Control arm brackets

family xj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Location
Jacksonville NC
I had a buddy come over today because his Cherokee is messed up. The first problem he had was the shocks had been pulled out from the upper mounts. I can only assume the nuts came off and they pulled out and hit the tire crushing the housing and not allowing them to be reuseable. Worse than that as he was pulling forward it was clicking really bad. Well the u joints in the axle and ds were shot. I pulled the ds and then decided to pull the shafts. He is a poor young guy so I just wanted to get him on the road safely so I pulled out the shafts and proceeded to remove the destroyed u joints. After 2 hours with a sledge hammer, socket and vice I got both seperated and the outer shafts reinstalled. He was happy to be able to drive. So while working on it I noticed the Spring had a bow to it. I started to look closer and found the lower control arm bracket on the axle had been ripped off and rewelded. It was one of the worst jobs I had seen. When they mounted it back on it wasn't even close to the right spot and hangs down 2 inches lower than it should compared to the other side. It has the hole front end messed up. I guess the next project will be to cut it off and reweld it. I just have to get a buddy to help this guy out. I will try to get pics tomorrow. The simple shock replacement ended up taking 3 hours. The lower control arm bracket was done by a local offroad shop. I have heard some bad things about these guys but now I have seen it. I won't spread bad word about the company but I'll post pics soon. Sorry this was so long I just hate to see young people learning getting taken advantage of and it really upsets me so I had to vent. Thanks for reading.

I had to edit this as I don't want anyone thinking it was one of the good shops in the area. That shop that welded on the bracket was Jacksonville Van and 4x4.
 
Hey man, I have the 1/4" thick replacement brackets in stock if you need one. They are really easy to use. Give me a shout if we can help.

Make sure the axle is not bent, lots of times that long side tube gets bent when the axle gets rammed into something. Just make sure there is no problem there.

Andy
 
This Jeep is in bad shape. It has had no maintenance done at all. It needs the O2 sensors so that it might run correctly. We pulled the codes and it had 8 different ones. Once we get that done he needs an inspection sticker by the first or he has to pay the great $250. After that we will look at fixing the axle brackets and all the U-joints. I forgot to get pics tonight as we were in a hurry.
 
Tell him to go get it inspected. It will fail and you'll get another 30 days to fix it before being fined. Just take it back to the same shop and all he'll have to pay for thesecond time is the $6.50 for the sticker. (The first time it'll be 23.50 for the inspection.) but the reinspection is free.
 
Thanks. I am going to tell him that. He said he replaced one of the O2 sensors and there is only one code now. It is still missing really badly though. I don't know why that is. I was told the computer has to relearn the new O2 and that is why it is still missing. i don't believe that though.
 
You do have to reset the computer... I think a simple way is to just disconnect the postive side for 10seconds or something. x2 on what rattle said the fine is a bia
 
I told him to disconnect the battery. And to get it inspected

I also edited my original post and said the shop name so a good shop doesn't get blamed even though the shops i know would never let that leave looking the way it did.
 
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