Did not expect to find this...

[Charlesthe2nd]

Well, this weekend brought quite a surprise while I was working Mindy. To preface all of this, I'm not the one who usually does work on my Jeep, with my schedule, lack of space, limited knowledge and tool selection, I often take it to a shop for work. Now, I do trust the shops I use, and they do a reliably good job. At least that is what I thought.

I was doing the clevis lift to gain some height, after a few years of abuse on the frankenlift left the front fenders at 21-22". The wheels were off, and I was inspecting the suspension, checking for play, looking at my ball joints (which need replacing), then I saw it, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. My UCA has been sanded down, and now is completely ruined. I could not believe what I was looking at.

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How I think this happened. I took it into my 4x4 shop almost 3 years ago now, and showed them how the UCA was noticeably rubbing against the tire. An alignment issue I figured. They said they'd fix it, and I didn't think twice about it. Since then I've rotated the tires, changed the oil more than a half dozen times, changed transmission and rear diff oil, etc, but I never noticed the UCA :favorites68:

Guess I'm wondering if y'all think I should even bother calling my 4x4 shop to discuss this and get a fix. Obviously I'll need new UCA.. Also, I don't think I can trust the 4x4 shop anymore, and that is unfortunate because they are pretty nice guys and give me a good cash price. What's crazy is how long I've probably been driving with them like this. Loooong trips of 1500mi around CA and southwest USA with plenty of hard 4wheeling mixed in there. I will consider myself lucky that they haven't failed.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I think the powdercoating just flaked off. That's how mine look.

 

[M38 Bob]

Looks ground to me. That'd be just about the LAST method I'd want to use to keep tire from rubbing.

 

[Charlesthe2nd]

I think the powdercoating just flaked off. That's how mine look.

It may be hard to see, but in the top two pictures almost all of the metal is gone and it is broken on the tire side of the ball joint. If you look at a picture of a new one, there should be almost 1/8" or more of metal there. Maybe I'll put a picture of a new one up to compare.

Looks ground to me. That'd be just about the LAST method I'd want to use to keep tire from rubbing.

Yea, its obvious on the third photo. You can see that the right side of the ball joint has a grind mark on it that lines up with the edge of the UCA. The passenger side had significantly more ground off.

 

[Aceofspades]

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Something doesn’t look right

 

[Myke]

I would replace it and take care of you tire size/wheel back spacing issue first.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Ah, now I see it, especially on the BJ how that's ground up.

Man, that *****.

 

[Charlesthe2nd]

I would replace it and take care of you tire size/wheel back spacing issue first.

Yea, replacement of the UCA is my first step. Currently running stock rims. I've seen the options on JBA.com, what other options are out there?

 

[Myke]

Yea, replacement of the UCA is my first step. Currently running stock rims. I've seen the options on JBA.com, what other options are out there?

What size tires do you have?

 

[Charlesthe2nd]

what size tires do you have?

265/75/16

 

[Charlesthe2nd]

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Something doesn’t look right

Where did you get all those fancy blue bushings?

 

[tjkj2002]

Where did you get all those fancy blue bushings?

Those are MOOG parts.

 

[Aceofspades]

Where did you get all those fancy blue bushings?

All MOOG Parts

 

[Myke]

265/75/16

I would try to find a set of Jeep Moab wheels. They are 16x8 with 5" of backspacing. Cragar and a few other brands make 16x8 5 on 4.5" with 5" of backspacing. I believe summitracing.com has some wheels that match those specs.

Another option is wheel spacers. I run a set of 1.5" spacers on my stock 17x7.5 wheels with 265/70/17 (same height/width as yours) and I don't rub the front after pounding down the pinch weld with 4" of lift. Some states it's illegal to run spacers so check your local laws. Also it's another set of lugs to check but I've used red loctite on mine and haven't had one loosen up since I put them on a year ago. I check them when I rotate my tires with a torque wrench. I also beat on my KJ hard when offroad and I have seen any signs of damage. Spidertrax spacers will run you $125 per pair.

 

[Aceofspades]

^ I use the spidertrax 1.5” and no rubbing but my are not as wide
Also I can’t seem to find Moab rims locally in 16”....

 

[tjkj2002]

^ I use the spidertrax 1.5” and no rubbing but my are not as wide
Also I can’t seem to find Moab rims locally in 16”....

The # of 16" MOAB's is pretty small compared to the JK MOAB's since the 16" MOAB's(TJ) only where produced for 3 years and only fitted to Rubicon versions of the TJ while the JK's MOAB's have been produced for like 9 years and they put them on about every JK regardless.

 

[Charlesthe2nd]

Going to order a new set of UCAs next week, try to get them in the following weekend. After looking around on JBA.com, I can't find those MOOG bushings. Is there another site I should be looking on? I also found some new rims as well, 16x8 w/ 5" backspacing for $80 on summitracing.com, and will be getting them soon.

For now, I wont be driving my Jeep around. Seems like too much of a danger with the multiple bad ball joints and cracked UCA. Hopefully I can get this all fixed and have her back on the road soon. Really glad I found all of this now because I'm moving across country at the end of February. Will be towing a trailer and touring around (Tahoe, Park city, Moab, Canyonlands, San Antonio, New Orleans, etc), we expect to do at least 5000mi. Guess the silver lining is that this wont be a problem when my family and I are traveling. All in all, just pretty disappointed with the fact that my 4x4 shop would do something like this, and it makes me wonder what other shotty work they may have done. I will always check the work that's being done from now on. Lesson learned.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Which MOOG bushings?

 

[Charlesthe2nd]

Which MOOG bushings?

Those blue swaybar bushings that AceOfSpades's picture shows. His front suspension is how I wish my front suspension looked. Very clean, freshly greased, and not broken!!

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Order MOOG end links from rock auto...
More Information for MOOG K7391

FWIW, I had 2 sets of them and they both failed in under a year....got the Masterpro brand from O'Reilly's and they've been great for 2 years. I was skeptical at first but it was Christmas Eve and I just wanted it fixed. The MOOG bushings just disintegrated and never really felt "tight".