Caution: Broken Body Mount Bolt When Installing Frame Mount Rock Sliders / Rails / Sidesteps

[APR1967]

So does this sound like a plan. Hit the passenger side first, if it breaks take it to the dealer and play dumb? Seems like most folks have broken the passenger side front.

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[#4Jeep 1st Wrangler]

So does this sound like a plan. Hit the passenger side first, if it breaks take it to the dealer and play dumb? Seems like most folks have broken the passenger side front.

Just installed my ACE ENGINEERING sliders. 2019 JLUR, no issues...
Broke free with 1/2" breaker bar.. did some back and forth loosening. Then came right out with impact. Found that fronts had red loctite,middle had blue loctite, rears had ZERO loctite. Have no clue why , but experienced no issues.
Just don't get to aggressive when loosening. Good luck

 

[ozon8r]

Just installed my ACE ENGINEERING sliders. 2019 JLUR, no issues...
Broke free with 1/2" breaker bar.. did some back and forth loosening. Then came right out with impact. Found that fronts had red loctite,middle had blue loctite, rears had ZERO loctite. Have no clue why , but experienced no issues.
Just don't get to aggressive when loosening. Good luck

Did you heat up the fronts first with a MAP torch or go right to it with the breaker bar?

 

[Pinion]

I have never snapped as many bolts as I have on Jeeps. They never really snap though. They just twist off. I think I may have snapped one bolt on one of my Toyotas and I was probably using a cheater bar. Jeep uses some cheap steel in their fasteners.

 

[crbrenny]

I hit the front driver today with an electric impact and it came out very easily, didnt even have loctite. so easy I still feel like something is wrong haha

 

[whiterubicon]

I used a torch and breaker bar. Just took my time and used a lot of heat. I would heat and then turn. I would only turn until I felt it binding. Then I would turn it back a little and heat again. Took a long time, but the bolts came out fine. I cleaned the obnoxious amount of loctite that was on them off. I reinstalled and everything is good.

 

[crbrenny]

I hit the front driver today with an electric impact and it came out very easily, didnt even have loctite. so easy I still feel like something is wrong haha

Just to test, I tried the passenger front, and it wouldn’t budge at all. Heated with propane torch (camping fuel) and then electric impact, took it right out. Red loctite residue too, but no damage to the bushing part. Hopefully this means my rail install will be seamless.

 

[BradyW]

Got is all done. Finally.

My method (YMMV):
Plumbers torch is the way to go. One full minute on the front ones. Wait about a minute, torch again for 15-20 seconds.
I used a 1/2 socket with extension, it's a mother but I wanted more control so I didnt break the bolt.
Loosen a few arcs, then tighten half as many. Torch 12 seconds
Loosen a few more arcs then the spot you stopped at, tighten half as many, Torch 12 seconds
Now loosen until it gets tight or sometimes makes a creaking noise STOP. TIghten again half as many, torch 12 seconds
Continue same method. As you progress the it will take a while before it tightens up.

I used the torch on the other 4 bolts just to loosen them but they cam out easily. Except for the capture washer, you have to pry them out with a large closed end wrench in a jerking motion. LiteBrite has a video on it using a screw driver, my method was better.

Putting them in is a PITA, but sometimes you get lucky. I ended up shining a flashlight in there and moving the capture ring out of the way. Real easy after that.

I torqued at 85, book says 92. Funny no one chimed in on this, guessin must just tighten them not knowing. I will put mine in spec once I get a better torque wrench. Also I didnt loctite them in but instead used antiseize. Not sure how smart that is but I did it on my old CJ and was fine.

One reason mine took so long is I also applied some adhesive protection where your foot MIGHT hit the body when using the step. Went on real nice but still time consuming. Looks pretty good too.

Hope this helps someone. The job still sucked but the TORCH is the way to go. YMMV

I used Twisty's method today to successfully remove the body bolts from my Oct 2021 JLU. The front bolts would turn notably easier after receiving their 12-15s warm-up burns from the torch so I'm a believer in that heat makes the job Iess risky. You aren't melting the Loctite but it doesn't appear to weaken it. I used a 250ft-lb capable torque wrench to Ioosen the bolts in order to have plenty of leverage for smooth and slow pulls. Using counter/stabilizing torque on the socket heads to prevent cross-loading on the bolt.

There is still red Loctite on the front bolts and blue on the rears. My bolts did not appear to have an excessive amount of Loctite on them like some people earlier in this thread.

I did break the spot welds that hold the retaining nut on 3 of the bolts. That pop and momentary loss of torque are TERRIFYING! Whenever the retaining nut breaks the spot weld it's best to use a drill or impact wrench to get the bolts started back on the tightening phase. Much, much easier than starting them by hand. The bolts that kept their retaining nuts welded in place were easy to start back by hand.

I was installing the Rock Hard 4X4 Patriot sliders so I used their included hardware instead of reusing the stock hardware. The Patriot bolts seem notably beefier and were confidence-inspiring compared to the OEM bolts. I torqued all 6 bolts to 95ft-lbs which feels less than whatever the OEM bolts were torqued to originally.

 

[Kevin Mojito]

Nice looking 392 Xtreme

 

[sardogtella]

I have got a set of LOD sliders to install on my Jeep when I get it this week. The LODs use the two bolts on either side of the big body bolts, so the body bolts do not have to be removed. I watched an install video and the [Banned Site] fella was loosening the body bolts just to center the washer. After reading this thread, I believe I will do a little grinding before touching the body bolts.

 

[Punknhed]

I have got a set of LOD sliders to install on my Jeep when I get it this week. The LODs use the two bolts on either side of the big body bolts, so the body bolts do not have to be removed. I watched an install video and the [Banned Site] fella was loosening the body bolts just to center the washer. After reading this thread, I believe I will do a little grinding before touching the body bolts.

I've got LOD signatures on mine and didnt have any issue where i needed to alter the body bolt. the passenger side went on really easy, but, the driver side one of them i did have a little issue getting lined but, but once i put that bolt in first it went pretty easy. That's honestly why i bought the LOD i didnt want to mess w the body bolts that others were having problems with.

 

[sardogtella]

That's good to hear. I hope mine goes on smoothly. Mine is the signature as well.

 

[LooselyHeldPlans]

My turn tomorrow. Let hope I check back with 6 unbroken bolts. I plan to tack a long, long time with @twisty s method.

 

[LooselyHeldPlans]

I spent probably an hour went SUPER slow lots of heat and went back in forth maybe hundreds of times. In the end, very glad to not have to extract a bolt.

rather poor fit on myHard Rock sliders.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

I spent probably an hour went SUPER slow lots of heat and went back in forth maybe hundreds of times. In the end, very glad to not have to extract a bolt.

rather poor fit on myHard Rock sliders.

It’s kind of funny how when you remove a few bolts you feel like you’ve won the lottery. Lol.

Poor fit on the RockHard isn’t something that I’ve really seen. I have them and one of the things I like best about them (besides being built like a tank) was great fit. Where’s the problem on yours?

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