02 Cherokee Shock bolt

Dan, All 4 upper bolts twisted-off on my rear shock project. I was lucky and centered the drill on two of them. One good thing about the soft bolts - they drill relatively easily. (Why did Jeep scrimp pennies on something that certainly will need to be wrenched?) It is my recollection that as I drilled, the remaining pieces of the bolts came out on their own - although I may have tapped some with a small pointed punch.

For the two which I drilled poorly, I tried two methods: The better of the two was to slightly increase the diameter of the hole so that the bolt slid freely into it. Then, I slipped a lock washer and nut on top of the shock mount/weldment and tightend the bolt. That worked well and has held tight for several months.

What I had done with the one on the other side was a bit more labor-intensive. I rolled-back the carpet as far as I needed, using a small drill, I made a pilot hole through the floor. Then I used a (Dremel-type) hand grinder to cut a hole large enough for a socket wrench, opposite the bolt's location. I put the nut and washer on from the inside of the car. Next, I patched where I'd been grinding with a small square cut from the adhesive-backed end of a roofing shingle, before putting the carpet, etc. back in place. Good luck.

Jim

Oh yeah - I used hardened bolts. I used a regular handyman's 3/8" drill.

This happened to me as well. Here's the best fix I found:

http://www.rocklizardfabricati> A rear upper shock bolt broke off while trying to remove it. I have a

This happened to me as well. Here's the best fix I found:

http://www.rocklizardfabricati> A rear upper shock bolt broke off while trying to remove it. I have a