Kj uca bracket?

[DadOSix]

So, it seems my kj has decided he needs some Upper Control Arm work on the rear end.

Had him out for a run in the snow last week and noticed a vibration / rumble while braking from about 40 mph. Same day, he popped the TC shift cable bushing. No worries there.

Anyway, looking back toward the tri-link, I noticed a shiny bolt - looks like the head was cut / broken off. Never saw it before. But bushings are crap back there and it looks at first glance that the pinch bracket may be askew.

How much trouble am I looking at if one of the ballstud bracket bolts is indeed busted off in the housing?

No phone at the moment for pics.

appreciate any tips.

thanks!

 

[tommudd]

So, one of the bolts that go into the diff is broke off ?
Or which one
(3) 3olts on the diff bracket ,
then one bolt that goes through the bracket holding the ball joint in
Have never seen any of them broken although had one where the two of the bracket bolts that go into the diff came part way or were never put in correctly, and broke
Guy did install himself and did not tighten them correctly ,( or above ) nor use new thread loc , then brought it to me to get old bolts out
The lower left bolt , looking from front goes clear through so not too hard to drill out

 

[DadOSix]

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Here we go Tom. Looks like my bargain jeep is getting a tad more expensive. I wanted to blame this on fatigue, but given the absence of ‘fresh metal’ overall, I think the inspector missed this, and I didn’t catch it either.

always had a bit of a clunk on shifting from R to D or D to R.

guess I found it!

the left uca bushing is shot, right seems ok.

advice on the best way to tackle the broken one? Got about 2 threads showing. No welder here.

thanks!

 

[tommudd]

WOW
so you are going to need a bracket as well as get the bolts out
They can be mean son of a guns ( and that is putting it nicely )
Remove the shocks so you can get the diff down as low as you can,
do you have any kind of heat you can apply to it at all ?
The blue loc-tite used by Jeep is a mean ____ ___ to get loose even when you have the head on the bolts
It looks like it is the left side upper ( which is what I meant earlier )
I would buy some good drill bits and drill through, it will take a big easy out to get it to move
At least if it is that one if worse comes to worse you can drill clear through and just use a long bolt to bolt new bracket back on
Junk yard for bracket since new ones are like dinosaur eggs to find and very expensive
Once you get everything unbolted and out of the way more pics
Either was installed incorrectly or someone really hammered it
and yes that had to of been loose for a long time

you'll have to remove the KJ balls to get at the lower bolt, then toss them

 

[DadOSix]

WOW
so you are going to need a bracket as well as get the bolts out
They can be mean son of a guns ( and that is putting it nicely )
Remove the shocks so you can get the diff down as low as you can,
do you have any kind of heat you can apply to it at all ?
The blue loc-tite used by Jeep is a mean ____ ___ to get loose even when you have the head on the bolts
It looks like it is the left side upper ( which is what I meant earlier )
I would buy some good drill bits and drill through, it will take a big easy out to get it to move
At least if it is that one if worse comes to worse you can drill clear through and just use a long bolt to bolt new bracket back on
Junk yard for bracket since new ones are like dinosaur eggs to find and very expensive
Once you get everything unbolted and out of the way more pics
Either was installed incorrectly or someone really hammered it
and yes that had to of been loose for a long time

you'll have to remove the KJ balls to get at the lower bolt, then toss them

Thanks Tom!

i’ve got em soaking in Free All right now. I like better than pb. Just seems to do it for me.
-
Yes to heat! Torch ready!
good hint on the shocks. Would not have thought that first.

this old boy has 177K and has seen very little love until I bought him.

I’m just glad it let go on me rather than one of my boys.

-

more pics when I get in that far.

as far as the UCA - anything reasonable priced, or should I bite the Mopar bullet?

 

[tommudd]

For me at least cheaper ones just do not hold up, 2-3 months and they are toast
happy to hear you have heat to throw at them at least
The other two will more than likely be hard to get started but should come out
The broken one try heat and well can you get vice grips on the stub ?

 

[jeeptorino68]

The bolts on mjne came lose at one point. So be sure to apply nee loctite (blue) and torque to spec when on the ground. It is hard to get a torque wrench in there. But can be done.

 

[DadOSix]

Thanks gents!

 

[DadOSix]

Update -

someone definitely has been on this project before.

missing a bolt on the counterweight. Only had 2. Removed and out.

as i mentioned, left bushing shot. Right tearing. BJ is ok.

Loosened the 15mm head bushing bolts easily with impact gun.

removed sway bar bolts and jiggled it out of the way.

dropped uca down and toward the left side. Slid out with ballstud mount attached.

no heat required on the mount bolts on the differential housing.

extreme luck was they removed with only impact help.

the broken bolt was removed with vise grips. Had 3 threads to grip and backed right out.

the uca is aftermarket. Some less than stellar welds and some rusty numbers and china stamped into it.

I may end up just changing the bushings in this if I have to bite the bullet for the bracket.

moog bushings for a pair about 40 bucks at advance. I’ve got one worked out already using the bench vise to press it out. Other side not cooperating. Might take a ball joint press to it.

 

[duderz7]

I've replaced mine before with moog, I won't do it again as the arm itself tries to collapse when pressing bushings and ball joint. I'm likely to go with iron rock, there's a thread on here discussing it.

 

[tommudd]

Update -

someone definitely has been on this project before.

missing a bolt on the counterweight. Only had 2. Removed and out.

as i mentioned, left bushing shot. Right tearing. BJ is ok.

Loosened the 15mm head bushing bolts easily with impact gun.

removed sway bar bolts and jiggled it out of the way.

dropped uca down and toward the left side. Slid out with ballstud mount attached.

no heat required on the mount bolts on the differential housing.

extreme luck was they removed with only impact help.

the broken bolt was removed with vise grips. Had 3 threads to grip and backed right out.

the uca is aftermarket. Some less than stellar welds and some rusty numbers and china stamped into it.

I may end up just changing the bushings in this if I have to bite the bullet for the bracket.

moog bushings for a pair about 40 bucks at advance. I’ve got one worked out already using the bench vise to press it out. Other side not cooperating. Might take a ball joint press to it.

You can try and rebuild it, but in the end it's better to bite the bullet and get a new one
Like mentioned they will smash flat without much force at all
Glad you got the old bolts out
plus if try redoing it replace the ball joint as well
Have you found a new bracket yet ?

 

[DadOSix]

You can try and rebuild it, but in the end it's better to bite the bullet and get a new one
Like mentioned they will smash flat without much force at all
Glad you got the old bolts out
plus if try redoing it replace the ball joint as well
Have you found a new bracket yet ?

no joy on the bracket yet as the parts yards are closed til Monday.

one lot near me has 7 or 8 kj’s as of my last visit. I’ve got the run of that yard and usually pull my own stuff, but with this being under, we will have to get his guys involved in pulling it.

i will call the dealer to see if he has one. The service manager is kind of a jerk, but the parts guys are ok. Not much wiggle room on price match.

best i’ve found online is 336.

 

[tommudd]

Yes new they are never below 300, if they even have any left
I've been forced to come off a couple of mine to help customers out who broke theirs trying to spread it to get bolt out, yes stupid move

 

[DadOSix]

Score!

my main local parts yard has one guy who always tells me he has nothing. I don’t think he likes the fact i want to pull my own stuff.

the other guy down the road is a lot smaller operation and they recently lost family to covid.

anyway, i called lot #2 yesterday and he would look.

no reply, so i drove out today. He had not had time. I asked to walk back and look.

yeah, cool. But watch out for the bull! ( his herd is allowed to roam the yard)

no bull, but 1st kj I saw fit the bill. Nice enough. It was even in the outside row so he could scoop it up on the loader.

waiting for his call now to pick up the goods.

i see what you guys mean about the uca being junk. My other jeep dealer told me to buy a duralast part for that. Says it is the same as oem, and warranted thru autozone. Me? I’m still gonna try refitting the bushings on mine.

 

[tommudd]

Good luck on trying to refit bushings in
I have over a dozen rear UCAs laying in the junk , all used one time and would not try to push new ones in any of them
And warranty on them through Autozone, if they paid you labor too, it may make it worthwhile

 

[DadOSix]

Good luck on trying to refit bushings in
I have over a dozen rear UCAs laying in the junk , all used one time and would not try to push new ones in any of them
And warranty on them through Autozone, if they paid you labor too, it may make it worthwhile

I hear ya! With any luck, this will get the boy thru high school and such. It’ll never see long distance drives from home. But i’m watching the oem sites just in case someone loses their mind and drops the price way down.

considering that i bought this jeep for 500 and have maybe 600 more into it, I have a hard time justifying throwing 1K at the uca / bracket project.

appreciate your input!

 

[DadOSix]

So - 06 KJ is back in action again!

We got lucky and scored a used ball joint mount and a crusty uca and a rear window with good defroster tabs all for the princely sum of 90 bucks.

The crusty UCA was total trash, but my guy did not want to put the effort into separating from the ballstud bracket.

I opted for the Moog UCA for a few reasons :

1- this KJ will be a local runner only for my fleet.
2 - I could not beat the price as compared with 5 bills from Mopar.

See, RockAuto had Moog for 115 and change. Local Auto parts place did a price match, AND it was in stock!

I am not a very patient person when I want to finish the job. Hence, the junkyard guy called me new years eve and said get there by 5.

Made it at 4, got to autoparts on 1/2 and was back on the road that nite.

2 helpful maybe hints.

I've got no lift, so this is all floor work. Back the KJ up on ramps and it is relatively smooth work angle from below.

next is - use a sheet of foam insulation board (like the blue stuff, 1/2 inch thick) as a cushion on the concrete and as insulation!

No creeper anymore. Just scoot where I want to be.

Also got the TC shift bushing repaired that same nite.


Time to reinstall was about 90 minutes once i got the torque specs and such dialed in.

Thanks all!

 

[tommudd]

Good you got it done for now

 

[DadOSix]

Good you got it done for now

yeah Tom,

I know it is not optimal, but with 178K on it, I don't feel like throwing more into the rear end that i have in the whole truck.

btw - you don't want to know what my ride height looks like! It is WAY past your specs on worn at 60K. Both the 04 and 06 could use some OME help.

 

[tommudd]

So what is the ride height, left front ??
I've had them come in at just a tad over 17 inches, guy could not determine what the noise was or why his tires were rubbing
( stock size 235-70-16s were rubbing LOL plus one front and one rear shock blown and front springs stacked )
He is the one who fell out of his KJ after we lifted it and installed new 245-75-16 tires on it
total lift from where he was, till afterwards was right at 6 inches !