OMG! So, who out there in SNAIL land drives a jeep? Let me share with you a little story. We not to recently ago bought my soon to be father in laws 2000 Cherokee sport. Prior to this, he had a two inch lift installed, extra leafs in the back, taller springs up front, new shocks all around. However, he failed to replace all of the stock, old, tired, worn bushings. Being a bit of a tight wad (glad he will never read this!) he never took the gas guzzler over 65 on the freeway. As such, he never got to experience the wonderful effects of the deathwobble. I, not having the same attachment to money as Mr. Crabs, have no issue with doing 80 mph, 5 gallons to the mile. At 70, it felt like the whole world was coming apart, and my jeep was the epicenter. The long of it, I bought up a new energy suspension bushing kit, the hard poly bushing wont fatigue as fast as stock rubber ones, and I believe are cheaper as a full set. (130 for the whole bushing kit, front and rear, verse 130 for just the OEM control arm set.) So off to work I went installing the new bushings. Jeez Louise! One mistake was mine. Which led to the second mistake. In my rush to get the control arm bushings done, I missed out on installing the thrust washer properly, as the frame bushings are different from the axle bushings. I put both axle on the left side. and 1 frame, on the axle end, on the right. Ok. Oops on my part. I went to fast and didnt pay attention, even though I knew better. Here's the best part though, the one that just tickles me to death. the right frame side control arm bolt, it had rust welded itself to metal sleeve in the bushing. To the inexperienced few, this is quite literally what it sounds like. both pieces rust. this in turn causes the metal to expand. Then expansion puts a great amount of pressure on the rust, over time this causes the two rusty parts to fuse together, welded with rust. No amount of heat will break this bond, since the rust is already expanded and causing a great amount of pressure, thus defeating the heating expansion and contraction process. Believe me. Hours of heat cycling, PB Blaster, impact gun, more hours of heat could do more then just melt and destroy the old bushing. So yesterday, the weather and my time collaborated in a grat day to get greasy. I went straight to the angle grinder, cutting off both the head and the threads of the bolt. hardened steel being the super strong metal that it is, simple drilling the bolt down into the sleeve so I could easily remove the control arm was not in the future for me. So out come the big pry bar, and the adjustable wrench (only thing I use those for is an impromptu hammer and to bend metal) Glad Im a fabricator by trade, cause I had some critical bending to do. Always dodgy bending up suspension brackets that are responsible for steering angles. Took me about 5 hours yesterday to get it apart, and another 3 today to get it back together. and my first mistake, forced the second. When doing control arms on a live axle front end. always do one! component at a time, if your not doing EVERYTHING all together. this will help with bolt hole alignment as you replace things. not quite having this luxury, since the bushings I need where in the wrong place. I had to remove the left side and I redid the right side. GAAHHH!!!! 1 hour yesterday, and 2 today was spent, solely on getting the two front bolts through the control arm and axle mounts! So, let me share the lessons of this job. A, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Don't rush. Time spent equals quality. and b. if you run into a similar problem, but didn't mess up the bushing, take it to a mechanic. If I had a lift and an oxyacetylene torch that removing that bolt would have been a half hour job at most. and at 80 bucks, that would have been worth the time and frustration that just took.
BTW, Im not giving back the few minutes it took to read that.
Thanks for that, I just might pop in for a look:tup:
lol!
