I bought a 2000 WJ about 2 months ago and before I go home to DE (I live in Michigan, about 20 mi north of Detroit) I decided to take it to a mechanic to get a noise coming from the rear checked out (turned out to be axle bearings, but they are not bad)

but after the inspection I asked them to do, they found the control arms are rusted badly and could fail "if you hit a pothole wrong", they gave me a total estimate of 2,000 for the lot of it (I paid 3k for the Jeep), 1300 for the control arms alone.

Most of that is labor and I think I could do it myself. since there is not much time between now and christmas I was thinking of driving a rented car home and when I get back try to make it through the winter and in the summer when I'm driving the Camaro I can slowly fix the control arms.

Since even a simple job like the shocks were difficult with rusted components, should I just get it done at that or another mechanic, or take my chances on the bad arms and wait for winter to be over?

 

Welcome to CF!

Rear lower control arms are usually what rust out first. The triangular upper one is usually stronger and the ball joint mount is the first thing to get bad on it.

Rear lower control arms range from $30 to $60 each complete with bushings at rockauto.com and it takes about an hour to install on a lift with air tools. There are only 4 bolts that need to be removed, but they sometimes can be rusted to the bushing sleeves. My WJ was wagging it's tail before I did mine and was so much better that I went ahead and bought the rest of them. That cost me about $300 in parts and 6 hours labor because of some rusted bolts on the front arms. If you wind up doing the front uppers, they have separate bushings on the axle ends that must be put into the axle brackets first. That's where we ran into trouble with mine. Trying to remove one, it crushed and had to be burned out.

 

Thanks! Don't have a lift but I do have air tools. The question for me is how long I'd wait until I do them, or if I'm brave enough to take a 1200 mile road trip on them. On Monday I'd like to take a look at it on the lift to see if the mechanic is just being dramatic or if they are close to breaking.

 

Take a very good look as if one did break the damage it could do to the WJ/you or others on a 1200 mi. trip. Plus the cost of towing and repair on the road.

 

This is a true thing he has said. When my WJ started weaving in the back, it was only worn out bushings. Those control arms are the only thing holding the rear axle under the jeep. Every time you hit the gas, those control arms are pushing on the body, driving it down the road.