gbkd80

I have a question about replacing the majority of my front end.

I recently went ahead and replaced my track bar, sway bar bushings and sway bar links with Moog parts. I also swapped out my crummy torn-up steering wheel with a decent one I pulled at the junk yard. The job itself took me way longer than it should have, and I broke weld-nuts in the process. I had to use a Rivnut tool and replace the broken weld-nut in the frame for one of the bushings, broke a weld-nut on the frame hard mount that the track bar attaches to, and I had to remove the hard mount anyway to get the track bar off as the castle nut was just frozen on and nothing but a vise, Dremel, and big sledge would get that thing out. So...

Front end feels better than it did; not going to say great but, it's a definite improvement in the roll I felt. I know it needs an alignment, and part of me feels it would be dumb to not just replace all the tie rods and stuff prior to the alignment. The big question is, do I have to go Moog? I like wrenching on this thing but I want to be careful buying parts that may be cheaper and of comparable quality. I'm also thinking of getting a Cure added to the drag link.

I was surprised to see that Amazon has the Moog parts for half of what Advance sells them for, even with the discounts they provide. So they're still cheap enough, but could I go even less without worrying? And does anyone know specific part numbers for the "equivalent" pieces? I'm talking drag link, all tie rod ends, (sleeves are probably fine) and steering stabilizer.

PatHenry

Can you go with cheap parts - yes. Will they last as long as more quality parts - no. If you plan on keeping the Jeep for a few more years and don't want to be doing the job again, buy decent parts. If you don't think you'll have it a year from now and are willing to risk a bad "out of the box" part or two, you're probably fine to go with more inexpensive parts.

gbkd80

Thanks Pat, I'm hoping to keep it as long as it will go until it gives out... at 180k it's still young for a 4.0L (as I'm told) and it's a hobby as well, so I'm fully prepared to buy better quality parts... I just didn't want to fall into one of those discussions where someone says "you know, you could have gotten all 4 for the price of 1" or something like that. I think as of right now I'm looking at $140 from Amazon on all the Moog parts (minus the stabilizer link)...

PatHenry

I've heard the Moog isn't what it used to be discussions, but nobody that has raved about any cheap alternative.

Rockauto has the Moog at a good price and they ship SO much faster than Amazon's standard shipping.

Really though - considering how important these components are, isn't even 140 really a bargain when you think about it?

gbkd80

Oh god, of course it is. I'm only checking... I placed my orders. Thanks Pat

downs

MOOG is alright. You've started in the right direction but you probably need to go a bit further and just do a full suspension rebuild with that kind of mileage. I'm talking what you've done already, plus control arm bushings, shocks, possibly ball joints and TREs if they are showing wear. I guarantee the control arm bushings are probably shot all to hell with that kind of mileage if they are original.

gbkd80

I'm not sure if they are original but my guess would be yes, I think it would be more cost-effective for me to just do the arms themselves at that rate, no?

PatHenry

It's certainly easier to do the whole arms and they're not very expensive.
I recently did mine - the tough part on the lowers was the bolts were frozen with rust. I had to cut 3 of the 4. Again, not hard, but you want bolts ahead of time and they may be hard to find at the local Ace Hardware. I ordered 4 new mopar bolts at about $6 each.
The uppers require pressing out the axle side bushings with a ball joint press. I didn't replace these bushings on mine since the old ones were in good shape and it's reportedly a PITA to deal with the axle bushings.
The main trouble I had with the uppers was the passenger side wouldn't line up - it seems the axle twisted enough that no amount of jacking would get the holes to line up. I ended up using a come-along on the old rusty hitch (the rear axle has a brake line that I didn't want crushed) and it bent the whole hitch.

I used the higher end Moog arms for both.. they're nice and solid and use high quality bushings. I highly recommend them. They were roughly $30 each - so $120-ish for all 4.

PatHenry

Also, if you're cutting off the lowers you want a lot of sawz-all blades since the rubber really gums them up quick.

downs

Whole new arms may be worth it in your case since you have a lot of rust it sounds like. I reused my arms since I needed to get the axle side bushings out anyway and I have very little rust, and a set of bushings is cheap enough compared to whole new arms that it saved me 30 to 40 dollars or so. I'd prefer not to skimpthe axle side bushings even if they work fine. They are more difficult than the arms but not near as hard as they could be, or that some people make them out tobe, and what's the point of going though all the trouble of rebuilding the front suspension if you're going to leave 20+year old bushings in parts of the suspension?

For the axle side bushings you can press them out or you can cut them out. I drilled the rubber out around the inner sleeve then used a sawsall to cut the outer sleeve in two different places and then it just fell out with a light whack of the mini sledge, took about 30 mins to do both uppers this way but I haven done this in the past. For reinstall i put the new bushings in the freezer overnight then drove them home with the mini sledge with no issues. You will need to use a socket for a spacer or make one for the passenger side mount since it's just stamped steel and is not boxed and will bend when using the press to drive it out or in.

You can get a balljoint press tool on amazon for 40 to 50 dollars and it's one of those tools that are invaluable to have on the shelf it makes a lot of little jobs a lot easier and less frustrating.

PatHenry

To be clear, I would NOT advise skipping the axle side bushings.

In my case they were not original and both my trusted tire shop and a Jeep specialty shop inspected them and found them to be good, so it wasn't worth wasting the effort to replace them. My primary need to replace the uppers was due to one of the arms being bent (barely bent and then only on the edge...) and just because I had done the lowers and needed an xmas gift idea and couldn't think of anything else..

downs

Gotcha I've seen people leave those in before because of the difficulty of getting them out that's why I mentioned it. If you can make a reasonable determination they are good then I guess no big deal but I would still be tempted to replace them if I had no idea on age.

dzywicki

I have redone the control arm bushings on two XJs (98 and 99). On the first one, I replaced all the bushings with poly. On the second, I used MOOG rubber/clevite (since I expect this one to see offroad use pretty regularly). I reused the control arm on both replacement. The two most valuable tools for the job are a ball joint press and a compressor with an air chisel. The air chisel makes quick work of getting the old bushings out. I used a combo of the air chisel and press to get the axle bushings out. You have to get the lip of the bushing sleeve to start caving in and then it come out pretty easily. I used the ball joint press to get the new bushings in and was definitely needed to get the axle bushings in. I typically rent the ball joint press, but would be handy to own one since it can be used for several different jobs including ujoints.

firebane

Passenger side isn't too bad to do and comes out pretty easy... but holy god the left side? What a damn pain in the ***.

You can use a ball joint press for the right side but I would look at fabbing up some all thread rod, washers and a few nuts for the left side.

downs

Drill out the rubber, sawsall the outer sleeve in two spots. Freeze new ones over night in freezer. Pound in with mini sledge. Removal takes about 30 mins for both that way.