I’m experiencing a bit of déjà vu. After driving through Oklahoma I noticed my Jeep was missing a shock bolt. Immediately after the Big Run I could hear a squeak coming from the front suspension. I thought it was just really dirty and would silence after a good bath. While I was washing it I noticed the same bolt I just replaced was missing! I was shocked, another grade 8 bolt sheared off and nowhere to be found. My dealership installs a fair amount of lifts. They found the right size bolt, an extra from one of their aftermarket kits, and gave it to me. It only lasted a week.
After a bit of research I found out the heavy JK requires a higher grade bolt. If you are needing front lower shock bolt it’s Mopar part number 06104242AA. Mopar describes it as: Bolt, Mounting, Hex Flange Head, Grade 10.9, M12x1.5×70.
Grade 10.9 is the important part because it is subject to considerable shear loading. As I found out.
The shock needed to be raised up considerably to align with the mounting hole.
The Hi-Lift jack came in handy to flex the suspension. Wheel chocks where on the tires, be safe–even in your driveway.
I got lucky and aligned it easily on the first try.
The other suspension related bolts are marked with a M for metric and 10.9 for their grade. I hadn’t noticed that before. Companies sell grade 8 upgrade kits so I assumed they were the lower grade 5 bolts. I’m not sure why you would want to “upgrade” to a lower grade bolt.
Let’s hope this one last longer than a week.
