whiteagle

Sorry to post a question right after joining, but I'm kinda in a tough situation. My wife has a '99 and we're out of state visiting family. Tonight I was borrowing it. When leaving a parking lot that had a dip between it and the road, this part broke. We're in the Tennessee mountains and whenever it's headed downhill, the front wheel rubs the wheel well. I'd have searched, but I don't even know what it's called. I'm fairly comfortable with engines and can do body work just fine, but suspension isn't my strong suit. I've never welded anything that mattered this thick, but she's got family in the area that is supposedly good at welding. If I get it towed off the mountain it's on, is this something that can just be welded back together?

This view is from the passenger side just behind the front wheel looking forward. Bad quality, but all I had was a flashlight and a little video camera.

EndlessMtnFab

That is your Lower Control Arm (LCA) mount.


That particular piece is beyond help. Your best best is to call as many 4wd shops as you can find in the area (or beyond) to purchase a new bracket. I sell them from Rubicon Express (among other manufacturers). But I would have no way of getting it to you fast enough. Your best hope is that someone has one (or two) in stock.


Or maybe a fellow XJ member from this board or some other one has a pair they can sell you to get you home while they order a new set on monday.


It's not the end of the world ... but it's a major PITA when you're miles from home.


Good luck.


Joe

mike37

you will need to replace the entirer bracket
but if you need to get it home and trust the welder just weld it back in place

then deal with it

RedBaron

Weld that badboy up. Then weld a couple pieces of bar stock to the outside of the bracket to bridge the first weld. Be sure to inspect the entire frontend for other issues. Heck inspect the rear also. RB

nw-xj-scott

whatever you do, do not drive it till its fixed

4.3L XJ

I would weld it enough to get back home and then replace the bracket.

whiteagle

Thanks for all the help. I picked up a few simple tools at Harbor Freight with hopes that if I could get it back to normal a bit, then I could rent a gas powered welder and fix it enough to get it home. What I didn't know is that the side you can't see in the picture was bent way worse than this side.

So I had it towed off the mountain to my brother-in-law's house. No local shops around had a replacement bracket. A friend from home happened to be up there as well, so I rode back with him. I bought some brackets from here, and I'll head back up there this weekend with my welder and tools to install them.

I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

Thanks again for all the help.

winston427

What part of the TN are you in?

a1racer

rustys sells them ballistic fab sells them so does Rubicon express or you can try a fab shop some carry brackets like this i know one near me does but it is cheaper to go through the others but you will have to wait for it a little longer

a1racer

ok i see you already have them just bring a grinder with a few different things like cut off wheel flapper wheel and grinding stone and a few hammers a strap to hold it in place and is it stick or wire welder

whiteagle

I live south of Atlanta, but my wife's family and the Jeep are all in Chattanooga. I've got a brother-in-law that used to live in Lebanon, but he's in Nashville now off Harding Place.

Yeah, I've already ordered the parts. Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like the Rubicon Express ones are specifically for Jeeps with a lift kit and you have to install cam bolts if you don't have a lift kit. I went with these because of price, the supposedly stock shape, and the 1/4" steel part is nice too. It's going to be this weekend before I can get back up there anyway, so the wait isn't a huge deal.

whiteagle

I hadn't really thought much about it until just now. Anything special I need to do or any type of technique to make sure everything is lined up right when I go to weld on the new ones? I figured I'd measure where the stock ones are along the axle to get the side to side portion right. If I mount the new ones on the LCA before welding, will that be enough to get the rotational position (for lack of a better term) on the axle right?

Thanks again for all the help.

a1racer

make sure to do one side at a time to keep the caster good and scribe where the first one was so you can line up the new one to weld or use the other side to measure off of to get the right location you don't want to mess this up to much of the heep will not ride right when you are done