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View Full Version : HELP! Steering Stabilizer Bolt!



weiln12
02-08-2006, 09:24 PM
OK, what the hell is going on! What, is the damn bolt welded into the drag link!? Well, considering it's original and been there for 10 years, yeah it may be one with the stupid link.:smt011

Anyway, I need to get it off to put my Rancho on, but I cannot get the bolt to budge. The bolt I'm referring to is the one on the drivers side going through the drag link. I just cannot get this thing to budge at all.

PLEASE HELP! How can I get the bolt out?

OverkillZJ
02-08-2006, 09:36 PM
Air chissel, and / or heat.

A bigger hammer will do it, but I'd suggest removing the steering setup first so you don't hurt the TRE's.

weiln12
02-08-2006, 09:52 PM
So if I take the drag link out, I would need to replace the ball joint on the pitman arm right? What else would I need to replace if I took the drag link out?

Also, with everything being 10 years old, shouldn't I just replace the TRE's and other ball joints?

For heat what would you use, one of the little Bernz-O-Matic torches, would that work?

OverkillZJ
02-08-2006, 10:02 PM
Say what? Remove steering. Pound crap out of stablizer bolt. Reinstall steering.

No replacing or ball joints... especially since you don't have any on your steering except for the knuckles. Maybe you'll need new cotter pins.

Use whatever you want for heat, if it makes a flame it'll help. I'm partial to mapp gas if you dont have a torch.

weiln12
02-08-2006, 10:27 PM
OK, sorry, took a ride on the stupid train...

Just to verify since I only took the steering off once on my brothers XJ. I only need to remove the castle nut on the passenger side where the drag link connects to the wheel assembly, the castle nut on the drag link and tie rod connection, and the castle nut on the pitman arm correct?

weiln12
02-08-2006, 11:16 PM
OK, maybe I'm back on the stupid train or something...

How do I get the steering off without a ball joint puller and ruining the ball joints? Sorry for being a newb, but there must be something I'm missing...:confused:

OverkillZJ
02-08-2006, 11:21 PM
Losen the top not then hit it, so it falls against the nut.

or you can still use an air chissel. Some people will take the BFH while it's on the rig.

nate
02-09-2006, 01:18 AM
Good luck! I broke a $90 puller at the Hobby Shop on base a few years back. 20 min job (or so I thought!) turned into a whole afternoon.

weiln12
02-09-2006, 09:06 AM
I started whacking the bolts last night, but all I managed to do was beat the hell out of the castle nuts. Damn, that metal their made out of is weak, along with the bolt.

So, I put it back together and I'll tackle it this weekend when I have more time. This weekend will be another maintenance weekend on the vehicle, lets just hope everything else goes more quickly and easily than the stinking bolt. It looks like it will just be easier to replace the ball joints on the tie rod and pitman arm too, since there is no way I can pound on the pitman arm joint. Oh well, everything is original and could use getting replaced anyway.

I guess the only other "d'oh!" question, is why didn't Jeep use a bolt similar to the Rancho, that has 2 nuts to you never need to remove the bolt once it's in place?

Of course, if I break stuff, I may just have to get the Currie steering...:smt083

N2Deep
02-09-2006, 12:55 PM
I had the same problem - figured I would take a BFH to it but that did not work. Went down to Napa and rented their Suspension kit- comes with a pitman arm puller and 3 different sized pickle forks. Took a whole 2 mins to get it off with that pickle fork and BFH. I now own a set of pickle forks ;). Helped another Jeeper the same way-took only a few minutes and a couple of wacks.

weiln12
02-09-2006, 02:04 PM
Wow, I definitely will have to check that out, thanks! Did using the pickle fork destroy the ball joint, or was it reusable? Every time I've used/seen a pickle fork used, it destroyed the ball joint.

No bid deal if it does, I want to pick some up anyway. Any recommendations for quality ball joints?

nate
02-09-2006, 05:11 PM
Ball joint or tie rod end?

Probably the easiest way to get that bolt out would be to torch it out. Things are always easy with help from the blue wrench :D

Michael
02-09-2006, 06:49 PM
get a bigger hammer.

N2Deep
02-09-2006, 07:16 PM
Maybe I read the original post wrong:confused: but aren't you just trying to replace the steering stablizer? If so you only have 2 bolts- one on the axle and one in the midddle of the Drag Link. I am guessing your having trouble getting the one out of the drag link. No ball joint there.



Wow, I definitely will have to check that out, thanks! Did using the pickle fork destroy the ball joint, or was it reusable? Every time I've used/seen a pickle fork used, it destroyed the ball joint.

No bid deal if it does, I want to pick some up anyway. Any recommendations for quality ball joints?

weiln12
02-10-2006, 09:23 AM
No, you read it correctly. However, I can't get a BFH on the bolt on the drag link while it's on the truck, and if I could I don't want to tear the crap out of the TRE's. So, I need to get the drag link (a minimum) off the truck.

Taking the short cut that OverKill mentioned, I tried beating on the nut for the tie rod/drag link connection, but it wouldn't budge (deformed the nut pretty well though). I also cannot get any leverage to beat the joint on the pitman arm out, so I need a pickle fork to remove the joints.

This will most likely tear them up, but since they need to be replaced anyway(grease, joints need grease, inside the boot you say?:smt082 ) it's not a big deal. So, since I'm doing this tonight I wanted to know if anyone had suggestions on ball joints. The 4 Wheeler Supply in Phoenix has them for $25 each for the pitman arm and drag link/tie rod joint, for Spicer joints. Is this good, or am I missing something? If I do those two, should I just do the TRE's as well, and heck, while I'm at it why not do all the ball joints!:smt023

At least then they'd all be done, and I wouldn't have to worry about them anymore.

zjoe
02-10-2006, 05:35 PM
Put a gear puller on that SS bolt. Crank the shit out of it. If that doesn't pop the bolt out, then leave the puller tight (need the tension) and smack the end of the gear puller with a hammer. It should pop right out.

CurtP
02-10-2006, 10:54 PM
I used a small pitman arm puller on my SS bolt. You could do the same thing with a two-arm pulley puller. It made one hell of a "bang" when it let loose too - I about shat me britches.