Hello ShafferNY. Sorry for the length of this post but it might of help, sometime, with luck. Apologies for the spelling it is 0600 here & have not been asleep yet.
I went through the same - when you think about it is still metal to metal and seems to be coming from there. I think at times the crush-tube was rubbing and so was the lower part of the clevis bracket just starting to rub on the LCA.
I hope this is useful for when you do cary out the work:
My clevis arm (lower) was so far off center that I couldn't get a square pull at the outer tube of the bush to get a straight pull and was worried I would crush the outer tube.....by the way I make my own tools for this kind of thing. I ended up modding old bolts in the lathe and re-shaping the flats so they would clear the LCA and pulling the inner crush tube right out of the way. From then on it was relatively easy. Smaller threaded rod, offset holes, flats cut into the tools all failed to get a square - enough pull to do the job so I finished with pulling the inner crush-tube out - turned out that the clevis bracket had just started to ever-so lightly rub on the LCA and there was also the metal to metal of the crush-tube.
Also of note is the fact that the eye through which the bush is pressed is narrower at the top than the base (the part of the LCA) - so I made packers out of old rather large ID washers (the same insdie diameter as the O.D. of the bush) to get a square pull and did it quite comfortably on the vehicle.
To put the info out there: Jeep dealership ONLY had worked on it - aaargh! until after warranty and had tried to fit a spanner to the heads of the bolts. This is NOT NECESSARY as Jeep have fitted quite substantive tabs to the heads of the bolts to stop them from rotating when being tightened and loosened. This applies to the drop bar for between the stabiliser bar and the LCA and the clevis bracket pin. THIS IS WELL DESIGNED. The position of the tabs don't matter but it was certainly worth a try.
Also, I know I will get some flack for this comment but I did compress the spring a little to lighten the load and lessen the angle through which the LCA was hanging and improve access. Please note before the critics come out of the wooodwork - I am disabled and need to hedge my bets to make it doable - I just can't give-up on what I have spent a lifetime learning to do. When reattaching the clevis bracket to the LCA, I also used what we call a podge or podger (a tapered bar riggers use for working with shackles and splicing wire rope) to align the holes and a smlal hysraulic jack.
I could have taken it out and put in the 20T shop press but the wheel alignment was good enough to give me something to work from, with the right techniques.
By the way, if you do work on this, I would, with respect, suggest a LONG SERIES 18mm AF (stabiliser drop arm nut) and 21 mm AF socket (clevis bracket nut) - the extra threads on the bolts projecting past the nuts makes this a more comfortable way of working. Yes, a ring-spanner to loosen but the remainder of the job is much easier especially when retorquing with the deeper sockets.
Also the heads of these bolts aren't imperial (I have spanners sets in 1/32 increments and didn't go even close) and they aren't metric.
The dealer had also set the camber @ 1.8 and 1.6 degrees which is way out. Whilst under the truck I have since bought it back myself ..... to as far as reasonable adjustment using standard cams whilst maintaining caster, to 0.3 degress and 0.4 degrees. Without new oversized cams or other action I could not get it back to 0 degrees or any closer....but that's another story. I am satisfied with 0.3 and 0.4.
The technique of changing the camber and maintaining caster is a long one and not for here.
Hope this is of use for yourself and anyone contemplating this work.
Cheers
Auberon
That would be a simple fix.
