So after purchasing my daughter's 02 Liberty, one of the first things I did was have the brakes checked and the rears needed replacing. Being in a hurry, I went ahead and let Merlin change em. All seemed fine for a couple of weeks.

Then I started hearing an odd clunking occurring at slow speeds, mainly when coasting and turning left at slow speeds. It really sounded like it was coming from the front, but my 12 year old riding in the back convinced me it was coming from the rear. I jumped into the rear today with my wife driving and yup, it's from the rear.

So it warmed up to low 20's today and I finally got around to jacking her up, she's been sitting idle in the driveway for a couple of weeks due to weather. Didn't find anything unusual, ujoints were fine, didn't hear the clunk when the jeep was off the ground.

Walking around the jeep, I noticed it was missing a lug nut from the right rear, well that's not a good thing. I'd fix that later....

I came inside to do some searching here and found this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55999&p=623294&hilit=clunk+rear+end#p623294

Of particular interest:
"The only way thats your problem is if your lug nuts were hand tight at best, when you tighten the lug nuts you essentially make the rotor one with the tire and hub. Torque your lug nuts and see if it goes away."

I thought to myself, no way....but then again.

So I went to Pepboys and got a new lug nut first. Then, I started checking the lug nuts on the right rear and I could move two of em by hand!!! Yup, they were ALL loose, both wheels.

Friggin idiots at Merlin never torqued the darn things, sure glad the wheels didn't bust off, wow.

Unfortunately, when just starting to torque a nut on the left rear, with no real pressure, one of the lugs broke. I tightened the other 4 to spec and it should be fine. Took the jeep for a spin and whaddya know, the clunk is completely gone.

This is why I like doing my own work whenever I can.

Wow.

_________________
Mike Smith
06 KJ Sport - PA - ONSFARI

OME 926/948 w/ OME Shocks, 3/8 Boiler, 1" LTT, a bit of Clevis lift
MOPAR Skids, Custom trans skid
Valley Roof Basket with Extension (when required), Homemade fence post crossbars with Thule system to compliment
Mastercraft A\T Something or another...

When I was younger my parents had a Dodge Dakota. We had the tires rotated at some local place, they put the lug nuts back on hand tight. When we were on the way home all but 1 feel off. The tire came off and broke all but the one lug nut holding it one and tire wedged under the truck. Luckily may day being a police officer he had showed my mom how to keep control of a vehicle. If not we would have either hit the bridge ends or ran off the roadway into the swamp.

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Zack A.
2005 Rocky Mountain Ed.
W4ZWA

If one of the other lugs broke with hand tightening, I'd be wary of the rest. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to replace all the studs.

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2005 KJ Renegade
Fabrications for sale: Aluminum Roof Rack (See Page 9)
Aluminum Gas Tank Skid -- Radiator Skid -- Front Strut Shims
Coming Soon: Rear Bumpers with lots of options

Yup, that was the plan for today, I agree.

Now can I hammer them out or do I need the "stud extractor" that the manual says to use? The manual also says to remove calipers and rotors, which I'm hoping isn't necessary.

You'll probably have to take the whole thing apart.

Meaning opening the diff to take the C-clips out, then take out the driveshafts, then change the studs...

I'd take it back to where they changed the brakes. Let them solve it.

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Cherokee 2,5 CRD: sold - Wrangler TJ 2.5: gone - Touareg V10 TDI: new toy

Solo Liberty en Español: Jeepliberty.es

Well it's fixed, thanks to Merlins doing the right thing. Took it in, explained what I found and they replaced the broken stud, at no charge to me.

I didn't go ahead and replace the others but I will be keeping an eye on them. Besides the impacting to get the old stud out and the new stud seated, it was a fairly quick and simple fix, no dismantling required.