Body mount bolts

[Antonio]

Hi just trying to get some opinion from other members who might of pulled this off, I’ve read over a few thread but now debating whether to do my own work and attempt this or let a shop deal with it just Incase it goes south and a bolt breaks it’s on them, my question is how many people have attempted to remove the body mount bolts on their jlu? I have a MY22 and about to install sliders which use the body bolts as install method, I’ve read of heating up to loosen the loctite and even came across this awesome post by another board member with great advice, just trying to figure out what direction to go, thanks in advance!

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[Rhinebeck01]

@Antonio

Do consider just having your stealership Service Dept. do the install.

Dealership will charge you 1-2 hours of labor to do the install. IF/when they break a body bolt they eat the repair time and price of the body bolt. Just be sure to have dealer give you a firm install price in regard to hours charged to you for the install.

Hope you take my recommendation. Can tell you removal of the body bolts can be a real crap shoot lets say. Even guys that wrench often and know the drill have broken off body bolts on the JL.

IF you break a body bolt, your dealer or local shop will charge you a minimum of two hours labor plus parts to do the repair.

 

[Mikester86]

If you are not going to consistently play in the rocks, I wouldn’t bother with sliders or steps that mount via body bolts. Plenty of steps and rails that mount to the body that are good quality.

 

[Megawatt]

I was so happy to be able to take this picture. I did use the torque wrench method and it was zero issues and never clicked once. Its the front bolt with the red lock tire that will be the problem bolt. Before giving in and paying someone else to do it just try to remove the front bolts. If they don’t fight you the rest should be even easier.

If the wrench clicks then reverse the direction for one rotation to possibly unbind any locktite. I reversed directions a couple times on each bolt before I had to.

My hard rock 4x4 sliders are body, frame, and pinch seam bolted on.

 

[kah.mun.rah]

I have installed Rock Slide Engineering step sliders on 3 different JLs. When the bolt makes the "snap" noise when loosening your soul will leave your body but as others have said, if that happens just re-tighten the bolt a 1/2 turn and then start again with the loosening.

 

[Terrymo]

I installed mine using this Northridge 4x4 video

I starting by loosening each bolt 1/4 turn and tightening 1/8 of a turn, then loosening 1/2 a turn and tightening back 1/4 of a turn, etc. I kept increasing the amount of each turn to loosen and reversed direction a little each time until they were loose enough to get the bracket in place. A couple of bolts needed to be removed all the way so I could get the washer moved down far enough to leave a gap for the bracket.

 

[SH556JL]

I did it on the 21 and while I was successful… The front drivers side resulted in a lot of cursing. Ultimately I won’t be going that route with the 23 and elected for the 82215129AB Mopar JL Performance Rock Rails.

 

[CaJLMetalHead]

This thread:
Body Mount Bolt is loose and hanging | Jeep Wrangler Forums (JL / JLU) - Rubicon, Sahara, Sport, 4xe, 392 - JLwranglerforums.com

 

[NChap89]

I paid to have my Rockhard sliders installed. Local off-road shop charged me 2 hours of labor ($155).

 

[Antonio]

Thanks for the info and suggestions
My two options would be either upgrading the current rubi rock sliders to the mopar heavy duty rock slider with step assist or the ace rock sliders which are the ones that get bolted to the body mount, it’s not so much about the price or weight etc I’m more interested in rock protection to the body but with something that doesn’t stick out like a mile out from the jeep

 

[Joe's_Roxy]

Thanks for the info and suggestions
My two options would be either upgrading the current rubi rock sliders to the mopar heavy duty rock slider with step assist or the ace rock sliders which are the ones that get bolted to the body mount, it’s not so much about the price or weight etc I’m more interested in rock protection to the body but with something that doesn’t stick out like a mile out from the jeep

I will throw in my two cents. When I got my 2-door Rubicon in 2018, I decided to try to install them myself. Ended up breaking off one of the body bolts. I took it to the dealership to have them remove the broken bolt and install the sliders. They replaced the bolt but would not install the sliders because they were afraid to remove the other bolts.

When I got it home, I researched the hell out of how to get the bolts out myself. All finds pointed to one thing...heat. So, I took my heat gun and held it on the bolt for a while...until the temperature was up around 100-125F at the head. Then I put my socket on it with a cheater bar and started twisting. When I felt too much resistance, I heated the bolt up again. Got all four out without any issues.

Thing is, the body bolts have thread locker gunk on them. Heat helps loosen that gunk and allows you to remove the bolts. I used a heat gun because I didn't want to burn my brand new Jeep. LOL

BTW, I have the ACE Sliders on my Rubicon, I like them best because you can leave the Rubicon rails in place and it fills in that gap nicely. They also work nicely as a step. I put some sticky back non-slip strips on the rails to aid in using them as a step.

 

[Stetson]

I consider myself an above average shade tree mechanic. I broke a body bolt attempting to install some step bars. Ended up costing me a trip to a body shop to have them fix it right.

I suggest go ahead and have someone do it. That way it’s done right and you don’t have to worry about it

stetson

 

[Sazabi19]

I did my own to install my rails. I read up on this a lot too and decided to get a MAP torch to heat the bolts as I go. It took a lot of time and I did have to put over 100lbs of tq on 1 bolt. Boy I was sweating bullets and going as slow as possible. They were a bitch to get off.

 

[roobies]

Wondering if they stopped using the loctite on 2023's. Was worried about breaking the bolts on mine and had 0 problems and didnt see any trace of any loctite on any of the bolts.

 

[rickinAZ]

I had ACE rock sliders installed at the Dealer - $100.

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