I’m going to give it another go tomorrow after I get some of the “bad bolt” sockets. It looks like it was caught on the control arm at one point, but it appears to have made a groove when I turned the nut and that’s why it came loose. It won’t catch now in the original spot since the groove is worn in the arm. I’ll try to use some vice grips to pin it against the control arms
Control Arm Replacements
- Thread starter Breto31
- Start date
I do have one additional question - and it might be a dumb one.... To adjust the length of the control arms, do you have to remove one end of each arm every time, and can they be adjusted while still assembled on the jeep?
Seems counterintuitive to have to remove the bolts if you need to adjust it.
Seems counterintuitive to have to remove the bolts if you need to adjust it.
in your picture it looks like you bought single adjustable, so yes you have to remove one end to shorten or lengthen the arm, then put the bolt back in. With double adjustable you just loosen the nuts & spin the shaft itself to shorten or lengthen...
Well dang - I wish I had done more in depth research. Tbh honest when I bought the T1 model I didn’t realize that there was double adjustable, single-end, etc.. Regardless, they’ve got to be better than the old ones!
it's not that big of a deal, once you get them dialed in you're good, it's not like you'll need to keep adjusting them unless you're making other alterations to your suspension which could require you to tweak the length. A benefit of double adjustable aside from convenience is that they allow for infinite adjustment increments, whereas single adjustable have a minimum 180 degree turn either way. Though I'm not sure that matters much, at least it hasn't for my situation, I'm not sure I ever turned my upper shafts less than 1/2 a turn anyway to adjust. I don't think any of this is all that sensitive, but I'm sure some will likely disagree with that 
Edit: by the way I think we have the same exact Jeep:
Edit: by the way I think we have the same exact Jeep:
wow I thought yours was flame red too, looks like it in the picture. Mine is as red as red gets, this is the most recent picture I took right after painting some old blue doors red:
Jeeptundra
Member
New build will start in June, they will available for sale then.
So I got the final arm put in at the mechanic - had to cut the stripped bolts out, and do a few other things to get it removed. Can’t really tell if my ride has improved any yet because now some collateral damage is that I found out I have bad ball joints (all 4) so they can’t align the tires. Getting those replaced and aligned on Wednesday.
Not surprised they’re bad - the jeep is an 05, and I’m almost certain that all of the joints/steering components are the stock parts. The steering has felt a little “loose” since I bought it, but it wasn’t really anything that concerned. I never felt unsafe or tough to control.
To be continued....
Not surprised they’re bad - the jeep is an 05, and I’m almost certain that all of the joints/steering components are the stock parts. The steering has felt a little “loose” since I bought it, but it wasn’t really anything that concerned. I never felt unsafe or tough to control.
To be continued....
After about 1 week of driving with the new front control arms, I am experiencing what I would call a “bouncy” front end. The jeep rides smoother overall, but when I was on the highway (or even pulling out of my driveway) bumps that I experienced before the replacement seem to exacerbated. They dont feel jarring, but the front end definitely bounces more than it used to. Almost like it’s too soft or something. I also have never ridden on new CA’s before so I don’t really know why to expect.
Anyone ever experienced this?
Anyone ever experienced this?
Shocks are new Rancho RS5000X. Less than 2K miles.... It looks like now that the new arms are on, they might be longer than the others were so the front end is sitting high - now the shocks are more extended than they were before. I guess that could cause some bounciness if the shocks are extended?
I put 3 of the arms on myself, and I tried to keep them the same length, but for the life of me I couldn’t get the 4th one on (upper-passenger side), so I took it somewhere to have it done.
EDIT: I’m pretty sure the place I took it just adjusted my upper-passenger arm longer to fit it, rather than forcing the axle/arm into place to fit the CA on in the correct length.
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the CA's control axle location, that's it. ensuring the bushings are kept in good shape and/or lubricated is all they really require.
the springs hold you up at your desired height and the shocks should dampen the movement of the springs.
@jjvw, any thoughts. < he's been playing with shocks quite a bit lately.
the springs hold you up at your desired height and the shocks should dampen the movement of the springs.
@jjvw, any thoughts. < he's been playing with shocks quite a bit lately.
That’s the way I understand it too. The only work I’ve had done is the new CA’s, and I had new ball joints out on/alignment done - all done at the same place. Here’s some pics of the shocks. The “extension” is noticeably different from before I had this work done, as-is the ride (bounciness), and I can tell that the front end sits higher than it did before (for whatever reason). That was the first thing I noticed when I pulled up to pick it up from the shop.
it could just be me, but I feel like the passenger shock is more extended than the driver side.
it could just be me, but I feel like the passenger shock is more extended than the driver side.
those do appear pretty stretched. pop that zip tie and measure the exposed shaft length. see how close or far that is from mid travel for that shock.
P
I will say the bounciness certainly seems to be coming from more on the passenger side vs driver side.
Passenger side is at about 7” and driver side is at about 6.5”. Not sure how to tell how far that is from mid travel?
I will say the bounciness certainly seems to be coming from more on the passenger side vs driver side.
so unless your running 14" travel shock your well past 1/2 way. see if you can locate any serial # and find out the shocks upper and lower limits. they'd be described as extended length and collapsed length for a particular shock.
or remove 1 and measure it open fully and compressed fully.
or remove 1 and measure it open fully and compressed fully.
The only number I can find that means anything is the RS55255 that is just the generic model # for the RS5000X. Mine should be the ones for a 4” lift.