Just replaced the entire front suspension 2006 CRD Limited

galatron · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 5:46 pm

Man after 57k miles, the CRD was listing to starboard (right) and making a funny sound from the front right. New upper and lower balljoints, Upper A-Arms, shocks and springs (they said that the spring on the right side was crushed!)
HOW did this happpen, I'll admit that I'm a poser and don't do much offroading (if any). I do pull a trailer and a boat, but it's nothing major.
The guys (JeepMasters here in Austin who I WILL reccomend) looked for TSBs on my jeep and said that the recall for bj's didn't cover my jeep. wha wha wha.

I think the total bill was around 2k.
Harlan in Austin

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 6:31 pm

shoulda went with the OME stuff and not the OEM stuff. My front springs sucked around 70k...

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 9:14 pm

Jeepmasters does good work, they did my TC and tranny pump.

I replaced the stock suspension at ~20K miles and that was too long.....
Rancho/Daystar first and then OME.
OME is better.

fastRob · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 10:38 pm

I did OME but they are too tall.
Otherwise, 20K was all I got from stock springs.
Mine cost less than $1,000 but we did it.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 8:42 am

It is hard for me to imagine that Galatron could have really needed ALL of those parts @ 57K. The lower ball joints have been proven to be undersized, but not much else. (Did you not know about the recall and lifetime warranty on the LBJs?) Did the shop show you exctly how all those parts were severely worn? Springs can fail at anytime, but it is fairly rare. How much shorter did they claim the right front was from the left?

Around that mileage, most vehicles' shocks have usually had it. I'm interested what the other posters on this thread are referring to when they have felt their springs were gone.

We replaced OEM shocks with Bilstein @ 50K and I made a 3/8" spacer for the left front to compensate for a little sag on that side (common because vehicles are mostly driven with just the driver0. However, ride height (stock) was well within spec, even on the left side, so the springs were not close to needing replacement.

If you prefer a lift, that's a different story.

DOC

tonycrd · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 4:24 pm

fastRob wrote:

I did OME but they are too tall.

Say what?

This is a really weird thread... :shock:

galatron · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2010 3:10 pm

They said that the passenger spring was bent, and all the ball joints were busted. I replaced the shocks since they had the springs out. Jeepmasters said that the new a arms they put in were comparable to aftermarket.
OK but still there's a bonk noise when I come out of the parking lot at work. WTF is going on there? is there something in the steering I need to look at?

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2010 4:48 pm

Sharp dip that compresses the front suspesion much more than normal? Most likely it's the sway bar bushings. If thet are not worn out, you can take them apart and lube them 1-2X a year or install nipples and use a grease gun.

OOC

Big Ugly · **Joined:** Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:13 am **Posts:** 52

I got 172K on my CRD with original suspension. Yup it needs to be replaced. Will replace with Frankenlift this summer. But I've gotten 172K out of the suspension so far. Not to bad I don't think.

galatron · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:45 pm

ok so to follow up on this issue too, I just got the jeep back from Carmax, the put in a new steering rack and replaced a ball joint on top of the rear differential. Total cost was 1130, of which I paid 50 dollar deductible. However, I did previously take it to jeep masters and they replaced the entire front suspension. I will say that I do like jeep masters and what they stand for, but in this case they did not find the cause of the bonking noise. - even though those ball joints on the front did need to be replaced.
I also realize that it took me a little over a year to get this resolved, but hey, my wife was driving the jeep a few miles per week so it wasn't the top of my priority list.

I still love the jeep though! man, this CRD is sooooo awesome!

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 3:31 pm

At 94K miles, after towing past the limit, offroading, etc., my stock suspension was perfectly fine. In fact, my new EMU springs don't ride as well as the stock ones did in some areas along the road.

I still can't believe some people have springs that are shot before the warranty is even up. WTF?

CIMARRON13 · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 3:59 pm

galatron wrote:

ok so to follow up on this issue too, I just got the jeep back from Carmax, the put in a new steering rack and replaced a ball joint on top of the rear differential. Total cost was 1130, of which I paid 50 dollar deductible. However, I did previously take it to jeep masters and they replaced the entire front suspension. I will say that I do like jeep masters and what they stand for, but in this case they did not find the cause of the bonking noise. - even though those ball joints on the front did need to be replaced.
I also realize that it took me a little over a year to get this resolved, but hey, my wife was driving the jeep a few miles per week so it wasn't the top of my priority list.

I still love the jeep though! man, this CRD is sooooo awesome!

I like Jeep Masters as well. Have taken my Jeeps there in the past. However just like all mechanic places they will tell you what they want to fix whether it really needs it or not. Then you have to decide what you think needs to be replaced/fixed. Being knowledgeable helps in these matters. Just because they work exclusively on Jeeps doesn't mean that they aren't out to make a dollar.

galatron · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:06 pm

Yeah I don't know why all this stuff failed, I'm at 62.5k and personally I think it's way too early for that kind of equipment failure. This jeep is definitly a road warrior, never been "off road", it's pulled some trailer miles, but nothing too serious. Thanks for the input from all the readers on this site for keeping this truck/jeep/car going. and here's to hoping for another +62.5k miles out of it!
I can't say enough grace about this site, everyone who comment's "that's a diesel?" I send them here.
AND I would use Jeep Masters again, just maby not in this context, maby for mods and stuff I could not handle on my own. (post warranty)

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:14 pm

galatron wrote:

Man after 57k miles, the CRD was listing to starboard (right) and making a funny sound from the front right. New upper and lower balljoints, Upper A-Arms, shocks and springs (they said that the spring on the right side was crushed!)
HOW did this happpen, I'll admit that I'm a poser and don't do much offroading (if any). I do pull a trailer and a boat, but it's nothing major.
The guys (JeepMasters here in Austin who I WILL reccomend) looked for TSBs on my jeep and said that the recall for bj's didn't cover my jeep. wha wha wha.

I think the total bill was around 2k.
Harlan in Austin

That amount of work on the front end is suspect to me. Some (not all TG) shops will throw in everything including a kitchen sink. Please check to see if you have something that looks like a stainless steel front skid plate, it may be a kitchen sink they stuck you with too. :-)r

bebey · **Joined:** Fri Oct 22, 2010 3:08 pm **Posts:** 62

I replaced my entire front end, also at JeepMasters here in Austin, about a month or two ago. I had 86k miles and my stock suspension was still in great shape. I only did it for the lift.

But 2k? I replaced my entire suspension, parts and labor, with an OME setup for that.

Just replaced the entire front suspension 2006 CRD Limited

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