KJ Back From The Shop!

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:31 pm

It would be 2 weeks tomorrow that I took it in. $1,650.00 later it is home. I want to kill that guy so bad!

Here is what was done. I took it in for new brakes all around, turn the rotors and install Al's "A" arms. He did the breaks, put in the arms and saw that the spring on the drivers side was bowed and hitting the "A" arm. He pulled the strut to see what was wrong. The rubber thing that sets under the bottom of the spring was half gone. That was causing the spring to bow out and hit the arm. Replaced that part on both sides. The rubber bushings on top were warn out so replaced them. There was some banging going on in the front when going over speed bumps. Then he decided to read the directions that came with the arms. Oh! I have to cut the pockets. That was what the noise was. He also cut a 1/2 circle out of the frame so the bottom of the strut would have more clearance.

The alignment turned out very well! Much better than before Al's arms! The toe was the only thing they could not get dead on. It is out of spec. The steering is much better also. Now I have to get used to the feeling of the steering again. All in all I'm very happy.
Now all I have to do is go out and beat the 7734 out of it!

Terry

Budke · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:58 pm

Glad to hear!!
Get it diggerized yet??? :twisted:

So you want to beat it up huh?? ONF this weekend?? Have a little matanzas day out. :jester:

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:38 pm

He cut a section out of the frame for strut clearance? :shock:

I don't recall hearing about anyone having strut to frame contact.

Can we see some pictures of this?

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:41 pm

FreedomKJ wrote:

He cut a section out of the frame for strut clearance? :shock:

I don't recall hearing about anyone having strut to frame contact.

Can we see some pictures of this?

Here are 3 pictures. Not very good but oh well.

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:31 pm

Interesting. Did you have contact there?

Any concern that this may have created a weak spot?

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:00 pm

FreedomKJ wrote:

Interesting. Did you have contact there?

Any concern that this may have created a weak spot?

It appears I did have contact. But it may have been because of the spring being bowed. I will be having that cut area beefed up a little just in case.

Terry

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:04 pm

Budke wrote:

Glad to hear!!
Get it diggerized yet??? :twisted:

So you want to beat it up huh?? ONF this weekend?? Have a little matanzas day out. :jester:

I looked all over The Matanzas Jeep Forum for this post! No wonder I couldn't find it! :-)r

It isn't Diggerized yet. I'm waiting for the building to go up so a friend can do it. The workers didn't want to put it up during that cold snap. I sent you a PM on Matanzas but anyway....yes, lets ride!

Terry

Budke · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:38 pm

Sweetness. :pepper:

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:25 pm

Fulltimer wrote:

FreedomKJ wrote:

Interesting. Did you have contact there?

Any concern that this may have created a weak spot?

It appears I did have contact. But it may have been because of the spring being bowed. I will be having that cut area beefed up a little just in case.

Terry

Well, we know that every KJ came out a little different, I wonder if anyone else has contact occasionally and just hasn't noticed. Good call on the beef-up. Just a little piece of plate curved and welded in place should do the trick.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 29, 2010 12:09 am

mine doesn't hit but i don't have a frank i just got ome w/ clevis

i didn't trim the uca pockets either, going to let the uca's beat the pockets whereever they feel most comfortable lol

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:02 pm

Gosh, he charged you $1,650 to put new brakes on it, put Al's arms on it, replace the spring isolators, and cut some holes? :shock:

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:39 pm

Wow come to my shop, i'll cut that in half and use a bigger hammer

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:01 pm

There was more to than that but it was way to much. I just got back from putting 50 some trail miles on it and I have a LOUD metal to metal bang on all bumps. This was not there before. If I had any confidence at all in the guy I would take it back to him but it's not going to happen.

Terry

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:04 pm

Man thats too bad Terry
Can you tell where it's coming from for sure, or just front some where?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:02 pm

i would take a can of whatever flat black spray paint ya got and shoot it around the coil/fender area so that it will be much easier to find any contact if there is any causing that banging sound you're hearing

and naturally double check the torque on nuts under the hood where the coilover bolts to the jeep, it seems that often these are a bit loose and cause a bit of banging

the uca bolts tend to make more of a clunk than a bang

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:50 pm

The noise is in the right front. It will do it everytime I make a left turn. Out on the trails today that thing was really going crazy. Every bump made that noise.

Terry

EDIT: It's the left front.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:53 pm

sway bar link loose??

that def sounds frustrating!

Budke · **Posted:** Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:15 am

Terry, we should have checked it out at the diner. See if it was something just loose and tighten it up. Or fix it if we could.

nosnorb_808 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:47 am

Check the brake rotor... Maybe its loose? Thats my :2cents:

for what its worth.

tonycrd · **Posted:** Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:46 am

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

sway bar link loose??

X200

KJ Back From The Shop!

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