Upper control arm question

Kj Juice · **Joined:** Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:35 pm **Posts:** 62

went in and got my lower ball joint recall. they said that i have some play in my upper control arm.. they want $362 dollars to fix it.. my question is.. what normally goes bad.. is it just the bushings. i looked at the control arm and the ball joint doesn't look bad nor is there any problems with the actual control arm. so what should i do.. just get a bushing kit.. or you guys think i should replace the whole control arm.. i am sure the $362 dollars is for a completely new control arm.. to add to this i have been getting this sqeaking sound from the side.. its starts off slow when im driving then as i speed up. i can hear the sound increase.. could this be the control arm doing this.. they said they couldn't tell me for some reason.. thanks

Science_Guy · **Posted:** Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:04 pm

You can get Jeepin' By Al's Upper A-Arms for $375 with shipping. If you need new A arms, that would be the way to go.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:16 pm

Science_Guy wrote:

You can get Jeepin' By Al's Upper A-Arms for $375 with shipping. If you need new A arms, that would be the way to go.

Thats what I was thinking. Thats for both arms too, not just one.

The balljoint usually goes bad Kj Juice. youve got to replace the entire arm b/c its all one piece.

Kj Juice · **Joined:** Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:35 pm **Posts:** 62

darn. see i was trying to get away cheap. i know i need those als upper arms.. but kinda poor right now. wish i didn't buy this big tv 2 weeks ago now. so there is no way they can press out the ball joints. i just need a fix till like mid winter when i have some money again.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:53 pm

Kj Juice wrote:

darn. see i was trying to get away cheap. i know i need those als upper arms.. but kinda poor right now. wish i didn't buy this big tv 2 weeks ago now. so there is no way they can press out the ball joints. i just need a fix till like mid winter when i have some money again.

No.. The upper balljoints and the arm are one piece. There was a guy selling some stock arms in the forsale section. You could PM him and see what his price is. That could do you till you can get some money and get Als arms. :wink:

You may also want to check the upper joint yourself or have a trusted Mechanic look at it. The dealer is known to be wrong.. :wink:

Kj Juice · **Joined:** Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:35 pm **Posts:** 62

went and got a couple different quotes yesterday.. seems like no place will put in the arms if i bring them in.. they will only buy them for me... so i am almost to the point of doing this my self.. think i am going to get Als uppers.. is this a hard job.? and do i need to break out the lower ball joints to replace the top arm? just need a little more info before i decide and tackle this my self..... on a side note.. i argued with a guy for about 20 minutes on how the upper ball joint won't come out of the arm.. he goes on how he has been doing this for years.. yada yada yada.. basically told me he didn't feel like doing this job.. :roll:

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

Kj Juice wrote:

darn. see i was trying to get away cheap. i know i need those als upper arms.. but kinda poor right now. wish i didn't buy this big tv 2 weeks ago now. so there is no way they can press out the ball joints. i just need a fix till like mid winter when i have some money again.

You can pick up new ones from rockauto.com for about 115-120 dollars a piece.

Or you can get a low mileage one out of a salvage yard for 20-30 dollars. Check out www.car-part.com

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:41 pm

Its not that bad. The lower joint does not need to be popped out. Ive heard some people have a hard time getting the bolts out of the bushings b/c a brake line is in the way. One guy said he didnt have a problem but one had to remove the brake line..

Kj Juice · **Joined:** Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:35 pm **Posts:** 62

ah i can do break lines.. thats no worry.. if anything ill just bleed my brakes.. see one of the guys i went and got a quote from said he had to take the whole assmbly out.. and i was thinking to myself.. na shouldn't have too... guy was probably trying to rape me cuz im a young guy.. probably didn't think i knew what i was talking about

Kj Juice · **Joined:** Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:35 pm **Posts:** 62

Eddo wrote:

Kj Juice wrote:

darn. see i was trying to get away cheap. i know i need those als upper arms.. but kinda poor right now. wish i didn't buy this big tv 2 weeks ago now. so there is no way they can press out the ball joints. i just need a fix till like mid winter when i have some money again.

You can pick up new ones from rockauto.com for about 115-120 dollars a piece.

Or you can get a low mileage one out of a salvage yard for 20-30 dollars. Check out www.car-part.com

yea there is a guy on here i can buy them for cheap.. but my problem is that no auto place around here will put them in... they have to buy the part.. so yea i could by oem and do it myself...and save hella money but maybe have the same problem in a year or two.. i thought to myself and i really love my jeep and think i am going to have it for a couple more years.. so i can get away cheaper if i buy Al's and install them my self... spend like 400 instead of the 560 something the shop is going to charge me for oem parts.

Jeepin Al · **Posted:** Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:33 pm

Thanks for considering my a-arms! And everyone else who recommends my products thank you!!!!

Here is a really good write up from Ted,

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... php?t=3317

The upper arms are fairly easy to install, three bolts on each side...well not that easy. I have recently been sending directions, even though us guys never need directions nor do we use them. I have heard of one horror story, the guy with the break line. He had a difficult time of it.

The hardest part I ran into was trying to get the OEM ball joint out of the spindle, took a lot of beating, and one bend tie rod end fork, but it popped.

Make sure you have a good metric set of tools, and rachet extensions with a swivel. When you re-install make sure the bolts that hold the a-arm tight to the body is torqued, if not the rattle will drive you crazy. This a 4-5 hour job for a decent shade tree mechanic.

Al

nolakj · **Posted:** Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:05 pm

KJ Juice

It was I that had a rough go of it with Al's arms. No fault of the product just the guy doing the repairs.

It's not a tough project as long as you don't crossthread the brake line when putting it back in. Al's arms are great and the upper BJs are BEEFY. If you have any kind of mechanical ability and a few hours to spare you can knock these out yourself. Definately a better way to go than new stock arms.

jason thompson · **Posted:** Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:17 pm

nolakj wrote:

KJ Juice

It was I that had a rough go of it with Al's arms. No fault of the product just the guy doing the repairs.

It's not a tough project as long as you don't crossthread the brake line when putting it back in. Al's arms are great and the upper BJs are BEEFY. If you have any kind of mechanical ability and a few hours to spare you can knock these out yourself. Definately a better way to go than new stock arms.

Yeah you shoulda called me

Upper control arm question

Who is online