This project was a bitch to photograph. Not too many pictures because of the extremely close ranges and cramped conditions of the subject matter. What wasn't shown was the rear bolt for the rear UCA (Upper Control Arm) that had been put in from the outside at the factory. Backing it out was a minor challenge because it slid out but stopped when it encountered the coil spring! Because of the age and relatively poor condition of the original UCA, I was able to get enough flex in everything to be able to drift the bolt out with a hammer and smaller bolt. But I sure as Hell wasn't going to put it back together that way! The bolt went back on from the INSIDE, with a new nut on the outside. Zorba's Jeep
Rear Upper Control Arms & Frame Drain Holes
Old rear upper control arm in place - passenger side.
Old (top) and new Moog control arms.
Hit bolts and nuts with some "red lead" primer.
Control arm needed some pre-load - bolt didn't want to go through!
Needed a prybar to get things to align. Top was too long, next down was too short, one below
that was probably ok lengthwise - but too skinny, brand new bottom one was juuuust right!
Now the bolt is in! New nut was a leftover from the rear swaybar link replacements. See text.
New upper control arm in place.
Composite photo showing the driver's side rear UCA, swaybar link, and part of the LCA.
Starting to go nuts with "red lead" primer when ever I'm under here!
Jacked up and drilling drain hole for rear of frame, see text.
Front Lower Control Arm bracket (right) and existing drain hole in front.
Fine sand, fine gravel, and if you look closely, you'll see the metal shavings
from drilling the rear drain hole. This was washed out of the frame after drilling.
Next day: Jacked up to drill the other side.
Immediately after flushing: more sand and fine gravel from the new drain hole.
And quite a bit from the existing, front drain hole as well!
Mercedes ended up being parked temporarily where the Jeep normally lives!However, getting the new UCA into place wasn't as easy as I had hoped, I needed to apply a bit of pre-load to get it to bolt up, and none of the pry bars I had were the correct length - or width! As seen in the above picture, a new pry bar was purchased at the nearby Ace Hardware which was perfect for the job. Correct length, and its considerable width allowed me to push on the main part of the UCA and get it to shift over enough to get the bolt on the other end to drop in. Pushing on the rubber bushing part of the UCA with a skinny pry bar accomplished exactly nothing because it didn't move anything! The above picture shows how the bolt didn't want to come through the hole in the rear mounting bracket.
Installing the driver's side UCA went a bit faster as I knew what I was doing, plus no pre-load was needed to get it to bolt up. I didn't even remove the tire, and the coil spring wasn't in the way of the afore mentioned bolt on this side.
Then I drilled a drain hole in the frame on each side as per recommendations on the Jeep forum - and had to jack the Jeep up fairly high in order to get the drill to fit under it! Later model TJs with manual transmissions already have a suitable drain hole near the front LCA (Lower Control Arm) bracket, so I just had to drill a hole near the rear LCA bracket. I then flushed the frame out with water with the results as seen in the above picture. Looked like something from a gold pan, except the "color" was silver, the shavings from the drilling operation. "Red Lead" primer was then applied to the holes once everything dried out.
Speaking of holes in the frame, these "CAPLUGS" will block the 4 largest of them...
...that are placed just right to admit all kinds of detritus and water into the frame.
Turns out, the mallet was un-necessary for installation, and they're easily removed if need be.Read on for the next part!
Lost?
Site Map
Copyright and Terms of Use
Home
