The other day, I tried to change my rear bumpstops and snapped 2 of the bolts. For the short term I punched the studs and the fastener into the subframe and threaded in some half inch bolts. I wasn’t too happy with that solution because I felt they wouldn’t be strong enough. While reading JeepForum, I came across a thread on fixing TJ transfer skid plates. I figured if it would work for a skid plate, it would work for a bumpstop. I wasn’t about to spend $8 a pop on them from a dealership, and I knew I didn’t need that much toughness. I found some nutserts at Fastenal. that would fit the holes in my subframe and should hold. I got 4 of them with tax and shipping for less than $9.
Here’s a nutsert on on a homebrew installation tool. It’s an M10 bolt with 2 flat washers, a 7/16 nut (anything large enough to spin freely on the bolt will work), and a star lock washer.
The only hand tools needed are a socket to turn the bolt, and a wrench to hold the nut from spinning.
Test Installation on one of the doors of my parts XJ. I wanted to see exactly how it installed before I got up under the Jeep where space was limited.
Cross section of the installation. The door panel wasn’t vertical and was dented, so the bolt’s not straight.
Both nutserts installed in the frame.
Bumpstop installed.
Here are some more random pics of took while I was working on this project. If the fix seems to hold up, I may invest in a hand full of these when I replace my rear shocks next time.
