I am thinking about biting the bullet and replacing the uppers on my rig (the last negative effects left over from my Skyjacker lift). Does anyone have any advice? In theory this seems pretty simple, but looking under the hood it seems as though the steering linkage is squarely in the way of the rear bolt on the driver's side. How difficult is this going to be?

Try sending a PM the Jeepin Al. He is the one that built the new custom upper A arms so I'm sure he has experience replacing them.

For the reason, i'm going to order the SKYJACKER lift, i want to ask you what caused the damage to the upper a-arm??After how many miles do you have the problem with the SKYJACKER??
You're reply is very important for me. Thank you.

_________________
KJ 2.4L 2004 - K&N FILTER-SEBRING MUFFLER-JETCHIP-ROCK RAILS-FULL SKID-ROCK CRAWLER 51 SERIES-SKYJACKER 2.5''-CLEVIS LIFT-BFG AT 245/70 www.cardomain.com/ride/2232437

A couple thousand miles. I took off the front end of the kit within three months due to A-arm contact on the spring (which tore the boots) and a bad CV joint which I also replaced earlier this year. I got 4" of lift from the SJ kit which is just way too much. It was one of the earlier kits though and I am under the impression that they have some of the problems worked out. Just make some bumpstops for the a-arms.

The procedure to remove the upper a arms is fairly easy. The thing you really need to watch is the break lines. They are very close to the bolts holding the arm to the unibody. These bolts are under the hood. To make it easier you need to remove the airbox and battery to access the bolts. Jack the Liberty up with a floor jack using the lower a-arm as the jack point. Be careful and get the jack wedged into the lower a-arm so it doesn't slip. Take the wheel off, place a jack stand on the "frame" to support the weight of the KJ and just take the pressure off the jack allowing the jack to hold the lower arm in place. Remove the upper ball joint bolt, separate the ball joint from the steering knuckle. This can be a real PITA. You should get one of those forks.

Now its time to move to under the hood. Remove the two upper bolts on each side pull the bolts out, and reach around and pull upper the a-arms out. It should noted that the bolts have a tab on it that will hit the break line and possibly cut them. This tab allows you to only use one wrench.

This sound fairly easy, but the bolts under the hood are hard to get at. I used a 1/2 drive with extensions and a flex joint to get at them. I reinstalled the bolts such that they nuts are now more accessible. Make sure you torque them down. They make a real racket if they are loose.

Hope this helps. PM me and leave your telephone number if you would like to be "talked thru it" or fax number and I will copy the pages out of the manual for you.

Al

_________________
One Ruby, One Grand Cherokee, One YJ, One disassembled CJ, one Chevy Mason dump, one hotrod IH Pick-up, couple of antique tractors.
Former owner of a 5.5 inch lifted KJ

Al, that all makes sense to me. I've seperated the upper ball joints several times so I know the "trick" to that. The only thing I'm worried about is getting at that rear bolt on the driver's side. Looks like I need to pick up a flex joint.

Thanks for the quick writeup!

Any idea what the torque specs are for the bolts involved? I checked for the torque specs in the tech section, but they are no where to be found.

I see if I can find anything, but my torque wrench for this procedure was a two foot pipe added to my 1/2 drive!

Al

_________________
One Ruby, One Grand Cherokee, One YJ, One disassembled CJ, one Chevy Mason dump, one hotrod IH Pick-up, couple of antique tractors.
Former owner of a 5.5 inch lifted KJ

skyjump; you'll have a pm in a second with the torque values.

_________________
jeep movies: http://users.catastrophe.net/~eric/jeepmov/
other stuff: http://www.zischen.org/

Joel, I did this job as well. Not too bad. The drivers side was just a bit tougher but not bad. if I remember right. I used a very long extention to go from the front of the Jeep back to the bolts. I did not seperate any of the steering but had to remove a brake line I think. It's been a while. Maybe before you do this job... drop me your mailing address in a PM and I will drop something off in the mail to help instruct you with this...I can make a copy of the huh huh screen saver...yea thats it a screen saver for you... Later...Clint

_________________
http://lostkjwest.com
http://www.azlostkj.com
http://lostzj.com
KE7JLP

Thanks Clint, but Vxla just provided a, uh, screensaver. Yep, definitely a screensaver.

I believe the torque setting you need is 90ft lb for the top two nuts.

Ian