Shears bolts help.

So I’m prepping to do my LBJs and hitting the bolts up with PB Blaster because they look a bit corroded.

Assuming the bolts come out ok (knock in wood) Is it prudent to clean the female threads out before putting the new bolts in? If so what type of conical wire brush should in use?

 

My truck came with a good amount of sea spray corrosion in every threaded hole. I found using wd40 and red scotcbrite like a bolt where threading it into holes would draw more and more if it in helped everything slip in by hand. Douse the holes with brake clean or your non-polar solvent of choice if you’re concerned about residual lubricity.

 

So just jam red scotch rite pad in the female threads and twist/turn it?

 

Yes - if it's an open hole it'll get really tight - but with closed holes it works almost the same.

 

This makes it alot easier too! You can chuck up these brushes in a drill:

 

Was looking at something similar. I assume just use the brass ones so they won’t bugger up the threads?

 

i saw that, didnt look right.

 

Brass or the steel one.The steel wires are relatively weak in comparison to the threads in the holes. You just want enough to knock off the rust in there. Don't go to 11.

 

Or go to your gun cleaning kit and borrow a bore cleaning brush. A .38, 9mm or .45 should do.

Also you could grind a notch in the end of an old bolt to fashion a thread chaser. A bolt is actually a hair smaller than an equivalent tap so there is no risk of "removing" any metal from the spindle holes.

Shown are a hand full of the oddball LBJ bolts Toyota used in the early years. The one in the center has been reborn as a chaser/cleaner. Gets the "rough stuff" out, like old thread locker.

 

If anyone is interested, a company called Vampire Tools make a line of tools to extract broken bolts.

I’ve used them for several years. Google them.

 

Good tip! Done this before too when I didn't have to right tap

 

Topic drift.
Bought my truck new in Catonsville.

 

Spray some wd40 in there if you’ve got crusties - it’ll loosen the crust up too

Now that I'm thinking about it, a small metal bristle attachment for a dremel will work better than a HF drill kit imo.

 

So the other 2 bolts were bent to hell the 8.8 grade was my fix to he able to get to work (was driving with 2/4 of the bolts in and no problem there.

 

Definitely would NOT recommend driving with only two of the four bolts installed. Do what you got to do, but these bolts are under alot of load while you are driving, even going down a road. It might work for a while, but not worth the risk if your LBJ gives way after you go over a pothole on the highway.

 

That what the originals did and then I did my fix and not proud to say it but its been that way since August 2018 minus 9 months for a deployment. And no problems so far but yeah I need to fix it

 

Friendly update many years later, I have hardly driven the truck due to this problem. After many deployments and a PCS I am finally fixing the problem. Went to a U-Pull it and got 2 knuckles to ensure I can fix this, buy it is a pain with eh pressed in hub and bearing.