Front Upper Control Arms Help

[Sloguy]

Hey Everybody

Got a quick question on replacing stock front upper control arms. Bought 1999 Sahara 9 months ago and had Teraflex 4" Flexarm lift from 2004. Bolt was missing from driver's side axle mount so opportunity to replace them with RE SuperFlex Control arms. Should I adjust them to same length as original stock that was replaced? Curious as why Teraflex so long ago sold a lift with only 6 adjustable control arms. Any advice would be helpful. Also going to replace all control arms with RE SuperFlex as I prefer like components to be same brand/style. Thanks!

 

[fxrsliberty]

RE should have a guide for setting the length. Each manufacturer has its own starting point usually within a 1/4 inch.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[RangerRick]

Here is a .pdf instruction sheet on the RE lift kit showing what the adjustable upper arms should be set at initially on the 4.5" Superflex kit.

According to NC4X4 website, these are the lengths of control arms on a TJ for the various heights:

LINK

Below is the RE 7000 series lift kit instructions .pdf:

CLICK HERE

These links should give you most of what you need info wise.

 

[Sloguy]

Thanks for your responses.

I apologize up front if my nomenclature is incorrect as I'm not a mechanic.

I checked the RE website and saw their 7000-3 instructions but I really needed to look at both the 3.5 and 4.5 to get an idea of what to do.That NC4x4 link was exactly what I was looking for. As an update I did call RE on a second subject regarding 1/4 inch slop on axle fork connection. I replaced the bushings with Moog which were same as stock width but had 1/4 inch gap and I knew the 1/4 inch fork wouldn't close (nor would I want to torque it that much). RE said to use washers to make up the difference but I didn't want to stack washers so I flattened a couple of 7/16 lock washers and they fit perfectly on the metal sleeve. Here's a picture in case anyone is interested

(I still need to tighten it down).

 

[fxrsliberty]

That much space! If buy another lift kit.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[RangerRick]

Lock washers are a bad idea as shims because they are split already. This can cause them to distort and be spit out under hard use so I would follow RE and their recommendation of using flat washers. Just not a good idea for this type of application even if they are thicker and "look" better.

Still don't understand why there is a gap. A slight gap is normal and torquing down the bolts will compress the fork on the end of the upper control arms to take out some space but a large gap means something isn't right with either the arm ends or the bushings in your axle. Maybe the Moog parts you used are slightly narrower than the factory bushings or something's out of spec. To shim it is not a problem really but you have to make sure you have them tight because the pinching forces of the bolt are what keep wear down on the arms and bushing sleeves. If the bushings aren't pinched tight by the arm bolts, there will be oblonging of the holes and significant wear over time.

I'd want to measure the arm end spread & the bushings to find out if either one is off in dimensions. My RE arms have nowhere near that kind of space.

 

[Sloguy]

Good call on the split in the washers. I didn't think about that. The factory metal casing ( I assume factory) on the bushing is 1 11/16 inch and Moog replacement is 1 21/32 so I see not much difference there. The gap between forks is 2 5/32. Given the protruding rubber and metal sleeve to be just about 1/4 inch leaves about the 1/4 inch gap. I know I didn't want a loose fitting. I may just use a vice and close the gap a little ( about an 1/8) and tighten flush from there. If the paint cracks I'll take them back to be replaced. Was a bear to get them in especially the passenger side. The jeep had a couple of RE components already so thought they would be a good choice. Luckily RE is only about an hour drive from where I live.

 

[Sloguy]

Quick squeeze in the vice to 2 inch gap and all good. Y'all saved me a lot of potential trouble down the road. Funny how something that took an hour and a half to figure out how to tweak the axle to line up a bolt only takes less than 2 minutes the second time around.

 

[RangerRick]

A good simple fix there.