Upper and lower control arms bad!?

[Wakko]

Brought the wife's '07 to the stealership today to have the window repaired (again). They DID cover that under warranty, fortunately. I told them that the front end had a light clunk over bumps, both sides. They called me back and said that both upper and lower controls arms on both sides are no good and being replaced under our extended warranty. I'm not sure yet WHAT was wrong with them.

This is a 2WD model, what goes wrong with control arms after 40k miles of street driving with stock ride height?

 

[cplchris]

theres only 2 things that could go bad, bushings or balljoints, my guess without knowing anything else would be the balljoints due to a torn boot, but if its getting repaired at no cost to you under warranty then who cares, just make sure to stay on top of keeping the underside clean to protect your new parts(pressure washer at a diy car wash with soapy water then rinse everything real good).

 

[Wakko]

My concern is that if these all went bad after 40k, are they gonna go bad AGAIN in another 40k when it's not under warranty? Are the ball joins not replaceable on the control arms individually?

 

[cplchris]

im not sure if they can be replaced on the upper control arms but the lowers are definitely serviceable, but like i said stay on top of keeping it clean and doing routine visual inspections and they will more than likely last longer, if the UCAs cannot be serviced check out jeepinbyal.com

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

My concern is that if these all went bad after 40k, are they gonna go bad AGAIN in another 40k when it's not under warranty? Are the ball joins not replaceable on the control arms individually?

Balljoints in Chrysler vehicles have been garbage for a couple decades now. Just replace them with Moogs next time, all good.


Sent from ThunderbirdJunkie's mind because the Matrix is real, Neo.

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

The lowers might have had a torn boot as was mentioned above. If that happens then crud gets in and grease gets out = destroyed ball joint.

The upper controls may have been replaced due to a recall on KJ's in "salt states" so they may have just taken care of an overlooked recall for you.

If they replaced the ENTIRE lower control arm they went way overboard - the ball joint is replaceable quite easily in a 2WD Liberty. Don't know why they would have done that :Frustrated:

Bob

 

[Wakko]

The Jeep's not ready yet. Spoke to the service writer who tried to tell me that the arms were replaced because they were old. 2007 is old? My '87 Buick has original control arms, bushings and ball joints and comparable mileage and dont' make any noise. Either way, after replacement they couldn't get the vehicle to align, so they took it apart and discovered a bent knuckle and something else...possibly the spindle.

Doesn't make sense to me at ALL. Guy said that there must have been some sort of collision with the front suspension. We've had the car for 3 years and it had 8k on it when we got it. The tires were original. Vehicle was perfectly aligned before and hasn't been aligned since we've had it. While I understand that someone might have tagged it before we got it, you'd think it'd show up in the past 32k miles and three years, and it just doesn't seem likely.

They are covering everything under the warranty, so it's not costing anything else, but I'm concerned about longevity and other issues arising later. We're supposed to drive to Tennessee tomorrow late afternoon and even if the Jeep is ready to go (dealer said no promises) I'm not keen on a road trip through the mountains and possibly dragging a trailer back with it.

I'm planning on going to the dealer tomorrow and speaking directly to the mechanic. Hopefully I can see the parts too.

 

[martin_metal_88]

I don't know for your dealership but my GF have a prepaid maintenance package with her 2011 ford focus and ford keep replacing part only because they can. Of course it's all under prepaid service plan and free. I wish this program would never end because this dealership is epic on services.

 

[tommudd]

Where the heck is Paul Harvey now??
We need to hear the rest of the story..............
Something doesn't sound right with the dealership
As far as trusting it, I know of several that have double the mileage and more and the owners would trust to go across country at the drop of a hat!
Wouldn't worry about that. Now I've seen UBJs go bad in a few thousand miles but that was due to running a cheap RRO spacer lift

 

[Wakko]

I trust the Jeep, just not a hundred percent sure there won't be an undiscovered issue.

Yes, definitely more to the story here, hopefully I can find out tomorrow.

What kind of force would be required to bend a spindle and knuckle? I can't imagine damage like that for THREE years without noticing?

 

[tommudd]

Yes something sounds strange if you never had any issues as far as tire wear/pulling etc. Now all ball joints are bad, knuckle bent or something, just doesn't add up

 

[Wakko]

Yep. Only had em check out a light clunk over bumps. I'll update tomorrow after hopefully finding out more.

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Wakko, it's a LOT of force.

Also...it could be the UCA balljoints are toast, and the clevis mount bushings are fried in the LCA's, which is the cause of a rattle in most KJs ThunderbirdJunkie has worked on.

 

[Wakko]

OK! Got the scoop. Dealer replaced the upper control arms and lower ball joints, along with the sway bar bushings. No links, just bushings. The tech had something out of whack, and that's why it wouldn't align and he thought the other parts were bent. They figured out what was out of whack and got it aligned. It's not quiet when I go over speed bumps. The bracket that was broken and loose wasn't a bracket at all, but the pass airbag light itself was missing one of the mount tabs. Had the service writer told me the correct broken part, I certainly wouldn't have paid them to take 15 seconds to pop out and in the new light. Of course they disconnected the negative terminal and cleared the settings/presets on the aftermarket stereo, but that's more annoyance than anything else. And they fixed the window...again.

Total cost $318 and a sour taste in my mouth about the dealership and quality of the product. :Frustrated:

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

OK! Got the scoop. Dealer replaced the upper control arms and lower ball joints, along with the sway bar bushings. No links, just bushings. The tech had something out of whack, and that's why it wouldn't align and he thought the other parts were bent. They figured out what was out of whack and got it aligned. It's not quiet when I go over speed bumps. The bracket that was broken and loose wasn't a bracket at all, but the pass airbag light itself was missing one of the mount tabs. Had the service writer told me the correct broken part, I certainly wouldn't have paid them to take 15 seconds to pop out and in the new light. Of course they disconnected the negative terminal and cleared the settings/presets on the aftermarket stereo, but that's more annoyance than anything else. And they fixed the window...again.

Total cost $318 and a sour taste in my mouth about the dealership and quality of the product. :Frustrated:

Wow - great example of techs and service writers not communicating very well!

So the KJ is NOISIER over speed bumps than it was before? That's odd - the sway bar bushings frequently get rid of clunks and bangs. Hopefully it tracks straight and true now that everything is aligned. Should feel more secure too if the lower ball joints were actually bad.

Give us an update after you've driven it a while.

Bob