mikeXJ1020

Brand new 6.5" Rough Country LA lift installed. The Track Bar heim joint seems to be making noise. RC is already sending me a new joint however i took a video to verify if you all think that its the joint seems bad.

Also this is a different differential i bought from someone else and I never ran my old track bar on it. So idk if its my axle or the joint, it looks like the joint but idk take a look.


Please post replies and comments

Thanks,

Mike

freegdr

the whole joint is moving on the mounting bolt gotta love those rc parts

mikeXJ1020

Yeah its like a faulty joint, good thing their sending me a new one for free. They do have pretty good customer service.

freegdr

look like the bolt is to small for the hole in the heim or hole in heim is to big for the bolt one or the other when you first turn the steering the hole joint shifted after that the heim moves back and forth

mikeXJ1020

Right I see that too at the very beginning they give u sort of metal spacer thing that you put in the heim, then the bolt goes through that. I don't really like the whole design of the track bar at all and would a rubber bushing on both ends limit any of the flex? Cuz I would just swap the whole thing out for a different one if I can't get this resolved

outkast

If you want a rubber bushing end like the other end send me your heim and I will send you my rubber bushing end. They suck worse than that hiem does. Good thing is RC will send replacements as often as you need them. I am thinking they switched to this design to try and keep down some of the warranty claims on bushings.

It looks like in that video that it is moving around on the mounting bolt and a new joint will not fix that. You either don't have that joint torqued down right or the mounting hole is oblonged out.

mikeXJ1020

Well I tightened the bolt down really tight and when I watch someone turn the steering the bolt doesn't move the only thing moving is the joint on what they call a heim spacer which is two pieces you put in the joint, I guess I'll take everything out and what is loose but I tighten the crap out of it hmm

lolz_jeep

did you put grease on it? i bet it would be really quiet after that hell i bet wd-40 would help

outkast

If that is indeed what it is no amount of tightening would help. I was just thinking it was moving on the bolt, kinda hard to tell on the video though, or at least for me it is and at 16 seconds it looks like the spacer is moving on the bolt. That spacer should be tighter than a nuns *** in there and is not a "wear" item. The bolt, spacer and inner sleeve of the heim should all stay stationary, while the outer sleeve should only rotate (on both axis.)

mikeXJ1020

Hmmm well now there is two noises coming from the trac bar. It seems the heim spacer is moving on the bolt, and the heim join itself is moving / clunking on the spacer. I took 3 more videos for more aspects. I know this isnt the biggest deal in the world but its a pain to take apart because the jcr steering is in the way.

The first video is the trac bar Frame side, the following 2 are the heim.


(Make the screen full size the Iphone made the videos long and skinny lol)

Thanks,

Mike

mikeXJ1020

BTW this lift kit is brand new and The noise was there since day 1

96_xj

you track bar is on backwards first of all....

heim joint goes in the bracket, rubber at the axle

second your jam nut seems loose... which is causing the joint to roll... (and it being backwards you cannot really get access to the jam nut to tighten it)

third you can see the bolt moving in the in the axle bracket which means it is not tightened down.

if you straiten the Heim Joint, tighten down your Jam nut properly, flip your track bar to where you can access the jam nut properly when needed the noise will go away.

the joint is fine. - user error.

also check your mount (axle side) for a wallowed hole now .... if it is wallowed (which is common to do on a non properly torqued set up) then you need to weld a washer to get a new "round hole again" or drill one offset

mikeXJ1020

Well your wrong the Track Bar is in the correct location according to Rough Country. http://roughcountry.com/install/PERF1689.pdf (page 8)

I set the heim joint ofset with the nut tightened down by hand, and then twisted the trac bar itself to tighten against the nut and straightening itself out, then put it in the bracket.

the bolt for the axle end is very tight, it has the type of threads where you cant really thread it by hand but can with tools (and no its not stripped)

But i will have to check the axle side bolt hole.

96_xj

I will contact RC on that as you want the track bar to have the most clearance during flex, the way you have it set up is that there is no clearance. and with the rubber side at the bottom the bottom of the track bar sitting level with the steering. (mine was also installed using RC instructions that came with the bar)

and again having the heim joint up top you are able to tighten it. because you can see it move in the video's. the fact that your main body can move means the jam nut is not tight..

mikeXJ1020

Hmm well thank you for the pictures if u look at this guys build https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/my...ong-way-44974/ page 7 you will see he has it setup like mine although I have seen a heim joint trac bar setup the way u have it. Deffinetly let me know what you hear from RC or I'll call them I think I might swap it around and see how it is