02 Liberty Sport 3.7 V5 upper rear control arm

[Johnny O]

well the new rear suspension came today by Iron Mtn ! Upper arm with upgraded joints and bracket, lower adjustable control arms with the upgraded joint. Going to take it to our shop at work and do the install. What’s going to be the best way to get the new arms the same length as the stock ones ? Anybody put the whole rear setup in from Iron Mtn ? I’ve changed both upper and lower arms but there’s no adjustment on stock ones. Tips appreciated !

I ordered the a arm and LCAs from them last week…haven’t put them in yet as my OCD is forcing me to get the dealer LCAs put in to clear the recall off the VIN.

truthfully, I don’t need em, but I’m on the feast portion of my budget. I’ve been eyeballing the install on these, and beyond making sure the lengths are set right I’m only mildly concerned about how well the adjustments lock.

The old squid in me keeps screaming safety lock wire!

 

[tommudd]

I ordered the a arm and LCAs from them last week…haven’t put them in yet as my OCD is forcing me to get the dealer LCAs put in to clear the recall off the VIN.

truthfully, I don’t need em, but I’m on the feast portion of my budget. I’ve been eyeballing the install on these, and beyond making sure the lengths are set right I’m only mildly concerned about how well the adjustments lock.

The old squid in me keeps screaming safety lock wire!

LOL way overkill on the safety lock wire
My JBA adjustable tri links has been on the 03 and 04 for 1000s of miles and no issues
My adjustable lowers the same , once tightened up they are not moving , then can't

 

[Johnny O]

LOL way overkill on the safety lock wire
My JBA adjustable tri links has been on the 03 and 04 for 1000s of miles and no issues
My adjustable lowers the same , once tightened up they are not moving , then can't

LOL...yeah...I frakkin hate lock wire...but back in the day everything had to have it. I have nightmares about twist pliers!

 

[Offroad Bob]

We installed the rear upper and lower adjustable control arms from Iron Rock Offroad today ! Took 3 hrs to swap it out. Probably lost an hour on the center bolt holding the stock ball joint connector to the rear axle housing. The blue thread lock boogered up the threads on the housing while removing it. We Ran a tap into it two or three times and thank the good lord it cleaned up the threads ! Man I was worried ! We installed the new bracket to the rear end housing first, then put the upper control arm in place and ran the bolts in leaving about an 1/4” gap from the bolt head to the flex joint on both sides. Then we attached the new adjustable lower control arms to the body first, again loosely. Then attached the passenger side to the axle loosely. Then reinstalled the coil spring on passenger side. Went to the drivers side and did the same. Then reattached the rear shocks. Then we raised the floor jack that the rear axle was sitting on and hooked up the center link. The instructions from Iron Rock said to thread the center link all the way in to the arm to start. After hooking it up we looked at the angle the rear diff was positioned at. Then we raised the jack to the point that the Suspension was picking the Liberty off the stands. Then we tightened all up and checked the pinion angle and it was about 1.5 degrees and the alignment with the transfer case looked good. Then we put the wheels on and set it down. Went for a ride and I was astounded !! I could gas on it hard and the Liberty stayed in straight line ! No pitching the rear towards the center line like before ! I have a little bit more road noise than before and I’m thinking that may be due to the flex joints vs the rubber bushings. The rubber may have isolated road noise better but I’ll just turn the stereo a little louder ! Lol ! Had the bolt on the rear axle housing not given us problems we would probably have been done in 2 hours. I’ll try to attach a couple pics. It drives great, very tight and no more clunking every time I hit a piece of pine straw !!

 

[JeepinJarhead03]

Good job on the install, yeah any of the non isolated rucas will increase rolling noise, you get used to it though, assuming your hearing is good enough to really notice it, I just hear the ringing mostly, but that's there whether im in the vehicle or not lol

 

[Offroad Bob]

All is well with the new rear suspension! Drives really tight, firm. It is louder inside the cabin but I’m getting used to it. The increased road noise made me wonder if it was transmitting through the flex-joints. I talked with a tech at Iron Rock about the increased road noise and to see my theory on the road noise was plausible. It is because the rubber bushings absorb a good bit it, whereas the flex joint can’t because of materials. I’ll take the noise over changing the rear upper A-arm every year. I have a 4 wheel alignment setup for Sat 7:30. I really want the pinion angle checked professionally. By going that early they aren’t officially open yet. I’ll be able to go in the pit too and snoop around checking for any danglers or draggers ! It should line up spot on since the Rocky Road front upper a-arms are less than a year old and the Iron Rock rear setup is new. I’ll try to post results tomorrow. I’m on vacation until Tues after the 4th. Headed to W NC back in Nantahala National Forest mon am. Thank you

 

[tommudd]

Common sense that it would be louder in the cabin than before. Rubber isolates the cabin from the vibrations etc .
I never really notice it as I knew from years past there would be some added little noises when installing the JBA bolt on UCAs on both the 03 and 04 . Good luck on the alignment and oh its easy to get the diff the right angle right in your driveway.

 

[Offroad Bob]

The 4-wheel alignment was done this morning and they did have to adjust the pinion angle. We were 1/2 turn on the upper link too far out and the pinion angle was barely out of adjustment with it being a hair high. The alignment tech unbolted the link, turned it back in the half turn, re-attached it and re-measured and it was perfect ! We also had the rear lower adjustable arms set to the proper in length ! When he did the front suspension, he was able to get the left (drivers) side all back in tolerance except for the camber. It is supposed to fall between -.04 and .04 + degrees but would not get any closer than -0.4 degrees to the left of 0. The right front all came back within tolerances except the caster. The range was -.2.9 to +4.1 and it would not get any closer than -2.2 degrees to right on caster. The toe and steer ahead measurements all came back to specs. It drives even better, no pull to either side and seems to have cut down the road noise some. So far I am extremely happy with the Iron Rock rear setup ! I’m headed to the mountains of Western North Carolina Mon morning for a week. I plan to put the Jeep through its paces way back in the woods ! There’s some pretty fun hill climbing with large rocks and ravines so I’ll be able to see the difference in the articulation of the rear axle. I’ll post results after I get back mon 7/5 late pm.
I hope everyone has a great 4th of July and Holiday weekend !
Thank you for reading.