Broken Body Mount

[spurly]

First, I want to be clear and say that I did NOT break the body mount bolt. All bolts are still intact.

I also posted in the broken body bolt thread but I didn't want this to get lost.

In an attempt to get ahead of the war on body bolts I was trying to be proactive as soon as I picked up my JLUR. I know at some point I'll be installing sliders and I wanted to lower my chances of a broken bolt in the future by removing as much loctite as possible now, since the Jeep only has 40 miles.

Having read most of the broken body bolt thread before, I was aware of the possibilities. I rounded up my tools, laid on the creeper and started with the driver rear body bolt. Didn't even make it half a turn and I heard and felt something snap. I thought, shit I broke a bolt. But for some reason I couldn't get the bolt out. Everytime I turned the wrench, I would feel a bit of resistance and then it would spin freely for half a rotation then encounter resistance again. It would repeat this with each turn slowly backing out. I was confused. At the same time, the bolt could freely move up, down, and all around, but just wouldn't come out. Once I got the bolt out, I realized i didn't break a bolt........ I broke the damn nut inside the mount. SHIT

I'm not entirely sure of the construction on the body mounts, but the nut inside is either molded in, welded in or it's a flag nut of some kind. But rest assured, it was now free of the body mount. I spent 30 minutes with a dental pick trying to realign the nut (or threaded portion, whatever it is) inside so I could try to reinstall the bolt. Somehow, I was able to catch a thread, and by holding on to the washer and applying downward pressure while screwing it back in with an impact (very slowly) I was able to get it tight and torqued properly.

So my question, has anyone else experienced this? Is it possibly to just replace the molded rubber body mount to fix my issue? Does anyone have any pictures of the body mounts? At this point I don't want to take it apart again, without knowing for certain I can replace the mount or I'm installing sliders.

The rest of the bolts came out with zero issues. I took a wire wheel to each bolt to remove the loctite, reinstalled, torqued, and called it good.

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[Martindfletcher]

First, I want to be clear and say that I did NOT break the body mount bolt. All bolts are still intact.

I also posted in the broken body bolt thread but I didn't want this to get lost.

In an attempt to get ahead of the war on body bolts I was trying to be proactive as soon as I picked up my JLUR. I know at some point I'll be installing sliders and I wanted to lower my chances of a broken bolt in the future by removing as much loctite as possible now, since the Jeep only has 40 miles.

Having read most of the broken body bolt thread before, I was aware of the possibilities. I rounded up my tools, laid on the creeper and started with the driver rear body bolt. Didn't even make it half a turn and I heard and felt something snap. I thought, shit I broke a bolt. But for some reason I couldn't get the bolt out. Everytime I turned the wrench, I would feel a bit of resistance and then it would spin freely for half a rotation then encounter resistance again. It would repeat this with each turn slowly backing out. I was confused. At the same time, the bolt could freely move up, down, and all around, but just wouldn't come out. Once I got the bolt out, I realized i didn't break a bolt........ I broke the damn nut inside the mount. SHIT

I'm not entirely sure of the construction on the body mounts, but the nut inside is either molded in, welded in or it's a flag nut of some kind. But rest assured, it was now free of the body mount. I spent 30 minutes with a dental pick trying to realign the nut (or threaded portion, whatever it is) inside so I could try to reinstall the bolt. Somehow, I was able to catch a thread, and by holding on to the washer and applying downward pressure while screwing it back in with an impact (very slowly) I was able to get it tight and torqued properly.

So my question, has anyone else experienced this? Is it possibly to just replace the body mount to fix my issue? Does anyone have any pictures of the body mounts?

The rest of the bolts came out with zero issues. I took a wire wheel to each bolt to remove the loctite, reinstalled, torqued, and called it good.

Happened to me, using impact gun. after cursing and brief panic, I did what you did.

Although I started treading the bolt to the nut then pushed up with impact at high speed it grabbed and tightened. Previously I lined the nut up, put the slider up, secured it with middle bolt then put on the bolt in with displaced nut.

 

[spurly]

Happened to me, using impact gun. after cursing and brief panic, I did what you did.

Although I started treading the bolt to the nut then pushed up with impact at high speed it grabbed and tightened. Previously I lined the nut up, put the slider up, secured it with middle bolt then put on the bolt in with displaced nut.

Panic is right. Because at least with a broken bolt, it seems like most people are able to drill them out. Not much you can do with the nut broken. I'm fine with everything right now because I was able to torque the bolts, so I know (well, at least I think) it's not going anywhere. I'm just hoping there is a solution.

 

[Martindfletcher]

Panic is right. Because at least with a broken bolt, it seems like most people are able to drill them out. Not much you can do with the nut broken. I'm fine with everything right now because I was able to torque the bolts, so I know (well, at least I think) it's not going anywhere. I'm just hoping there is a solution.

I never bothered to do anything about after torquing it. I have frequently used the sliders as intended and never had an issue.

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Panic is right. Because at least with a broken bolt, it seems like most people are able to drill them out. Not much you can do with the nut broken. I'm fine with everything right now because I was able to torque the bolts, so I know (well, at least I think) it's not going anywhere. I'm just hoping there is a solution.

@spurly

Can tell you that a few guys here had the same thing happen.. They were able to do as you did and were able to torque to spec. They did this and moved on, and not worried about it. You should do this to.... no need to worry.... as long as you were able to torque it up in the end.

.

 

[StammesOpfer]

Local shop here in town is intentionally breaking the nut off to fix snapped bolts. Then they cut a small hole above the mount location so they can insert a flag nut to replace it.

Personally I broke the nut on one of my middle ones but I managed to line it up catch a thread and use downward force and tighten it down. Hope I never have to take these off again.

 

[spurly]

Local shop here in town is intentionally breaking the nut off to fix snapped bolts. Then they cut a small hole above the mount location so they can insert a flag nut to replace it.

Personally I broke the nut on one of my middle ones but I managed to line it up catch a thread and use downward force and tighten it down. Hope I never have to take these off again.

I was hoping to make life easier by taking them off and removing as much loctite as possible. But like you, once I install my sliders I hope I never have to do it again.

 

[rytepper]

Im in the same situation right now. I heard a snap, so I stopped. I can move the bolt left and right about 1/8 of an in. Bolt wont come out, but i can push up a little. Once you got to the point of hearing a snap, what did you do? Did you keep trying to loosen the bolt? How would you get to the nut on top?

 

[spurly]

Im in the same situation right now. I heard a snap, so I stopped. I can move the bolt left and right about 1/8 of an in. Bolt wont come out, but i can push up a little. Once you got to the point of hearing a snap, what did you do? Did you keep trying to loosen the bolt? How would you get to the nut on top?

I got lucky somehow. What ever broke inside, I was able to spin it just right to where it basically wedged itself enough that I could finish removing the bolt. Once I had the bolt removed, I had to use a pick to move the nut back into place over the hole very carefully. It took a lot of patience and a lot of swearing but I was able to finally catch a thread and get the bolt back in and torqued.

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