A
common thing with Jeep
Cherokee's,
and any vehicle
with
bolts on the underneath of the chassis, is bolts snapping off like
twigs. Its a pain in the butt and an extreme damper on the otherwise
good day you may have been having. When you have a studded bolt (no nut
on the backside for you to put your grubby paws on) they often times
rust and get seized up really bad. SO when you go to take them out you
will probably break most of them... SUX! This is to show how you can
fix the problem with a few specialty tools available at any hardware
store.
First thing to do
is remove the old shock (obviously) and drill out
your old bolt holes. If you broke just the head off then hit the bolt
with a center punch so your drill bit will stay centered. You may want
to start small and work your way up to a bigger size. I drilled them
out to 3/8" with a titanium bit.
After you have drilled out the
4 shock holes you must
put some threads back on so its time to bust out the "tap and
dye." I used a 3/8" drill bit so a 3/8" tap must be used as
well.
Start slowly and forcefully
because if the dye gets going crooked or
sideways, the bolt will be crooked and sideways too!
After
it bites in and goes
straight then hammer down on it but go
slowly and try to keep it from wobbling. Once it gets through, back it
out the same way.
Now you have a perfectly made bolt hole. Clean off
the shavings and maybe take a wire brush to it just to clean it off.
Re-install the new shock with your new "better than
factory" bolts
which will hopefully last you must longer and be easier to remove later
on.
One quick note - You can take
some rubber cement and coat the threads
of the bolts before you install them. This acts as a cushion sort of
like the nylon nuts, it also prevents water from getting into the
threads. Its really like Lock-Tite but with out the strength. It just
makes things easier when you go to take the bolts out in the future.
Hope this taught somebody
something - Now lets go run some stuff
over........ CoreyXJ!
