Rear upper control arm installation HELP

01jeepGCL · 06-23-2012, 03:06 PM

So I got new rear upper control arm and ball joint and planned on installing it today. I removed the old one and it came out pretty easy. I install the new one and it's going pretty smooth until the last bolt. I got the ball joint plate bolted down and then the driver side bushing bolt. The passenger side bolt would not tighten for the life of me. Finally I started pushing as hard as I could and tightening and I felt it bit or so I thought. I can't turn it anymore but it didn't tighten up the part. I have no idea what is going on. So I try to remove the bolt and I can't remove it now. This is the most annoying thing I have ever encountered working on cars. Does anyone know what could be going on or if I need to bring the jeep to a shop now? Now matter what I do I can't get the bolt backed out and the bushing is not tightened down.

MuddyWJ · 06-23-2012, 03:48 PM

Try moving the axle up.or down. You might have too much pressure on the bolt.

**narnwv** · 06-23-2012, 07:39 PM

DO NOT DRIVE IT TO A SHOP WITHOUT THAT ARM COMPLETELY HOOKED UP!

Do this:

take out the other side.

take it off the top of the ball joint.

put both body side bolts in first.

put the arm down onto the ball joint.

You may need a ratchet strap to angle the rear axle a bit so that it's easier to get the arm down onto the ball joint.

FWIW, what I normally do, is attach the ball joint to the arm. Put in the 2 body side bolts, the use a ratcheting box end wrench to tighten the 3 ball joint bolts by inching them down 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3.

Hope this helps.

01jeepGCL · 06-23-2012, 09:24 PM

Yeah I saw that driving it at this point is not going to happen. Seems like the would damage a lot of stuff.

I'm going to try and remove it again tomorrow. The problem is that I can't get the passenger side bolt to come out. What ever it started threading to seems like it's broken or something. The bolt just spins and I hear something scrapping on the top. I'm going to try and pull down on the bar with a pry bar to see if it locks up whatever is the bolt is screwing into. I'm not sure if that is just a nut on top that is being help down. I just don't understand how one bolt can go back exactly how it was and one just seemed like it wasn't even hitting the thread at all. I'm just reallt aggravated b/c I reapplied lock tight on those ball joint plate bolts. hopefully I can get the bolt to loosen and I Can just remove the whole arm again so I can see what is going with the thread on the pass. side. It's always something man. And to do all this work in 90* weather just to have to remove it again just sucks.

Does anyone know if this connection is a nut that is held in place with some sort of retainer that the bushing bolt threads to? I can't see b/c it's on the other side of the cross member. I can take some pictures tomorrow and post them if that helps. Like I said. all the bolts went in very nice except this one. Thanks for the help so far guys.

And I installed the part in reverse of your method. I bolted the balljoint to the arm, installed the three plate bolts and then was bolting the arms in. But one bolt went in (had to tap it in with a hammer but threaded with no problem) and the other bolt didn't want to catch any thread.

**shockracer** · 06-23-2012, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by narnwv

FWIW, what I normally do, is attach the ball joint to the arm. Put in the 2 body side bolts, then use a ratcheting box end wrench to tighten the 3 ball joint bolts by inching them down 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3.

Hope this helps.

this is how I have always done it, and it works like a champ!

01jeepGCL · 06-24-2012, 08:26 AM

I'll take it off and inspect the threads and go for the install in reverse. Thanks. I will let you know what happens.

01jeepGCL · 06-24-2012, 12:10 PM

Ok so I was able to open a little weep hole enough to stick my finger around the nut that the bolt threads to and it is spinning. I talked to a jeeper that is local to me and he said it's pretty common and I will need to go in through the floor to get the out. So drilled a hole and got to the bolt. The threads are all messed up on the bolt and the nut. Do you guys know if jeep sells this type of hardware? I'm sure I can get the bolt but the nut is what I'm wondering about. I'm going to check the junk yard and see if a jeep is out there. Might have to go pull one from there if I can't find a replacement part.

Here is the nut looking down at the floorboard.

CarlJH · 06-24-2012, 01:39 PM

the track bar on the front axle were it bolts on to the frame by the bump rubber doesn't use a captive nut,
this should be the same size nut and bolt as the rear ones. it will also be easy to get from a junk yard car.

hamilton5 · 06-24-2012, 10:26 PM

where is the nut looking down at the floorboard..?
I'm scared todo this now.. the cheap replacement arms/bushings, I have no way to press new ones in..
thx for all the pics and stories tho

01jeepGCL · 06-25-2012, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamilton5

where is the nut looking down at the floorboard..?
I'm scared todo this now.. the cheap replacement arms/bushings, I have no way to press new ones in..
thx for all the pics and stories tho

Don't be afraid of this job. I think I just had a weird case. Now I live in the south so my stuff doesn't really rust up to bad. The whole job overall went very well.

To get to that nut, I had to remove my back seat on the pass. side. You can see the sport welds on the floor board and under the car where the cross member meets the floor board. Just match it all up and you will get right on the bolt. There are also the brake line cables that go through the floor board that you can see in your pic. The bolt hole you see to the left is my pass. side most seat bolts for the upright portion. You can use those as reference as to where the nut is. I ended up finding the bolt very fast. I went to Lowes and got a grade 8 bolt, washer, and nut. and it worked out fine. I took it for a spin last night and no more clunky around. I'm going to weld an 1/8" plate over the hole to close it up.

4x4toys · 06-25-2012, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamilton5

where is the nut looking down at the floorboard..?
I'm scared todo this now.. the cheap replacement arms/bushings, I have no way to press new ones in..
thx for all the pics and stories tho

it's no biggie of a job to do this. i pushed the old ones out with a air chisle by rolling the edges over and shoving them out the bottom, then just pressed the new ones in with a shop vise and a few pieces of scrap plate. easy only took about a half hour. about and hour and a half for the total job. easy as pie.

01jeepGCL · 06-26-2012, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4x4toys

it's no biggie of a job to do this. i pushed the old ones out with a air chisle by rolling the edges over and shoving them out the bottom, then just pressed the new ones in with a shop vise and a few pieces of scrap plate. easy only took about a half hour. about and hour and a half for the total job. easy as pie.

I was going to get just the bushings to. I just heard they were in there really good. All I have for a press is my table vise. I used that and a torch to change all my integra bushings and it works out great. I probably could have just changed the bushings. If you heat them up with a propane torch they would probably come out a lot easier.

01jeepGCL · 06-29-2012, 09:29 AM

Still got the rear clunk. But I did upgrade my struts to Bilstien HD. I have been reading up on the sleeves being wrong. I just ordered the sleeve kit from Kevins offroad. I'm hoping this is the clunk lol. I have replaced pretty much everything in the rear except the springs,top hats, and lower control arms at this point. I was told my driveshaft was in good shape not long ago. I upgraded the rear sway bar and the bushings for the end links and mounts. Just running out of ideas here.