Mudshack

My Jeep rides rough. But then again, all the components are 20 years old. The bushings have got to be replaced. How many of you have replaced all of them yourself? How long did it take? Any special tools?

downs

In my opinion on nearly any XJ with an unknown maintenance history it should be done because most likely it hasn't been done. It's not hard, and I took the "hard" route and didn't buy the control arms with the bushings in them all ready.

You will need a ball joint press tool which you can rent from Auto Zone. I bought one on amazon since they have many uses, and I figured I'd be using it again. I froze the bushings in my freezer overnight and they went into the axle side mounts easily. The axle mounted bushings are the hardest to do. To get them out I've found the easiest way is to drill the rubber out as best you can from around the inner sleeve till it comes out, then use a sawsall to cut the outer sleeve in two spots then they basically fall out.

It can be a time consuming job but there's not much else out there that will make the Jeep feel like a brand new Jeep like this job will.

I decided to not go with the poly bushings and went with MOOG replacement rubber bushings since it's also my DD and I didn't want to increase my ride harshness or make extra suspension noise.

I've done this on 3 different XJs now and IMO it's one of the first things someone should do when they pick up an XJ or MJ and want to rebuild it to a usable condition.

Mudshack

Thanks for the info. Did you buy a bushings kit for the entire Jeep or just stock axle and control arm bushings?

I put on adjustable lower control arms with associated bushings back in 2009. Looking to better the DD ride as it is not a rock crawler. Going to replace the rear springs too.

dzywicki

If you haven't replaced the ball joints, I'd look at that too. Makes a noticeable difference.

I have replaced all bushings on 2 XJs. I used poly for 1 and MOOG clevite rubber for the other. The poly was easier to get back in since I didn't need to press them into the the leaf springs or the control arms. I used a ball joint press to press the MOOG ones in. I have found that an air chisel works well to get the old ones out. Use a drill as downs said and get rid of as much ribber as possible. then I take the air chisel and hit the edge of the metal collar to push it in. Then work it down and it will fall out. I used the air chisel to get the axle ones out too. If you go poly, you will need to reuse the metal sleeve on the passenger side. It will definitely be a few hours per side if everything cooperates. If you do the leaf spring ones, that will be a lot more work to get the front bolt out form the spring eye. The rear took me a lot longer than the front. IIRC, it was a full weekend.

downs

I knocked it all out in a day but I had prior experience with other Jeeps as well. I've also been lucky to have minimal rust inmy XJs and my leaf spring bolts have come out with ease.