.

 

[kastein]

Hell with that!

I was pulling the springs off a wrecked carcass for a friend, so I just chopped up the leaf brackets with an angle grinder and sawzall till they were mostly disconnected, then hit them with a BFH until the parts I wanted fell off.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

it's so nice working on my jeep 21 year old heep and not having one rusty/stuck bolt whatsoever.

Southern Jeeps are nice for this reason as well...

 

[87manche]

Hell with that!

I was pulling the springs off a wrecked carcass for a friend, so I just chopped up the leaf brackets with an angle grinder and sawzall till they were mostly disconnected, then hit them with a BFH until the parts I wanted fell off.

yeah, but with the reinforced LCA pockets on an MJ that isn't going to happen. It's not like an XJ pocket where you can just bend it out of the way and bend it back.

sawzall is what I had, so tat's what happened.
Dad and Redheep stood there wondering why it was taking so long and believed it to be my inability to use a sawzall properly.

then I showed them a blade after about 30 seconds....