control arm bushings torn after 1 week

[PassRunnerZJ]

I put Dodge 1500 front lower control arms on my ZJ to kick the rear axle a bit for the pinion angle as they were a little longer than stock, maybe these would work for front LCA's. My WJ's are the same but with better bushings, you do have to cut the steel inset down is the WJ is wider.

Honestly you will be $$$ ahead to purchase adjustable ones and/or go with a long arm adjustable kit rather than chase stock components down a rabbit hole. I know that both Clayton's and IRO offer front only long arm kits.

[1ABrian]

Well update for now. I took my old LCA and extended them for a test. Center of hole to hole 16.5 so its extended about 3/4 of an inch. The adjusted cam is retracted all the way so its strictly just the 3/4" extended.


It does ride better with a little drive line vibe. Most of the DW is gone. Keep in mind, I did this strictly as a test and now have approx 50 miles on it. I did replace my pass side crunchy U Joint. Didnt seem to make a drivability change. Now I will contact the alignment shop and find out why the CASTOR was not set. I am now leaning toward the trac bar again.
Note that this vehicle has been lifted this way for over 5 years with random DW that was fixed by a bad trac bar. Now I just cant seem to stop this issue may years later

[ZJ TINS]

I had death wobble out of the blue. Unbolted the tie rod end drag link etc lookin for something. Found nothing cleaned and resintalled and no DW. I can only assume I had something loose. Problem was when all together nothing was wrong that I could find. It is labor but free. Might just pull it all down and recheck then restinstall. Also check your gearbox. Even slight wear can cause DW but difficult to see. Trac bar seems most obvoius so again take it down double check and then reinstall carefully with correct torque. Since you have replaced most parts it seem likely and install error not a failed part.


Also for alignment I use 1/8" front to back difference on my 31" tires and it works fine. You could at least start there and look for other issues (or leave if your current aligment is close. you just do not want you tires pointing out).

[AgitatedPancake]

Have you done the checks for worn components yet? I highly recommend it, even if things were recently replaced. At least it gives youthe satisfaction of knowing what its not, instead of thinking about 10 things it could be. Especially with your note that the DW has become progressively worse recently, things have gotta be worn out

[AgitatedPancake]

Another side note, wrench the CRAP out of the bolts for your front frame side track bar bracket. Even with Andy's as tight as I could get them, you could see the bracket shifting when we did te agressive side to side steering test. Ended up having to put some stitch welds on it to help the bolts hold everything solid

[1ABrian]

Well I called the alignment shop and its going back in on Wed AM. The shop owner seemed to give me an attitude when I questioned if his tech performed the alignment correct. The owner actually tried to tell me that this Jeep didnt have a castor adjustment. Very disappointing. i wonder if I should reinstall the OE replacement LCA's or leave my extended ones in there.

[AgitatedPancake]

I've given ya all I can, good luck at the alignment shop.

[1ABrian]

Ok so this is what I got from todays alignment which resulted in major drive line vibes.

INITIAL Left 10.4------------ Spec 6.5-7.5 -----------FINAL LEFT 10.9
INITIAL RIGHT 10.3 ---------------------------------------- RIGHT 9.3

This guy should have left it where it was and informed me he couldnt get it into spec. Instead messed it up more. You can see the pinion pointed down right out of the front diff. he test drove it and gave it back to me with out saying a word. I went back into the shop and questioned his ability. he didnt like that.

Keep in mind I extended the factory control arms 3/4 of an inch both LCS'a and the cams were turned back all the way. All he did was crank the cams forward and gave it back to me.

[1ABrian]

Another side note, wrench the CRAP out of the bolts for your front frame side track bar bracket. Even with Andy's as tight as I could get them, you could see the bracket shifting when we did te agressive side to side steering test. Ended up having to put some stitch welds on it to help the bolts hold everything solid

I did see the bracket on my TB on the frame horn didnt seem flush. I also may run a stitch weld on mine but I'll give it a couple more days before I do this. I did another suspension test last night and didnt see or feel any play in parts. As for last night: I swapped in the OE replacement control arms. Reset cams all the way forward. The only difference I did this time is this, the OE arms have 1 solid bushing on one end and a slotted bushing on the opposite end. This time i installed with the solid bushing on the axle side and the slotted bushing on the chassis side. Road tested ok for now. No driveline vibe and road tested on the highway. Seemed to have held the DW at bay so far. A couple days driving will be the real test. OH YEAH, I also tightened up the steering box because there was a little slack in the box gears.

Thanks guys for working with me on this. Hopefully your still keeping up with my posts.

[1ABrian]

No adjustments last night. Drove nice and tight on back roads and smooth all the way up to 75mph. I'll report back on Monday. I have plenty of drivin goin on this weekend with a little wheelin. Headin out on the woods to go turkey hunting Saturday then goin to put a down payment on a new compound bow. YEA

[PassRunnerZJ]

Good luck on the turkey hunt and sorting out the gremlins. Going with a Darton bow or Matthews? I need to get back to shooting before elk season.

[1ABrian]

So far drove all weekend with no DW. I am still getting a little drive line vibe. I pulled the front DS and ujoints are good there. I will still replace the driver side Ujoint in the axle and pop off the rear DS to check ujoints there. I'm hoping I dont need front hubs now. The seem tight but with all the BS going on with this front end, I may have shakn the life out of them.

As for hunting this weekend, check out my posts in chit chat. I had a GOOD weekend to say the least!!!

[1ABrian]

UPDATE: DW is gone. Have not experienced it at all for several days now. Possible by putting the solid end of the control arm bushings into axle end and slotted bushing into frame side cured the issue