I haven't noticed any posts on the ball joint connecting the rear diff to the upper control arm. Has anyone had any probs with this? I have a very slight rattle in the rear, just going over washboard, etc. and it doesn't seem to be the shocks. I just checked those and they seem tight in there. The coils are good too. Maybe the bushings on the lower control arms? Anybody have any experience with phantom rattles? Any feedback would be welcome, thanks guys and gals. James.

Take a look at this:

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... 64&start=0

And I posted on this several times on the old board. Mine lasted around 30K failed again around 60K. and than I started playing. They are not hard to replace, just on the expensive side.

Put the KJ in park or gear, bend done by the rear tire and push on the tire to make the KJ go forward and back, watch the front of the diff, if the pinion moves up and down, most likely you need a new rear ball joint.

Al

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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

Thank you, Al. I checked and it looks like there may be some play there. Do you know if there is an aftermarket upgrade on that BJ, or do I need to go with OE? I'll just go Mopar if there's nothing else, but I wouldn't mind getting something greaseable under there. thanks again. James.

I took one of the shocks off the rear (Doetchtech DT8000 that came with the Rockfather 11 lift) and at the top mount there is a bit of widening (about 1mm) happening on the top of the outside flange. Pretty slight so far, but I decided to replace them with Ranchos. Got a set ordered and they should be here tomorrow. The lift has been on since Nov. '04, and that's about 18,000 km (about 11,000 miles). I wanted to see if this stops the rattling noise. Anyhow, I'm glad I checked, for the few minutes it took to pull the shock off. Could have evolved into a bigger problem with that widening on the top bracket.

Ranchos on, rattling gone.

By the way, this is a good post about Ranchos, anybody's interested: http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/shocks/index.html