I am going to rebuild my Jeep's suspension but only to stock levels.


What is a good bushing to use and where do I get them?


Are the springs that are sold at O'Reilly or AutoZone any good or is it best to get them from Chrysler?


Who sells the best front end parts such as ball joints and tie rod ends?


Thanks for your help

 

Not really sure about the coils, but I would buy Moog parts for the bushings, tre's, ball joints, and u-joints.

Most people will agree that Old Man Emu has some of the best coils, but they're aftermarket and probably more expensive. There's many more options out there, also.

 

RockAuti is best for Stock style parts. You get what you pay for, and even the cheapest at RA is often better than most of the expensive stuff at the local CHAIN parts house. Springs is springs, when it comes to stockers.

FWI I just redid my front end bushings (Control arns and trackbar), ball joints and damper for $170 at RA.

 

Thanks for the 411 on RA. I have never heard of them but I will be checking them out a lot.

 

MOOG or Spicer.

Spicer is what came from the factory for steering ball joints u-joints.

Federal Mogul makes MOOG and is likely to be what you'll get from NAPA and some of the other retail stores. As an example, I bought sway bar bushings from NAPA and they were exactly the same as the MOOG except the MOOG bushings were blue and the NAPA bushings were black. Same stamp marks and numbers on the bushings.

MOOG used to be the best. Now people are starting to complain about parts made in China and having them fail within a few thousand miles. When I bought my MOOG ball joints last year they were still U.S.A. Maybe old stock, or maybe the Chinese stuff is for import vehicles.

One problem with Rock Auto is that if the parts come defective or wrong, you can't just go back to the local store and put them on the counter. Sometimes the premium price for the retail counter is worth it. Depends on your personal preference.

For steering tie rod ends, track bar, and bushings I'd buy MOOG. For ball joints and u-joints I'd buy Spicer. You can buy the Spicer stuff on Amazon. Most local parts houses will not have the life series u-joints like the ones that came on our Jeeps.

 

Don't just replace the bushings, replaced the whole arm with Moog replacements from Rockauto or your local parts store. You run the risk of damaging the wimpy sheet metal control arm when you atempt to press the old bushings out and the new ones in.

 

Yes, and expect grief from them if you have to return a part. I just had to eat some shipping on some things because they sent me the wrong parts.


RA is great when everything goes perfectly. If there's a problem with an order, well, suddenly it's not so great anymore.

 

What is a really good shock or what is a really good gas shock.

 

What kind of roads will you travel mostly?

 

KYB Gas-A-Just are a good choice for the money.

 

Mostly roads and highways but on occasion the hills here in the Ozarks.

 

So I'm guessing that,like me,your running unimproved roads to. Those KYB's Bb suggested are good shocks. I've run them on my vehicles since the early 80's and never had one fail. I put a set of their Excel-G's on my wife's Blazer and have set of their Monomax on my XJ.

http://www.shockwarehouse.com/index....cted_year=1996