[WJWV93]

I have an '04 WJ with a 2 inch Rough Country lift. Bought it in 2017, seller said he got the lift in 2016 so it's been about 6 years since the install. It's unfortunately time to replace the rear** stock upper control A-arm and ball joint/mount. While looking into how to do this job on YouTube university, I also read that spacers for between the ball joint mount and the top of the diff exist. However, everyone I read about has a 2.5/3/4+ inch lift. What do you guys say? I see one on KOR for like 95 bucks that's 2.25 inches, I think I saw another that's 2inch somewhere else. Is this really necessary? It made it 19 years with the last 6 on a lift using the original setup.

This job already looks like it's going to suck and I just don't want to do it twice if I can help it. However saving 100+ bucks right now would be super nice as the V8 in this thing is killing my gas budget with prices as high as they are. Any advice is appreciated 👍

 

[007matman]

At 2", it's not needed. At 4 it is. It helps to center the wheel back in the wheel well and with larger tires it is pretty much required.

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[wjpaul]

If you are talking about the rear upper A arm and the previous owner did a 2" lift there's probably no spacer. Anything above that lift does, along with a bunch of other parts. You can get a new upper A arm from Rock Auto or almost any parts house. And, yes the top bolts suck to work on, but it's not a bad job to do.

 

[three_jeeps]

This job already looks like it's going to suck and I just don't want to do it twice if I can help it. However saving 100+ bucks right now would be super nice as the V8 in this thing is killing my gas budget with prices as high as they are. Any advice is appreciated 👍

I didn't do it on my 04 for precisely your reason: going to suck. I couldn't afford to have the vehicle laid up because of needed additional parts, plus I didn't have use of a lift. The local garage charged me $60 - It was a no brainer. The mechanic confirmed that the job 'did suck'....to each their own.

 

[WJWV93]

If you are talking about the rear upper A arm and the previous owner did a 2" lift there's probably no spacer. Anything above that lift does, along with a bunch of other parts. You can get a new upper A arm from Rock Auto or almost any parts house. And, yes the top bolts suck to work on, but it's not a bad job to do.

I just realized I didn't specify I was talking about the rear but you are correct and that's exactly where I got the new parts from. Gotta love Rock Auto. And yeah there's no spacer now I just didn't know if the old owner didn't put one in during the lift install because he didn't know any better like me or what but as another poster confirmed, 2 inches doesn't seem to need a spacer. Thanks for the reply, appreciate it

 

[WJWV93]

I didn't do it on my 04 for precisely your reason: going to suck. I couldn't afford to have the vehicle laid up because of needed additional parts, plus I didn't have use of a lift. The local garage charged me $60 - It was a no brainer. The mechanic confirmed that the job 'did suck'....to each their own.

Yeah I bet they regretted that quote as soon as they put that thing in the air and saw the space they had to work with lol Good deal though, I might check out a couple shops just to see what they say, cash is tight right now unfortunately. Thanks for the reply

 

[WJWV93]

At 2", it's not needed. At 4 it is. It helps to center the wheel back in the wheel well and with larger tires it is pretty much required.

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That explanation makes sense, I'm not using larger tires so that shouldn't be an issue then. Thanks for the reply!

 

[nickfast]

I never see anyone using separating the joint from the arm first, using the method of wedging a chunk of wood on the tip of the arm down to the ground so that rear end is hanging from it then whacking with a pickle fork. Seems like it would work pretty well to me. Am I the only one that has seen it done that way?

 

[007matman]

I never see anyone using separating the joint from the arm first, using the method of wedging a chunk of wood on the tip of the arm down to the ground so that rear end is hanging from it then whacking with a pickle fork. Seems like it would work pretty well to me. Am I the only one that has seen it done that way?

I pulled the joint (and it's plate) off the arm the last two times I did it.

Good, bad, or indifferent, it worked.

If the Jeep is still around in another 100k, maybe I'll give your method a shot.

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