2002 Bella Blue, WJ Build

I bought it in July 2002 for $33k. After down payment, the monthly was an even $500 at 0% financing, 7 year/70k mile warranty. It's about as loaded as you can get for a Laredo. I went through all the packages and thought that the Limited upgrade was not worth the extra $5k price tag because all you really got was color-matched cladding and memory seats, maybe a dual zone climate control? I had previously leased a '99 Laredo with a Quadra-Drive, but there were some odd things about how that drive train behaved that I really did not like so I went with the Selec-Trac in '02.

Looked up my build sheet at https://www.jeep.com/webselfservice/jeep/ >> Equipment Listing.
Edit: new link https://fcacommunity.force.com/RAM/s/equipment-listing

Rearranged some of the items to my liking, but here is what it told me in all its glory:

Equipment Listing
Vehicle Description 2002 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LAREDO 4X4 SPORT UTILITY 4-DR

Attached a parts list for the 2002 WJ so I can find it later.

Reference Information & WJ Suppliers

Thought it might be nice to have a post where I can catalog any reference materials I find or that helpful forum members may post.

Reference Information

1. 2002 Jeep WJ Service Manual
2. 2002 Jeep WJ Parts List
3. Mopar Connectors Pinouts, wire colors, circuit functions for "all" the connectors on your Jeep.
4. WJJEEPS (wayback) Every WJ owner should know about this place.
5. Jeep Forum FAQ Some of the links are aging, but this is a seriously good resource.
6. Jeep Forum Suspension Too much good stuff. The Jeep Forum is the place to be.
7. Blue Sea: Sizing DC Wire and Fuses FUSES PROTECT THE WIRE, not the appliance. This one describes how to choose wire size to run the appliance, and fuse size to protect the wire.

It can sometimes be difficult to find suppliers that have products for WJs, so I decided to make a list here. I have bought and installed components from most of these guys, but a few of them are here because I may need them in the future. I would not call these endorsements, but I am mostly happy with what I include here.

Suppliers

1. Summit Not a WJ specialist, but a great supplier if you know what you need. A favorite of mine.
2. Iron Rock Offroad Lots of WJ support for mods: suspension (lifts), driveline, exhaust, armor, bumpers, brake lines, lights, ...
3. Quadratec Another good WJ provider, wide variety of more stock options.
4. Ironman 4x4 Fabrication Limited WJ selection, suspension and steering. The products are well built, Andy is a helpful guy.
5. Core 4x4 Control arms. A busy shop ... very helpful when they remember that you want to order parts from them. They will do custom colors if that's your thing.
6. Kevin's Offroad Suspension, steering, bumpers ... offroad stuff. Track bar bushings are popular for anti-DW.
7. JKS Offroad Control arms, track bars, sway bar disconnects, minimal WJ stuff.
8. Trail Forged Control arms, track bars, DIY bumpers.
9. Clayton Offroad Premium suspensions, also stainless brake hoses.
10. Addco Anti-sway bars
11. Mechman High capacity alternators ... should upgrade your factory 6awg power/ground cables to 0awg, because these things can deliver.
12. Jeep Cables Power/ground cable kits, 0awg or 2awg. Complete kits to replace the "Big 7" important bits of the power system. Made of flexible welding cable.
13. Powerwerx Design your own cables and these guys will build it for you. Slick, quick, quality, and good price.
14. Injector Repair Call Jim for new EV6 electrical connectors (I used the white face style)
15. Cascade Transmissions Get a solenoid pack for your 545RFE
16. SPC Performance Camber correction shims! Wow these are cool if you want to fix your camber.
17. Notch Customs Fiberglass fender flares.
18. Bushwacker Plastic fender flares.
19. Denny's Driveshaft Rebuild your double cardan with this kit.
20. Tom Woods Driveshafts Driveshafts.
21. Two Men One Garage Power seat adjustment gears.

A separate list for bumpers, because I am still shopping for them and why not.
Bumpers

1. HK Offroad Front: hidden winch. Rear: liftgate tire carrier.
2. ARB USA Front winch bumper. Only "Deluxe" model available.
3. Hanson Offroad Get a front winch bumper and a rear tire carrier bumper.
4. Goliath "Swamper" bumpers, front winch and rear tire carrier.
5. Blue Lake Offroad Rear: DUAL SWING ARMS, jerry can mounts, license plate bracket w/light, very nice and very expensive. Bad reputation ... seems these guys have operated under multiple names and failed every time.
6. Rock Hard 4x4 Rear: jerry can mounts, license plate bracket. Front: bolt-on winch plate
7. Iron Rock Offroad Front: IRO's winch bumper requires DIY welding.
8. Trail Forged Front: Minimal bumper with very high clearance and a winch plate.
9. Trail Ready Front winch bumper and rear bumper no tire carrier.
10. Rigid Armor Hitch mounted rear tire carrier.
11. DIY Offroad Front: Weld it all yourself.
12. Flatland 4x4 Drawings only. Get your DIY on and fab it all yourself.

Happy Jeeping

Stereo System Upgrade, 2002 WJ

Back in 2006 I did a complete stereo replacement. I actually tried a few different configurations, but this was the last one. Still running the system today, although I did replace the tweets in the dash a year or so ago when the driver side quit on me. Thought I would share it with you.

PARTS LIST
Head unit replacement. Ran all new RCA patch cables. All wire patches were soldered and protected with heat shrink tubing. Wire loom where necessary to reduce clutter. Here she is with her brains exposed:

And with her new Alpine CDA-9833 brains:


All four speaker locations got a new set of Infinity Perfect 6.1 components. Dash tweeters were replaced with the new components, rear tweeters were installed in the C-pillars. Probably sucks if you are riding back there, but that's not where I ride
Factory tweets vs. Infinity replacements

Simple installation brackets I made, they don't have to be fancy

Here they are at home

C-pillar tweeters


At the time, I had already replaced the factory fronts with 3-way JBL 6x9:

Comparing the JBL with the Infinty:

Replacing with the Infinitys requires an adapter plate:

Here they are all put to bed:


Put all the crossovers under the rear seats, nice that there is room for them there


Replaced the disc changer and installed a speaker cup for the removable subwoofer box



Installed all the amps in the spare tire enclosure. Fans are triggered by a temperature sensor; when the temp exceeds 90, the fans come on. The subwoofer amp (Rockford Fosgate Power 501bd) is 2-ohm stable and the two subs are wired in parallel. When I take out the sub in the box, the load on the amp is 4-ohm. When I run both of them, the load is 2-ohm. The other two amps are Fosgate Power 451S; each runs a pair of Infinity Perfect 6.1 components. I later disconnected the Lightning Audio capacitors because I thought they were more of a drain than they were worth.

REAR SWAY BAR UPGRADE

Friday afternoon was Addco sway bar upgrade day. Added the Energy suspension greasable bushings. Also replaced the links with new Moogs since they were inexpensive. Easy enough job, even for a slow hobbyist like me.

Edit: I installed the 684 bar which is 1-inch diameter. Road manners are fantastic, but it is VERY stiff and maybe not the best choice if you like to ride trails and want a more multi-purpose vehicle. If I did it again, I would try the smaller 634 version which is 7/8-inch diameter, sacrificing some asphalt cornering ability in favor of more trail flexibility but I do not know how that would affect towing stability :dunno:. (Addco K1-634-0U-538 & Energy 9.5158R)

PARTS LIST

Addco 684 1" sway bar (Addco K1-684-00-539)
Energy Suspension 9.5161R 1" greasable sway bar bushings (Amazon)
Moog K3202 stabilizer bar link (2) (Rock Auto)​

Side-by-side comparison of the stock bar versus the Addco bar.


Left side, post-install


underneath


right side


The difference in ride quality was immediately obvious, even with my sloppy, worn-out upper control arm still in place. Next up: R&R the upper control arm.

Rear Upper Control Arm Refurb, 2002 WJ

How long does it take to remove a WJ upper control arm and replace the bushings and ball joint? Should not take long, right? Well it took me all day Saturday and Sunday. Word of advice when you decide to do this: do not bother with getting a Miller 8278 ball joint removal tool, just go right for the ball joint mounting bolts. And eat your can of spinach for breakfast.

PARTS LIST
First, I did my homework by watching this guy's video: . Really good tip on how to align the UCA with the ball joint: use a bottle jack to prop up the pinion side of the axle housing, and drop/raise the jack holding up the axle until you get the angle just right to drop the UCA right over the stud without binding. I would have been screaming if I did not already know this.

Here is the bushing on the left (driver) side with the suspension under load, before I started. Does it look like the bushing is where it is supposed to be? It looks to me like it has pulled out a little. This bushing was not really concerning me, but wondered what you guys thought.


After removing the nut from the ball joint, I installed my fancy Miller 8278 that I scored for $40 off eBay. Oh boy, this is going to be a breeze with this tool!


Well, maybe not. Things were getting really tight in there. Wrenching that thing tighter does not seem to be doing any good. I was starting to worry that something was about to break. FSM states that it "MAY" be necessary to hit the UCA with a hammer to dislodge the ball joint. It states this in big bold letters. So I hit it several times with a 3-pound sledge. Nothing happened. So I put a few more turns on the Miller and heard a crackling sound. Took a peek ... that can't be good.


Nope, not good. Anybody want a cheap Miller 8278? Glad I did not buy it new.


Plan B: remove the ball joint bolts. This was an extreme bear. Bring a long cheater bar and a lot of perseverance. When that last bolt breaks loose, it's a wonderful feeling. Followed the steps in the linked video above, it was not too bad. Here you can see the broken boot on my ball joint, after I removed the UCA.


New Mopar ball joint. That is how it was advertised on Amazon anyway. I expected it to be a lot stiffer, but I could move it fairly easily. Oh well, it was definitely in better shape than the one I removed.


Right side bushing. This was the one I was worried about. It was trashed, as expected.


Left side bushing was ok.


Replaced both bushings using a shop press and ball joint removal kit. Here's the UCA cleaned up and ready for reinstall.


No pics, post-install. It took me hours and hours to do this and got tired of taking pictures. Put everything back together and dropped it on the ground to load the suspension, then did final torque. The good news: the suspension feels better than it has in years! The bad news: the creaking and clunking has not gone away completely. I suspect the right upper spring isolator.

blueseasons1 said:

WOW! I am impressed. I have never met anybody who bought a WJ brand new and kept it for so long. I have a million questions. With all the stories about sludge buildup, dropped seats and bad rockers.How is the V8 holding up? Do you still have the original heater core and evap cooler? Any blend door issues? Leaks on the passenger side? These are all the things we read about here and really hard to put in perspective since very, very few of us have owned them from the beginning. You are in a unique position. Oh. And whats with the pile or rocks? Beautiful country.

Click to expand...

Hey now, don't put a jinx on me. :wink2: I actually know nothing about those issues (sludge, rockers, seats) and hope I never do. I have always run Mobil 1 and change it religiously. Motor still purrs like a kitten and has plenty of power. However, it is seeping oil from the valve covers so is due for a gasket replacement, which I tried to do once already but stalled when the injector connector tabs started breaking on me. That job is on hold until the replacement connectors get here. Once I get the covers off, I will be able to report on the state of the innards. Honestly, I am curious to see what is under there myself. I hope I don't find any sludge!

Heater core and evap cooler are original. No interior leaks and I hope it stays that way. I did have intermittent A/C issues with the thing for years and did not know what the problem was until I tried changing out the climate control panel. I noticed that sometimes if I beat on the knobs out of frustration (emergency repair procedure #1) that sometimes the A/C would start working. Changing the panel has fixed the problem ... except now I have mixed interior finishes with a faux-wood center panel from a Limited and my original silver Laredo dash trim. Oh well.

Blend door has started making a banging sound recently when I pump the heat all the way to hot. I figure a piece of foam has disintegrated in there due to age. Other than that, no problems.

That pile of rocks was somebody's idea of a fire ring. That beach was far, far away from the beaten path and errant flames in that forest are a very bad idea, so somebody built that to keep their flames contained. Probably better to just avoid fire, really. I had a sandwich

Rear Lower Control Arm Replacement, 2002 WJ

Last weekend I replaced the rear LCAs. I bought a pair of new Mopar LCAs with bushings from Rock Auto, just to make it easy on myself. Four nuts/bolts, easy-peasy, what could go wrong?

Edit: added a video!

PARTS LIST
So step 1 is to jack it up and support, basic. Step 2, remove wheels, easy. Step 3, support rear axle, no problem. Step 4, remove bolts from axle side of LCA. Problem! I don't know if the guys on the assembly line were having a bad day when they built my WJ, or if this is the way they are supposed to be built. I kind of suspect the former. But they put the nut on the inboard side of the LCA, so the bolt has to be removed by pulling it outboard, toward the wheel. The problem here is that there is a splash shield to keep debris out of the brakes, and there was not enough room to remove the bolt:


Notice that there is ZERO clearance here. The splash shield is held on how exactly? Looks like rivets. I had to remove the brake calipers and rotors, then bend the thin splash shield out of the way to get the bolt out. I hate to molest the components this way. Bent the shields back and reassembled the brakes.

When the old LCA came out, the axle immediately shifted backward so that the new LCA bushing did not line up with the mounts. I used a ratcheting strap to pull the axle back where it was supposed to be, and a bottle jack to help line things up. When replacing the axle mount bolt, I reversed the direction so that the nut was between the splash shield and the mount, I don't want to have to deal with that junk again.

Put the wheels back on and dropped it to the ground and torqued everything down. While under there, I went back to the UCA and retorqued the bolts. Interesting that after a week of driving around, they were no longer torqued to spec. Probably had to put half a turn total onto each side, I was surprised.

Also changed the oil & filter, Mobile 1 10W-30 and Fram XG16.

Next up: Valve cover gaskets, fuel injector electrical connectors.

Fuel Injector Electrical Connector Replacement, 2002 4.7L WJ

PARTS LIST

TOOLS LIST
A while back, I noticed the valve cover gaskets were seeping oil onto the exhaust manifold. Not really an ideal situation, and I hate oil leaks. So I went to the local O'reillys and picked up a gasket kit. Read up on the procedure in the FSM ... oh lovely, I have to move the electrical harness, which means disconnecting all the fuel injectors and ignition coils. Here is what one looked like after 175k miles, and before being touched by me:


Per the service manual, pull back on the red tab to unlock the safety, then push on the black tab to disengage from the injector. Attempting this, the red tab immediately broke into pieces, and the black tab snapped off.


I decided these connectors will need to be replaced, probably all of them, so I ordered a set of 8 (+2 extra) from Jim at http://injectorrepair.com/fuel-injector-connectors/. The WJ uses the EV6 type. After speaking with Jim on the phone (which he answered on the first try, sweet), he told me he had a set of white face connectors with red locking tabs (not shown on the website), very similar to the factory style ... but NOT identical. He assured me any type of EV6 connector would work, but would probably have to replace the terminals.

The replacements arrived and I took a run at replacing the broken connector last weekend. Comparing the new to the factory terminal:


To remove the old connector, carefully pop the orange face off with a screwdriver:



Remove the rubber seal from the back side of the connector (the black plastic part just popped/broke right out/off to reveal the seal) (Edit: it turns out you don't strictly need to remove this seal; after disengaging the internal tabs, carefully and firmly pull on the wires and the terminals will slide through the seal and out the back of the clip):


There are a pair of black locking tabs inside the connector that hold the terminals in place. Poke a probe in there to disengage the tab and remove the terminals:



Sadly, the gold terminals did NOT fit inside the new connectors. This means replacing the terminals. Here is what Jim sent me: a pair of terminals and seals for each connector:


Installing the new terminals means cutting off the factory terminals. I found there was enough slack in the harness to get this done.


And the finished product:


After reassembling, I am happy to report that the procedure was a complete success! She still purrs like a kitten. Rock. Now to replace the other 7. Then I can replace the valve cover gasket.

Left Side Valve Cover Gasket Replacement, 2002 4.7L WJ

This is what I got to do this weekend, just one side. Man, sometimes I feel slow.

PARTS LIST

TOOLS LIST
After replacing all 4 injector connectors on the left bank, I could finally get to the task at hand: replacing the valve cover gasket. Inspection prior to replacement: definite evidence of oil seepage.


Using a varied combination of extensions, sockets, deep sockets, and wobbly joints, it is possible to remove all the valve cover bolts. Now for the big reveal. After 175k miles running Mobil 1 synthetic, what do we see underneath? Answer: a beautiful valve train, that's what.


Removed the old gasket and old grommets (the grommets were a major pain, by the way), replaced with the new gaskets and grommets. Tacked the gasket in the channel with a few dabs of silicone here and there. Put everything back and torqued to spec 105 in-lbs. Tested it out, everything is nicely sealed.


Edit (2018/04/01): added some paint!


Not looking forward to the right side, since there are heater hoses and a bunch more stuff in the way. But it will be the next item to tackle.

It has been raining (badly needed) so I can't move the garage queen out to make room for WJ upgrades. Instead I have been reading the FSM, scouring this forum, watching videos, studying how to perform the front end suspension rebuild. In the meantime, parts have been arriving:

Moog tie rods & ends, Spicer ball joints. Control arms en route.

Never having done ball joints myself, I did not have a press, so I went to Harbor Freight to pick up a kit yesterday. Toying with the kit, I was having a hard time figuring out how this press was going to work with the WJ. My conclusion was that it was not going to work very well. Several forum posts that I read today backed that up, even saying that the HF press will bend because it is junk. What is worse is that installing the upper requires a receiver with an angled face to ensure it goes straight in, and the HF kit certainly does not have that. If you put in a ball joint slightly crooked, it will probably get damaged, and wind up being loose, sloppy, and dangerous. Then I finally found this post on page 5 or 6 of my search results:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f310/ball-joint-replacement-1462599/#post14855003

So a big THANK YOU to texlurch for clearly listing the tools I need for this job:
OTC 7249 ball joint kit
OTC 7894 Jeep adapters

Ordered these tools from Amazon for just under $200 (ouch) and the HF kit ($113) is going back today. Better to have the right tools to do the job correctly than the wrong tools and have to do the job again. I read several discussions on this forum about redoing ball joint jobs several times before getting it right; I would rather not have to do it again!

There are also some good tips in this write-up from Stu's Offroad: http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/balljoint/balljoint-1.htm

And thanks again to all the Jeep Forum users who have posted their war stories, writing down your experiences has helped arm me with the info I need to tackle these jobs!

Right Side Valve Cover Gasket Replacement, 2002 4.7L WJ

Edit: I should really update this post. There is a better way to do this. Hint: unmount the TCM (or disconnect if you prefer) and fold the whole wiring harness on top of the engine. And remove coolant overflow reservoir for more room (easy to remove).

Finally got some WJ garage time to finish replacing the valve cover gaskets. Last weekend I did the passenger side. It was not an amusing ordeal.

PARTS LIST

TOOLS LIST

1) Remove battery.
We are going to need to remove the battery tray to find enough room to work. So the battery must come out. My terminals are factory; I use a pair of 1/2" wrenches to loosen them.

2) Remove battery tray
There are three 10mm bolts and one 10mm nut holding the tray in place. One of the bolts is hiding behind the Power Distribution Center (the fuse box). You will need a deep socket to remove the nut next to the A/C Accumulator.

1. Open PDC and remove two 10mm nuts securing the output harness to the front of the box.
2. Use screwdriver to disengage PDC from the plastic clips holding it to the battery tray.
3. Lift PDC to gain access to the 10mm bolt securing the battery tray to the fender.
4. Remove two 10 mm bolts securing the battery tray at the forward end.
5. Remove 10mm nut securing battery tray to fixed bolt near the A/C accumulator.
6. Disconnect radiator reservoir tube from radiator and reservoir. The tube is zip-tied to the battery tray, it was easier this way for me.
7. Lift, twist, pull the tray up to gain access to the bottom of the tray. Be careful with the PDC.
8. Disconnect battery temperature sensor from the bottom of the tray.
9. Disconnect moisture drain tube from the bottom of the tray.
10. Remove tray from the vehicle.

3) Remove serpentine belt from A/C compressor.
We are going to move the compressor anyway, might as well take the belt off now to get better access.

1. Using the 15mm socket and the breaker bar, push the belt tensioner to the right (clockwise) to loosen.
2. Slip the belt off the A/C pulley.
3. Gently rock the tensioner back, do not let it snap.

4) Disconnect heater hoses.
You can try to complete this job without disconnecting the hoses. Good luck. I could not find enough room to work and waited until my irritation level was too high to do this step cleanly and in the right order. Learn from my mistake and do it now.

1. Drain the radiator/cooling system.
2. Use slip-joint pliers to disengage the heater hose clamps from the engine block.
3. Twist the hoses to break the seal, then pull free.
4. Disengage the hoses from the plastic standoff attached to the 10mm bolt/stud on the oil fill spout.
5. Remove the plastic standoff from the spout.
6. Disengage the hoses from the plastic support bracket arching over the valve cover.
7. Remove the plastic support bracket. Mine fell apart, but some guiding force led me to buy a replacement from the junk yard last week so I was ok.

5) Remove oil fill spout.
The oil fill spout sits between the valve cover and freedom. It has to move.

1. Remove three bolts and one stud holding the fill spout to the block. These are 10mm IIRC.
2. Give the spout a gentle tap to break the seal if it does not want to move.
3. Remove the PCV hose from the PCV valve on the side of the spout.

6) Disengage the wiring harness from the fuel injectors and ignition coils.
The plastic locking clips holding your injector connectors on will probably break if they are old like mine were. I had to replace all of the connectors on the driver side and 3/4 of the connectors on the passenger side, so now I have 7/8 brand new connectors. I should have done them all but that last one in the back on the right bank was really hard to get to, and it was actually in pretty good condition so I left it.

1. Just unclip everything.
2. Wrap a bungee cord around the harness and secure to an anchor point (such as the underside of the hood) to keep the harness up out of your way, as much as is possible. It will still be in your way.

7) Loosen the valve cover bolts/studs.
There are rubber grommets holding the all the bolts and studs. They probably won't come all the way out, which is a good thing so you can keep track of them. The two bolts in the back are ridiculously difficult to reach. You cannot even see the rear upper bolt, you are going to have to feel your way. The rear lower is not much better, but you can see it ... barely.

1. Use your 10mm sockets, ratchet, extensions, u-joint, and breaker bar in whatever ingenious fashion you can to get at all the bolts. It can be done. A 10mm wobbly deep socket would be a golden ticket here if you have one, I do not.
2. The rear lower bolt is nearly impossible to reach. I got at it with my 10mm open-end wrench. Somebody recommended a 10mm box-end gear wrench. I have one, but could not find the range-of-motion to make it work. Broke it lose with the open-end wrench, rotate 1/12th of a turn, flip the wrench, another 1/12th, flip the wrench ... eventually it got loose enough that I could just barely reach it with my fingers and remove it that way, otherwise I would probably still be there.
3. The upper rear bolt is invisible. I used a mirror to find it, then braille to get the socket in place. This was seriously ridiculous.
   

8) Move the A/C compressor.
I tried to do the job without moving the compressor. The plumbing is in the way. It must be moved.

1. There are three bolts holding the compressor to the block: two 15mm (on the front) and one 13mm (on the side next to the valve cover). Remove them.
2. Disconnect the electrical connector.
3. Disengage the clip holding the alternator power cable on the back of the compressor.
4. Carefully pull the compressor up and gently rotate it over toward the fender to lay in the area vacated by the battery. You may need the pry bar at this point, go easy with it.

9) Remove the valve cover. Clean it up. Add color if you want.
Finally! Lift and remove the valve cover. The wiring harness and heater hoses are still in the way and will give you trouble, but it will come out. Here is what it looked like in my WJ before I removed the heater hoses and moved the A/C compressor. It did not come out, you can see the plumbing in the way.


Finally free of the engine compartment! Make note of where the studs and bolts go so you can put them all back in the right place.


Three coats of foamy Gunk cleaner and then final rub down with carb cleaner gave me this beauty:


I decided Bella needed some color. So two coats of primer and two coats of engine enamel.


After drying overnight, I covered it with newspaper and tape to give it some protection during reinstallation. Would not want to scratch it up too badly.


10) Replace the gasket and the 12 grommets.
My gasket was brittle and crumbling. Yeah, needs replacing. When putting the new gasket in, put a few dabs of the Ultra Black RTV here and there to hold the gasket in place so it does not fall out upon reassembly.


11) Reinstall the valve cover
Go ahead. Piece of cake. Just slip it right back in there where you got it from. The wiring harness is still in the way in the back. So are the heater hoses. Have fun. LOL. I had to wedge the cover under the wiring harness and pull up with strong force to gain the clearance needed in the back. But it did go in eventually.


12) Reassemble.
Checklist. Put it all back where you found it. I will double check torque specs.

1. Replace A/C compressor. Put a dab of grease on the upper bracket to help. Torque 3 bolts to 33 ft-lbs.
2. Use thumb wheel ratchet (or fingers) to start valve cover bolts in the threads. Do not cross-thread. Torque valve cover bolts to 105 in-lbs.
3. Replace oil fill spout and four 10mm bolts. The bolt with the stud is furthest to the left (closest to the fender). Be sure to replace the gasket, there is a new one in the kit!
4. Reattach fuel injectors and ignition coils.
5. Replace plastic heater hose standoffs.
6. Replace heater hoses and attach to block.
7. Reattach PCV hose to PCV valve on oil fill spout.
8. Replace serpentine belt.
9. Replace battery tray. Reattach battery temperature sensor and fluid discharge tube. Reattach radiator reservoir tube.
10. Reattach PDC to battery tray.
11. Reattach wiring harness to PDC.
12. Replace battery.
13. Refill cooling system. Use 8mm allen wrench to remove the plug at the top of the block, fill with coolant.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

Front Control Arm Replacement, 2002 WJ

Being the way life is, it has been hard to find time to spend on my suspension repairs. But I did manage to squeeze in some days in the last ... has it really been almost two months since my last post in this thread? Well, what you gonna do.

Replaced the lower and upper control arms and the axle side bushings on the upper. Mistakes were made, but all is well now. There really isn't much to it. Here are the notes I think were relevant.

PARTS LIST

TOOLS LIST
1) Raise and support
Loosen the front wheel lugnuts. Jack up the vehicle and support the frame on jack stands. Remove wheels. Place a suitable jack under the axle differential to hold in place. We will be using this jack to raise/lower the axle, NOT the vehicle.

2) Disconnect sway bar, remove links and shocks
The sway bar is connected to the axle via end links which are attached just in front of the spring perches. We need to disconnect this monster so we can move the axle around. Please don't try to do this with the sway bar connected, it is just really not worth it. These are 18 mm fasteners, if I am not mistaken. Remove the bolts. The sway bar can now freely rotate. If you plan to replace the links (I did), swing the sway bar down to gain easier access to the top bolts. Remove the links.

The shocks are connected to the rear of the spring perches with a pair of 10mm bolts with 13mm nuts. The top of the shock is attached with a single 13mm nut; you will need a deep socket for this. You don't need to completely remove the shock if you don't want to, you can let it hang there from the top nut and annoy you while you work, but removing it is my recommendation.

3) Remove spring and isolators, clean the perches
Drop the jack under the axle to let the suspension droop. It won't droop far enough to drop the spring (not in mine anyway). Put a bottle jack under one side of the axle and raise it up, which will droop the opposite side. Jack it up until the spring drops out. Remove the lower rubber isolator (top too if you plan to replace like me). The metal spring perch is now exposed and is probably dirty, rusty, etc. Clean off the rust using the wire brush/wheel as much as you can. Get the surface as clean as you can. Coat the perch with some rust inhibiting paint of your choice and color. Maybe use a dust mask to avoid breathing all that crap.

4) Lower control arms
These are pretty easy. Bolt/nut in the front, bolt/nut in the back. They aren't too tricky. I don't have much to say about them. 21mm sockets is what you will need. Here is what my bushings looked like, old ones on the right, new ones on the left. Not terrible, but definitely old, cracked, and worn.



Getting the bolts back in will probably require some axle manipulation. This is where that jack under the differential will come in handy. Adjust as needed to line up the holes. You will probably have to mess with that bottle jack too. I tried using a ratchet strap but it frankly did not move the axle much ... probably because I had the sway bar connected on one side like a fool. Attach the body side first.

Torquing these down was fun. I think it was 115 ft-lbs on the axle side, 120 ft-lbs on the body side. I used a two-foot cheater pipe to hold one side while I torqued the other like so:


DO NOT TORQUE UNTIL THE VEHICLE IS ON THE GROUND WITH THE SUSPENSION UNDER FULL LOAD. That's rather important.

5) Upper control arms
Such a pain. Why is the axle side bushing on the axle and not the control arm? Headache.
Here is the driver side UCA prior to removal, view from behind. Note the axle breather tube is clipped to the control arm.


The axle-side bolt has a T50 torx head with a 15mm nut. Thanks for that T50, Jeep engineers. Body-side bolt is 13mm head and a 15mm nut. For this one, you need to hunt for the head which is hiding behind a rubber grommet in the fender well. Recommend using a 13mm deep socket and a 6-inch locking extension so you don't risk the socket falling off the extension inside the fender void.


Remove the two bolts and the control arm. My axle-side bushing was pretty well worked over, no wonder the ride was a bit harsh.


Removing the axle-side bushing cannot be described as easy. The inner metal sleeve on the passenger side basically just slid out when I pushed on it. I generally followed the advice of the Vortex garage guy (look him up on Youtube) and used a drill to remove the bushing rubber and a reciprocating saw to weaken the metal outer bushing sleeve, and then worked the edges with a center punch until the sleeve popped out. Reinstalling was not terrible. I had stored my bushings in the freezer for weeks so they were very cold and shrunken for installation. Used a ball joint press to shove it in there. Even after removing the spring isolators, the perches were almost not in the way. Yeah, annoying but doable.

Just like the LCAs, installation will require some axle manipulation. Attach the body side first. Sweat, grunt, push and pull your way to victory.

One final note: the Detroit Axle UCAs I bought did not have accommodations for the axle breather tube. I pried the clip off the old UCA and drilled a hole in the new UCA in about the same spot. Believe it was a 7/16". Installed the old clip.



DO NOT TORQUE UNTIL THE VEHICLE IS ON THE GROUND WITH THE SUSPENSION UNDER FULL LOAD. That's rather important. And then torque the UCAs to 45 ft-lbs.

(Edit: I forgot to mention that torquing the driver side front bolt was nigh impossible with the jounce bumper in place. Probably the best thing to do is remove it before trying to torque. What I did is tightened the bolt as best I could with the suspension loaded, then jacked up the body just enough to gain clearance to the T50 head. It helped that my bumper is horribly crushed and needs to be replaced like everything else. YOU should remove the bumper before torquing down the UCA, because that bushing will live a very short life if you don't.)

6) Springs, shocks, sway bar
Yes, you need to put it back together now. Spring isolators, springs, then shocks, then sway bar end links. Torque the shocks to 35 ft-lbs (let me double-check that) you can do this while suspended. Torque the end links to 65 ft-lbs (let me check that) WHEN THE VEHICLE IS ON THE GROUND WITH THE SUSPENSION UNDER FULL LOAD. That's rather important. Put the wheels back on before you lower it to the ground, that is important too.

And that's all I've really got to say about that.

Ball Joint Replacement, 2002 WJ

Memorial day weekend! Did I go do summery trail things with my WJ? No, I put her back in the garage so I could replace the front ball joints. Why? Because a complete suspension overhaul is not complete without it. And I am not going to lift it on the 16 year old ball joints that were in there. Despite never having done a ball joint replacement in my life, this was not that bad.

Is anybody even reading these? I don't know, but maybe it will help someone someday.

PARTS LIST
TOOLS LIST
1) Raise and Support
Jack up the front and support both sides with jack stands. Remove the wheels (3/4" lug nuts).

2) Remove Brake Caliper and Anchor
Remove the brake caliper by removing the two 17mm slide pin bolts. Hang the caliper from the spring with a sufficiently strong wire, bungee cord, or whatever other idea you come up with, just DO NOT allow the caliper to hang from the brake hose. Then remove the caliper anchor from the steering knuckle by removing the two 18mm bolts. Set it aside.

3) Disconnect ABS Sensor
The ABS sensor is routed above the axle boot and attaches to a bracket held in place by the upper ball joint retaining nut. It is bolted to the back of the steering knuckle with an 8mm bolt. I used my 1/4" ratchet with 6-inch extension and u-joint to get at it. Remove the sensor and set aside with the hanging caliper.

4) Disconnect Bearing Hub and Remove Axle Shaft
I have seen write-ups and videos that say you need to remove the 36mm axle nut at this point. That is only true if you are replacing the bearing hub as well. I did not replace the bearing hub, so skipped that part. We can remove the axle and the bearing at the same time.

There are three 12-pt 13mm bolts that secure the bearing hub to the steering knuckle from the rear. Odds are that these are pretty well frozen in place, so you might want to try soaking in some penetrating oil before loosening. Once you get the bolts out, you may also have a chore separating the knuckle from the bearing. Good luck with that, I did not have that problem. Pull the axle straight out through the knuckle.

5) Remove Ball Joint Castle Nuts
Cotter pins first, then the castle nuts. My factory upper was a 22mm, I don't know what the lower was because I did not have a socket that fit (sorry), but it was bigger than 1". I used an adjustable wrench which worked fine to remove it. The ABS cable bracket is attached to the upper, make note of how it is oriented so you can put it back correctly.

Tip: do not completely remove the castle nuts! Leave them on the end of the shaft so that when the knuckle drops, it doesn't completely fall off and smash your toes.

6) Remove Steering Knuckle
This is where the fun begins! First, support the tie rod by securing it to the sway bar with a strong bungee or whatever device you choose. We do not have to remove the tie rods from the knuckle, but you can if you want. Either way, support the tie rod first so it does not just hang there.

The ball joint shafts are tapered and press fit into the steering knuckle. Disengaging the taper requires the ball joint separator (pickle fork) and a suitable hammer. I used a 2-lb mini sledge. Wedge the fork in between the knuckle and the UBJ axle flange. Pound away at the end of the fork until knuckle separates. There may be a very loud bang when it releases.

My left side separated no problem. My right side held on like a hellish bulldog. I had the fork rammed in there as far as it could physically go from 3 different angles and no joy. Hit the knuckle with a propane torch for maybe 20 seconds trying not to start a grease fire, and tried the fork again to a loud bang when the taper let go. Remove the knuckle.

7) Remove Upper Ball Joint
Here is where things get really interesting and the pictures begin. The UBJ must be pressed upward to remove from the axle. Place the receiver cup (OTC 313967 shown, standard cup from OTC kit is better) on the top and the pass-through remover adapter over the UBJ shaft on the bottom, like so:


A closer view.


Use a 1/2-inch ratchet and 21mm socket to tighten the clamp. As you go, the clamp will rotate clockwise until it contacts the axle, so make certain the brake line is not pinched in between there, or you will be replacing brake lines too. Double-check to make sure you are not screwing up. It will get pretty tough to twist that ratchet; I used a 2-foot pipe over the end of my ratchet to make things easier. When it gets bound up really tight, strike the edge of the flange with a heavy hammer to shock the joint into moving. Proceed until the joint housing slides out.

The nice thing about the OTC 313967 receiver is the window, so you can see if the joint is moving. The bad thing is that there is not much clearance between the receiver wall and the UBJ outer lip. I had to hold the receiver cup in a vice and work the joint out from the other end with a punch because the UBJ was bound up inside.

8) Remove Lower Ball Joint
Flush with success from the UBJ, the LBJ is a cake-walk. The clamp shaft actually passes through the space vacated by the UBJ. The LBJ presses downward to remove, so place the receiver cup on the bottom with the pass-through adapter for the shaft. Like so (notice I did not use the 313967 receiver):


9) Install Lower Ball Joint
The axle flanges on the WJ have a slight taper (do all Dana 30s? I don't know), so we will use the OTC 313970 installer to do the job. Place the widest part of the tool on top of the flange. The installer cup will push on the LBJ lip from underneath, like so (I marked the wide part of the installer with a white line):


We want the housing to go in square and true, so make sure to get it all lined up as best you can. Tighten the clamp until the lip is flush with the flange. It should look something like this:


Don't forget the boot! Pack a little grease into the rubber boot and slide it over the LBJ shaft.

10) Install Upper Ball Joint
You have done well up until now, but don't get cocky because you aren't done. Press the UBJ in from the top. I put the rubber boot on first because doing it afterward looked next to impossible. Install the grease fitting after the joint is installed. Place the 313970 installer underneath the joint and the installer cup on top. Get it straight and true (easier said than done). Pictures:



11) Install Steering Knuckle
The hard part is done, now we put things back together. Replace the steering knuckle on the ball joint shafts. Do not forget to put the ABS bracket on the UBJ shaft before you install the nut! Tighten the LBJ castle nut to 80 ft-lbs. I used a 15/16" socket for this; the replacement nut was smaller than OEM. Tighten the UBJ nut to 75 ft-lbs. After reaching torque, line up the notches in the castle nut with the hole in ball joint shaft to allow the cotter pin to pass through. If the notches don't line up, tighten until they do, do not loosen. Secure with cotter pins.

You can fill your joints with grease now.

12) Install Axle and Bearing Hub
Slide the axle shaft back through the housing. Try not to drag it along the bottom, there is a bunch of crud in there. Rotate the shaft until the splines line up and the axle slides all the way in. Secure the bearing hub to the steering knuckle with the three 13mm 12-pt bolts. Torque to 75 ft-lbs.

13) Install ABS Sensor
Route the ABS cable back through the support bracket and secure to the rear of the knuckle with the 8mm bolt.

14) Install Brake Caliper Anchor and Caliper
Replace the caliper anchor and tighten the 18mm bolts to 75 ft-lbs. Replace the caliper and tighten the caliper slide pins to 21-30 ft-lbs.

You are basically done now. Put the wheels on, lower it to the ground, grease up the joints if you haven't already and away you go.

Hope you found this helpful.