Leafspring nightmare

[mc2az]

Don't know if this is more stupid than when I took the new XJ over the Bradshaw at midnight....but ranks up there.
Been trying to get the OME's installed in the rear for quite a while now. Fronts done...piece of cake. Wife took off for Seattle this weekend so no "honey do list" wavin in my face. I get up this morning and decide to attack the rear leafs. How hard can this be.................

Well I can answer that now in 2 words "A PITA".
I started at 0800 this am by backin the XJ into the garage, half in...half out- first mistake. Let's just say I am wore out and the jeep is still "Half in-Half out" tonight with no way to secure the shop. Good thing I live in a pretty cool area.

Next and main problem, Spring bolts rusted frozen in the bushings. My God how are you supposed to get those things out. I still taste PB Blaster in my mouth, even after dinner. NAXJA thread tells of nightmares. Trust me I will be having bad dreams tonight. I just wish I had some help. Not to hand me things or for relief. Someone to just hear me cursing and whinning.
Well now my baby sits on three legs and looks pitiful. In the morning I plan to attack full vengence with a peanut grinder (just the side that is tore down, I am thinking about paying someone else to do the other side).

 

[Desert Dan]

it is allways springtime.

Are the springs still in the XJ? is it the frame end or the shackle end?

soak in WD-40 or similar and in the morning using a BFH and a block of wood try to drive the bolts out of the springs/bushings. If you can keep the nuts on the bolts to save the threads etc.

Did the new springs come with bolts? if so get out the sawzall

Be sure to lube the new bolts when installing.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Heat cycle it with a torch

 

[mc2az]

the passenger side I'm working on- the springs are still there and both ends have the bolts froze in. PB Blasted em good before I gave out. Unfortunatly pounding them out is not an option on an XJ. After soaking all night if they don't come out with out too much trouble in the morning, it's sawzall or grinder time.

 

[inked33]

id try using a torch to heat them first. the factory welds where the nut is welded to the frame have a tendency to break at least they did for me on my old xj's when i lifted them

 

[ccarley]

Coming from doing the leafs on an FSJ, I know how you feel. I too did my lift by myself. My bushings may not have been as rusty as yours are but here's what I did:

Bought a 1/2" electric impact from Harbor freight
Bought a 4 lb mini-sledge from Lowe's

I ran the nut out so I could hit that with the hammer, while at the same time twisting the head of the bolt with the impact gun. After soaking with PB (my favorite), the bolts did indeed come out. Now, I have no idea how I was able to use a 1/2" electric impact in one hand, and a 4 lb sledge in the other while laying on a creeper all at the same time, but it worked great!

Good luck!

 

[mc2az]

Very frustrating.
No dice after a night in the PB Blaster. Bolts would not budge. Whats worse is that all the tools I need, welder, torch, bolt puller, ect is on our farm in Florida. Since we got transferred here last year I've been lost without my shop. Don't have the money to replace it all and our boys on the farm need all they have.
I ended up puting it back together enough to turn it around & get the garage closed. Probably will trailer it to a better equipped shop.
Guess I'll have to edit my signature " 2inch OME front....junk rear"

 

[Stumpalump]

That sucks. Those springs are a sob from hell when the bushing spins. I think it would be money well spent to have those rears installed since you don't have your shop. They are a pain even with a torch. For those that don't know then sometimes the bolt in the frame breaks loose so you have to cut open the unibody or in this case the bolt comes out of the frame rail only to seize in the spring bushing. It just spins and spins and you have no easy way to get at it because you still can't drop the spring down low enough to get at it. Heat, PB, cuss and repeat and repeat and repeat is the only way. I put a vise grip on the bolt head to give me somthing to beat on but dang those things are tuff.

 

[mc2az]

Thanks for the support. I hate it for you guys that have lived through this but it's nice to know there is misery in numbers and I'm not the only one who has felt this way.

 

[StumpXJ]

I too have been through that nightmare. My bushings were seized on the bolts as well, especially in the front hanger. I ended up making a claw that fits under the head of the bolt, and attached it to my buddies slider on his tacoma with a 5000 pound ratchet strap. I had to keep a ton of pressure on the head (pulling out) while using a 5 foot breaker bar (3 different impacts would budge it) to turn the bolt. The outward pressure was enough to hold the bushing still while the bolt came out. Almost destroyed the hanger sheet metal, but I was able to fix it. The nut inside didnt break loose luckily, and it finally started to come loose. It kicked our ******** for almost 3 hours. I was a mechanic for almost 10 years, and this was by far one of the most stubborn bolts I have ever dealt with.

Good luck with it, beleive me you are not alone on this one.

~James

 

[alosix]

XJ rear leafs can definitely be their own version of hell, as you seem to be finding out the hard way.

Was this a 'rust belt' truck at some point by chance?

Back when we had a shop in MD XJ lift installations were kinda the bain of our existence. The rear spring bolts are particularly bad.

If you can keep the shackle and just undo the bottom bolt at the rear I'd go that route. Getting the upper bolt out of an older XJ can be a real pain. They have a habit of seizing to the bushings, and worse yet will seize to the nutsert inside the frame.

Braking one of those bolts on the rear is all sorts of fun, or breaking the nut loose on the other side for that matter. Then you have to cut into the pocket that holds it. Just enough so that you don't weaken it, but enough that you can cut the nut out and insert a new one.

Its not fun at all. Would normally take a plasma cutter, and electric die grinder, and some luck to get that out.

For add a leaf kits, we just started installing them in place so we wouldn't have to deal with getting those bolts out.

Good luck, and remember on reassembly coat the whole bolt in anti-seize. It will help most of the time to prevent this for the next time you need to take it apart.

 

[Wes Craiglow]

Not just an XJ problem, partner...

Exact same thing with the forward factory spring eye bushing/sleeve on my '01 Tacoma. Installing my new leaf packs would have been a 2 hour job had it not been for having to spend so much time cutting the seized spring bolts from the hangers with a plasma torch, then hunting all over town for a replacement M10.9-grade bolt. NOT fun when the rubber/steel meld into one after 140k+ miles. There was no easy answer.

Better luck next time! And I concur: grease them puppies so it never happen again!

 

[alosix]

Not just an XJ problem, partner...

Very true.. I've actually had the same thing happen on the front links of my TJ multiple times. I really hate having to cut a $17.00 cam bolt in 1/2 just to get the link out.

XJs make it particularly worse since the rear shackle bolts use a blind nut that you can't get to unless you cut into the unibody somewhere.

 

[StumpXJ]

Yeah, the unibody/hidden nut is what makes it tough on the XJ. I have had spring bolts seized in plenty of trucks (including my old tacoma), but you can atleast get to both sides of the bolt without chopping the body up. Anti-seize is your friend.

Good luck, ~ James

 

[cnskate]

On my XJ there was a little hole in the unibody next to that hidden spring bolt that allowed my to spray PB Blaster in there. I let it set overnight and that seemed to do the trick.