The Maintaining and Building of Jan the WJ

[Stotch]

Oh, and most of the spacers I'm finding are for 3" or more, so unless I make my own I'll just be going without.

 

[WJCO]

Yeah, that's a bit more than the $60 I spent :crazyeyes: The bushings I'll have to press in, but the ball joint is in the bracket already. I guess I'll still have to press it into the a-arm though. I've got a little shop press that should work though.

The ball joint pressed into the bracket is how most of them come. You bolt that right onto the rear pumpkin. Then the arm has a tapered bore on it that slides over the ball joint stud, then you put a nut on it from the top. No press needed. A small bottle jack under the pinion yoke helps A TON to line it up and get the ball joint into the arm though. And you will have almost no room up there. Ratchet Wrenches are your friend.

As far as the bushings, yes you will have to press those onto the arm, you will have to pull the arm from the vehicle to do it. Just look at the old bushing positions carefully. They only go one way because the arm flexes one way. Something like this because the center sleeve isn't perfectly round, it's squared off on 2 sides:

Oh, and most of the spacers I'm finding are for 3" or more, so unless I make my own I'll just be going without.

Yeah, they're 100 bucks. You could always get it back on the ground and take a look at the angle and then build one later if it's too steep.

 

[Stotch]

The ball joint pressed into the bracket is how most of them come. You bolt that right onto the rear pumpkin. Then the arm has a tapered bore on it that slides over the ball joint stud, then you put a nut on it from the top. No press needed.

As far as the bushings, yes you will have to press those onto the arm, you will have to pull the arm from the vehicle to do it. Just look at the old bushing positions carefully. They only go one way because the arm flexes one way. Something like this because the center sleeve isn't perfectly round, it's squared off on 2 sides:

Yeah, they're 100 bucks. You could always get it back on the ground and take a look at the angle and then build one later if it's too steep.

Thanks, I figured I'd figure it out once I saw it in person, but it's nice to know ahead of time too! I might have overlooked the positioning of the bushings though. I did find a Mopar ball joint now, it's 52088808AB. If this one fails on me again I'll try that next.

 

[Stotch]

Well, while I'm waiting for parts to come in for the rear A-arm I thought I'd look into the voltage leak some. I hooked up a meter between battery positive and the fuse box and initially it was a 1 A draw (I was like WTF!?) but then it leveled off to about 300 mA. It still seems a little high though. The weird thing is that it seemed to fluctuate from there. Sometimes it would drop down to 20 mA without me changing anything... The only real result I could get was when I pulled the #7 fuse (SKIM/hoodlp) in the cabin JB. Then it would stay consistently low. No lamps seem to be staying on and there is no hood lamp that I can find. The Jeep starts and runs fine so I doubt the SKIM is malfunctioning. I'm planning on taking the battery to be tested too, just because all of this draining may have damaged it a bit. Still no great leads though...

So I decided to plug the OBD scanner and see if it had any info for me. It pulled a trouble code, but I've had no CEL and it was a P0740 (Transmission - Torque Converter Clutch Circuit). So now there's another seemingly unrelated problem. Jan is turning into a real bitch.

 

[WJCO]

Well, while I'm waiting for parts to come in for the rear A-arm I thought I'd look into the voltage leak some. I hooked up a meter between battery positive and the fuse box and initially it was a 1 A draw (I was like WTF!?) but then it leveled off to about 300 mA. It still seems a little high though. The weird thing is that it seemed to fluctuate from there. Sometimes it would drop down to 20 mA without me changing anything... The only real result I could get was when I pulled the #7 fuse (SKIM/hoodlp) in the cabin JB. Then it would stay consistently low. No lamps seem to be staying on and there is no hood lamp that I can find. The Jeep starts and runs fine so I doubt the SKIM is malfunctioning. I'm planning on taking the battery to be tested too, just because all of this draining may have damaged it a bit. Still no great leads though...

So I decided to plug the OBD scanner and see if it had any info for me. It pulled a trouble code, but I've had no CEL and it was a P0740 (Transmission - Torque Converter Clutch Circuit). So now there's another seemingly unrelated problem. Jan is turning into a real bitch.

740 could be related to the actual TC itself or something in the valve body. Being that your cel wasn't actively on, if I were you, i would clear the code and not worry about it too much. Just monitor it for now.

 

[Stotch]

740 could be related to the actual TC itself or something in the valve body. Being that your cel wasn't actively on, if I were you, i would clear the code and not worry about it too much. Just monitor it for now.

Probably good advice. I'm just going stir crazy waiting for the parts to come in I guess.

 

[Stotch]

Alright, made some small progress last night. I got the arm out and the ball joint out. It was totally destroyed.


I got one of the bushings pressed out then the second the center fell through. I've got time to get it out though because the new parts have been delayed until Friday.

 

[WJCO]

That'll do it. Was it hard to get the arm out? I know with rust it can really be a PITA.

 

[Stotch]

That'll do it. Was it hard to get the arm out? I know with rust it can really be a PITA.

It actually wasn't bad. I doubled up a couple of wrenches and they broke loose relatively easy. It probably helps that the only place I've seen significant rust under this Jeep was on the front spring perches.

Getting the ball joint of was a different story. It wouldn't fit in the press with the bracket on it and a ball joint spreader didn't work either. It took three hits with the back side of an 8lb maul to pop it out.

 

[Stotch]

Got everything pressed out and ready. There was a little surface rust so I did a quick grind/sand/paint. Parts are now showing delivery for tomorrow!

 

[WJCO]

Got everything pressed out and ready. There was a little surface rust so I did a quick grind/sand/paint. Parts are now showing delivery for tomorrow!
View attachment 271991

Looks good, mate. Time to put another shrimp on the bar-b.

 

[Stotch]

Looks good, mate. Time to put another shrimp on the bar-b.

View attachment 271994

Good on ya, mate! Nothin' like a day down unda workin' ona boomerang!

 

[Stotch]

Alright, I got her all put back together. The bushings were a bitch. They wouldn't go in 100% straight, but they'll work. I got a little lost in all the pressing in and out and getting the arm back in and didn't take any pictures. Although it does drive better now, that and the ball joint didn't fix the noise in the rear.

It only makes the noise when making a tight turn, I'm thinking it may be a rubbing issue with the larger shocks. I can't find anything else I could be... It has clearance when parked, but it may shift just enough while cornering. I've got some Spidertrax on the way; if those don't fix it I'll do some more troubleshooting.

 

[WJCO]

Glad you got it back together. Any visual rub marks on the rear shocks or sway bar links? You'll be happy with the spacers regardless. Really makes the wj stance look great, IMO.

 

[Stotch]

Glad you got it back together. Any visual rub marks on the rear shocks or sway bar links? You'll be happy with the spacers regardless. Really makes the wj stance look great, IMO.

Not that I could see, but I haven't driven it much yet. I was thinking of putting some chalk on the tire to see if it rubs off anywhere. The sway bar links are inside the shocks, what would they be rubbing against?

Yeah I was planning on getting the spacers either way, hopefully it's a two-birds scenario.

 

[WJCO]

The sway bar links are inside the shocks, what would they be rubbing against?

I'd have to go look, but I recall when I did my lift, the rear sway bar links were rubbing something. It's been a few years.

Edit: It was the shocks, not the sway bar links.

 

[Stotch]

Edit: It was the shocks, not the sway bar links.

That's what I'm thinking (hoping) it is.

 

[Stotch]

Spacers on:

Before

After

Before

After


Unfortunately didn't fix the rubbing/moaning sound. Thinking it may be the lower control arms now. It's driving great though and only makes the sound when cornering hard (think u-turn).

 

[Stotch]

Also 31" tires on order. Guaranteed to not fix the problem, but needed none the less.

 

[BananaJeep]

Just caught up on the progress you've been making with Jan. Hopefully the clunking sound turns out to be an easy fix. What tires did you end up going with?