Rear Upper Control Arm

McTudor · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2015 9:07 am

After 210,000 miles it is time to replace the rear upper control arm on my Liberty.

My initial plan was to replace the bushings and ball joint, so i purchased the requisite Moog parts. Upon inspection of the "boomerang" I have serious doubts that I will be able to press the bushings and ball joint out and still retaining the control arms shape.

My question is, can I purchase the cheap-o upper control arm and replace the bushings and ball joint with the Moog ones? Or is it the steel that is of questionable variety on these?

2005 KJ 3.7, 2.5 OME Lift, JBA UCAs

JeepMorrison · **Joined:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:34 am **Posts:** 1236

Its the bushings and ball joints. The steel is the same

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Mountainman · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:51 am

If I remember correctly, I tried to press them out, and I just crushed the boomerang. I think the replacement ones with all new balljoint and bushings are pretty cheap, and that's what I ended up doing.

JeepMorrison · **Joined:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:34 am **Posts:** 1236

I pressed one out, its not the best metal. But I actually heated it up then pressed them out.

But honestly with the options available, Id go with the IRO arm or the JBA arm.

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tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:02 pm

I have 11 of them piled up, Mopar, Moog, other aftermarket
metal is same thickness basically in all of them
difference is in the bushings and ball joints of course
But other options out there that are much better in the long run like 4X4 Kayak mentioned

adamkrz · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:41 pm

The Moogs are cheap made in China bushings also, Next week I plan on installing the JBA extender to maybe put less stress on the bushings as is now with the lift.

JAFO · **Joined:** Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:35 am **Posts:** 54

I replaced the upper control arm ball joint and both bushings tonight. The bushings were a piece of cake with a 20 ton hydraulic shop press and ball joint tools. The ball joint... what a PITA! It pressed out sorta ok but distorted the control arm somewhat. after I used the press to squish it back into what I consider close enough it took 5 attempts to get the new ball joint pressed in. It kept hanging up and trying to go at an angle. At this point I went with what has always served me well... a shot of whiskey, a break, think it through and find a solution. I took the old unit and pressed it back in but from the wrong side to get the two halves of sheet metal back inline, then removed and discarded. Then some anti seize grease on the replacement and slow ahead full it went right in. :BANANA:

Devilmonkey · **Joined:** Sat Nov 29, 2014 2:23 pm **Posts:** 19

Spend the cash on an OEM UCA my after market one went bad 20k after it was put in.
its one of the few times OEM is better

jrsavoie · **Posted:** Thu Dec 10, 2015 6:59 pm

tommudd wrote:

I have 11 of them piled up, Mopar, Moog, other aftermarket
metal is same thickness basically in all of them
difference is in the bushings and ball joints of course
But other options out there that are much better in the long run like 4X4 Kayak mentioned

What are the other options? 4x4 Kayak must be gone

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Dec 10, 2015 7:11 pm

jrsavoie wrote:

tommudd wrote:

I have 11 of them piled up, Mopar, Moog, other aftermarket
metal is same thickness basically in all of them
difference is in the bushings and ball joints of course
But other options out there that are much better in the long run like 4X4 Kayak mentioned

What are the other options? 4x4 Kayak must be gone

JBA, is one other option
other is a bracket that another member came up with, a weld your own project of sorts
this is on mine ( JBA)

adamkrz · **Posted:** Thu Dec 10, 2015 8:17 pm

I have the JBA extender which puts the boomerang in a level position, I really feel the difference, I wish I had installed this before going through 4 rear upper arms.

jrsavoie · **Posted:** Thu Dec 10, 2015 9:54 pm

Dang. Nobody mentioned JBA when I was posting about what to buy. Maybe next time. Hope the Moog lasts longer than 2 monthes.

Is JBA the best way to go?

JeepMorrison · **Joined:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:34 am **Posts:** 1236

jrsavoie wrote:

tommudd wrote:

I have 11 of them piled up, Mopar, Moog, other aftermarket
metal is same thickness basically in all of them
difference is in the bushings and ball joints of course
But other options out there that are much better in the long run like 4X4 Kayak mentioned

What are the other options? 4x4 Kayak must be gone

Im still here.......lol.

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JeepMorrison · **Joined:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:34 am **Posts:** 1236

jrsavoie wrote:

Dang. Nobody mentioned JBA when I was posting about what to buy. Maybe next time. Hope the Moog lasts longer than 2 monthes.

Is JBA the best way to go?

Well theres stock, IRO and JBA.

Im doing Clayton style long arms with 4 link, thats the best way.....2" tubing, .25" wall. 1.25" johnny joints, welded truss, 1/4" body mounts, all that fun stuff.

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jrsavoie · **Posted:** Sun Dec 13, 2015 9:40 am

JeepMorrison wrote:

jrsavoie wrote:

Dang. Nobody mentioned JBA when I was posting about what to buy. Maybe next time. Hope the Moog lasts longer than 2 monthes.

Is JBA the best way to go?

Well theres stock, IRO and JBA.

Im doing Clayton style long arms with 4 link, thats the best way.....2" tubing, .25" wall. 1.25" johnny joints, welded truss, 1/4" body mounts, all that fun stuff.

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What is IRO? http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merchant ... creen=SFNT ?

I am mostly interested in whatever will last the longest for the least amount of money and or work. The best bang for the buck.

When removing the OEM unit last night we ran into an issue removing the bolt from the boomerang on the passenger side. The bolt dropped down until it hit the muffler, but not far enough to get the UCA out.

How do I go about lowering the muffler? Only looked at it a second last night. I was surprised I never saw this issue mentioned while searching about install info on the boomerang.

Might just be a CRD thing.

Heading back out in a short bit

JeepMorrison · **Joined:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:34 am **Posts:** 1236

jrsavoie wrote:

JeepMorrison wrote:

jrsavoie wrote:

Dang. Nobody mentioned JBA when I was posting about what to buy. Maybe next time. Hope the Moog lasts longer than 2 monthes.

Is JBA the best way to go?

Well theres stock, IRO and JBA.

Im doing Clayton style long arms with 4 link, thats the best way.....2" tubing, .25" wall. 1.25" johnny joints, welded truss, 1/4" body mounts, all that fun stuff.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

What is IRO? http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merchant ... creen=SFNT ?

I am mostly interested in whatever will last the longest for the least amount of money and or work. The best bang for the buck.

When removing the OEM unit last night we ran into an issue removing the bolt from the boomerang on the passenger side. The bolt dropped down until it hit the muffler, but not far enough to get the UCA out.

How do I go about lowering the muffler? Only looked at it a second last night. I was surprised I never saw this issue mentioned while searching about install info on the boomerang.

Might just be a CRD thing.

Heading back out in a short bit

Yep. So you use the IRO arm for the WJ and Whitbykj's bracket and you have a setup thats gonna last and works real good. Also very easy setup

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KJ/toy · **Posted:** Sun Dec 13, 2015 4:31 pm

JeepMorrison wrote:

jrsavoie wrote:

Dang. Nobody mentioned JBA when I was posting about what to buy. Maybe next time. Hope the Moog lasts longer than 2 monthes.

Is JBA the best way to go?

Well theres stock, IRO and JBA.

Im doing Clayton style long arms with 4 link, thats the best way.....2" tubing, .25" wall. 1.25" johnny joints, welded truss, 1/4" body mounts, all that fun stuff.

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4 link, EH....??

JeepMorrison · **Joined:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:34 am **Posts:** 1236

KJ/toy wrote:

JeepMorrison wrote:

jrsavoie wrote:

Dang. Nobody mentioned JBA when I was posting about what to buy. Maybe next time. Hope the Moog lasts longer than 2 monthes.

Is JBA the best way to go?

Well theres stock, IRO and JBA.

Im doing Clayton style long arms with 4 link, thats the best way.....2" tubing, .25" wall. 1.25" johnny joints, welded truss, 1/4" body mounts, all that fun stuff.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

4 link, EH....??

Yep

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jrsavoie · **Posted:** Mon Dec 14, 2015 2:23 pm

On the 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD we ran into an issues of getting the right hand bolt that goes to the body out far enough to remove the arm.

The muffler is under it. I was able to pull with everything I could get on it while Wyatt removed and installed the bolt.

Just something other CRD owners might run into

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:58 pm

jrsavoie wrote:

On the 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD we ran into an issues of getting the right hand bolt that goes to the body out far enough to remove the arm.

The muffler is under it. I was able to pull with everything I could get on it while Wyatt removed and installed the bolt.

Just something other CRD owners might run into

On gassers as well to a point, I just use a bar to shove everything over far enough to get the bolt out

Rear Upper Control Arm

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