Upper Control Arms Chewed Out For The Second Time

[Ypahihi]

I had a spare WJ that had Kings springs and transfered them to my old girl with new shocks, rear suspension arms, ball joint, rubbers and longer sway bar links. Swapped it all over for about a 2.25 lift. I retained the stock drive shaft.

3 years later the rear steering sensation started and it was pointed out that the upper control arm rubbers were all chewed out. So I replaced the rubbers and 3 months later the rear steering started again only to notice that the upper rear rubbers were again chewed out.
When I replaced the rubbers for the second time I had a hell of a time getting the ball joint to seat correctly into the A frame.

I read online that I may need either a spacer on the A fame or a double cardon drive shaft to correct this problem.
So, I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction for a fix before I start throwing money at the old girl again.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post

[bodgie]

Originally Posted by Ypahihi

When I replaced the rubbers for the second time I had a hell of a time getting the ball joint to seat correctly into the A frame.

I read online that I may need either a spacer on the A fame or a double cardon drive shaft to correct this problem.
So, I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction for a fix before I start throwing money at the old girl again.

I've had my rear upper control arm bushes chew out once, with a similar lift. I've made a 10mm spacer (because I had 10mm plate) and added this to the rear balljoint mounting. While the angles were't bad, this did improve the situation and I'm keeping an eye on the bushes to see what happens. IRO do a bigger spacer, but this may be a bit much for your application.

I used the balljoint as a template to make mine, the only minor challenge I had was to bore the big hole required to place the balljoint in.

All of my other bushes are SuperPro poly and I've been very happy with the result. I've learnt not to listen to others that have no experience and have found these to work very well in a number of vehicles. They are however more expensive to purchase, but if they last longer and don't negatively impact ride quality I'm of the opinion they are worth the investment.

Next time I need to do the uppers, I think I'll be replacing the with the superior bushes. In many ways I'm sorry I didn't do this initially.

They may be worthwhile considering IMHO.

Jason

[JoergM]

Originally Posted by Ypahihi

I had a spare WJ that had Kings springs and transfered them to my old girl with new shocks, rear suspension arms, ball joint, rubbers and longer sway bar links. Swapped it all over for about a 2.25 lift. I retained the stock drive shaft.

3 years later the rear steering sensation started and it was pointed out that the upper control arm rubbers were all chewed out. So I replaced the rubbers and 3 months later the rear steering started again only to notice that the upper rear rubbers were again chewed out.
When I replaced the rubbers for the second time I had a hell of a time getting the ball joint to seat correctly into the A frame.

I read online that I may need either a spacer on the A fame or a double cardon drive shaft to correct this problem.
So, I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction for a fix before I start throwing money at the old girl again.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post

I am replacing my upper control arm rubber bushings with the IRO flex joints right now. These are tough hard plastic bushings which you have to screw in and you will most likely not need to replace anymore, or you simply can rebuild them easily. I made it to a habit to replace all rubber bushings with these flex joints if possible and if it makes sense.
However, I am also using the adjustable IRO A-arm as well of which I know that that the flex joints fit. Not sure if they actually fit in the standard A-arm. On the other side it looks like it uses just the standard bushings so it should.
Btw, how did you get them out (since this is what I am struggling with right now)?
I was thinking of my ball joint replacement tool but there is very little space (if not even any) to put the cups for pressing.

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[Ypahihi]

Thank you gentlemen the the responses.

I will be exploring what's available from a friends metal collection to make a spacer as described. Perhaps 20mm? Below is the part I was looking at initially, however; if we can make it then all the better to redirect the money on the SuperPro polys.

I bought the A frame with rubbers and since I've moved from Darwin to Tassie, I have purchased another WJ for spare parts and used the A frame from that for the second chew out as it was in excellent condition.
The plan was to use the neighbours huge press to pop out the old rubbers. If that wasn't achievable then I would probably burn them out providing the A frame can handle it.

I will update when the neighbour presses out the old rubbers and advise if he came up with a novel way to remove them.

Thanks again for sharing, It really does make a difference.

[Ypahihi]

Just came across this on YouTube should anyone else need to make a spacer for the A frame.

You Tube

[JoergM]

Originally Posted by Ypahihi

Just came across this on YouTube should anyone else need to make a spacer for the A frame.

Saw this the other day too and wanted to post the link after I read your initial message. Had slipped my mind since I didn't do it right away.

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[Ypahihi]

Emailed Doug from the video clip yesterday and he advised that the spacer is still going strong from when they made the video.
He offers a printable template for the spacer, so I took him up on the offer.
Nice guy.