give me one reason not to cut my rear struts (1 Viewer)

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RodneyMcalester

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Jan 10, 2021
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cottonwood utah
I’m in the middle of doing the OME lift on my 94. Front went very smooth and the rear, not so much. The 2 bolts that hold the strut bracket in place are just stripping, i’ve been pb blasting it and heating it still just stripping the bolt head.

I’m wondering if anyone has cut the strut as close to the bracket as possible, probably just slicing through the bushing from there i will fish the top part out between the strut tower and body. when it’s ready to go back together i will stack everything on the bracket, put the strut though it all carefully then finger tighten the nut. i know i can fit a 19mm on the nut on top so i will be able to torque it properly when done.

any thoughts?
 
Have you tried an impact (air) wrench yet? That beating is what it probably needs. Keep soaking it and try it again tomorrow. You really don't want to have to mess this up.
 
I have done this on other vehicles. It would be difficult on the fzj80 as I assume you are talking about the frame side bracket. Drill it and use an ease out. Did you use an 8 point socket?
 
Had same problem this summer. I was able to cut away what was left of the fasteners from the top side with a hack saw blade between the body and brackets. On one side I had to bend the lip of the body a little for clearance. It was such a pain I almost drilled holes through the body later to be sure I would never have to do it again. In the end I just covered the protruding part of the new fastener in high viscosity grease... I also blasted and repainted the brackets before putting them back in.
 
Try a Snap on flank drive open end wrench..... I know it sounds ridiculous but they grip better than some extractors. I had a buddy that stripped a 12mm bolt on his yz450 so he came over to borrow an extractor. I said first things first and tried the Snap On open end, the bolt came out no problem.

Same thing with the cheapo Napa 10mm line wrench on my brakes this weekend. The line wrench spun on the nut but my Snap On open end flank drive wrench got it loos.


If you try this and it works than the only negative impact will be on your wallet because I gaurantee you will end up buying the whole set of wrenches.
 
You can take the nut off the top of the shock. It sucks, but it’s possible. Heat the head of the bolts until they are glowing red and Then let them cool. Sometimes that can break up corrosion. If you can get heat to the top side, even better.

You can always cut a hole in the floor depending on what kid of rig this is...
 
Try welding another nut to the bolt if you have the capability. The heat will help and give you a new fastener to grab on to. You can also try drilling them out. Small hole to start then progressively bigger until you get close to the threads. Can usually clean out what remains with a pick, needle nose pliers and a tap. Do not under any circumstances use an ez-out or other pound in type extractor. That bolt is seized in there and all you're going to get is a very hard piece of metal broken off inside of your stuck bolt.

Cutting them off on the top side is a good idea. The bolt sticks out about an inch on top which is way more than needed and just means a bunch of gummed up corroded threads have to pass through the nut to take them out.

As to your plan it would probably work. It's a lot easier to remove the plates but if you can't it seems possible to remove the shock directly.
 
I'm on my second set of shocks for the rear of my Cruiser. For the first set, I removed the brackets, installed them on the new shocks, and reinstalled. However for the second set of shocks.. I forgot about the bracket. I removed the old shocks by reaching up and around with an allen and closed ratcheting wrench and installed the new ones the same way. It didn't dawn on me to do this until I finished the second shock.
 
greentruck said:
Have you tried an impact (air) wrench yet? That beating is what it probably needs. Keep soaking it and try it again tomorrow. You really don't want to have to mess this up.
Click to expand...
All of the bolts were already pretty rounded whe
Mat Jadamec said:
Had same problem this summer. I was able to cut away what was left of the fasteners from the top side with a hack saw blade between the body and brackets. On one side I had to bend the lip of the body a little for clearance. It was such a pain I almost drilled holes through the body later to be sure I would never have to do it again. In the end I just covered the protruding part of the new fastener in high viscosity grease... I also blasted and repainted the brackets before putting them back in.
Click to expand...
did you just use a bolt and nut to put in the new strut?
 
Pascoscout said:
Try welding another nut to the bolt if you have the capability. The heat will help and give you a new fastener to grab on to. You can also try drilling them out. Small hole to start then progressively bigger until you get close to the threads. Can usually clean out what remains with a pick, needle nose pliers and a tap. Do not under any circumstances use an ez-out or other pound in type extractor. That bolt is seized in there and all you're going to get is a very hard piece of metal broken off inside of your stuck bolt.

Cutting them off on the top side is a good idea. The bolt sticks out about an inch on top which is way more than needed and just means a bunch of gummed up corroded threads have to pass through the nut to take them out.

As to your plan it would probably work. It's a lot easier to remove the plates but if you can't it seems possible to remove the shock directly.
Click to expand...
I don’t have access to a welder. All the bolts are already rounded pretty bad. Ive soaked them in pb, tried a 6 point socket and didn’t have luck. case scenario i want to avoid taking the bracket off entirely.
lumbee1 said:
I'm on my second set of shocks for the rear of my Cruiser. For the first set, I removed the brackets, installed them on the new shocks, and reinstalled. However for the second set of shocks.. I forgot about the bracket. I removed the old shocks by reaching up and around with an allen and closed ratcheting wrench and installed the new ones the same way. It didn't dawn on me to do this until I finished the second shock.
Click to expand...
I kinda did try this briefly, i need to get a longer open end for more leverage and i could make it work.
 
If the bracket is still tight after trying to remove the nuts, you can always do it the hard way from the top like me.

Long handle allen and one of these:

1614803651516.png


Love these things!
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M0O166
 
RodneyMcalester said:
All of the bolts were already pretty rounded whe

did you just use a bolt and nut to put in the new strut?
Click to expand...
yes, used a toyota fastener and a metric automotive nut from parts store. I only had to do this on one hole were the bolt siezed and I blew the threads trying to get it out. On the other holes I managed to cut away the rusted protruding section before trying to back out. Just cleaned threads in welded nuts on those holes.
 
Reason 1)

Your truck doesn't have struts. That's why you don't want to cut them.
 
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