sturoc

Bought some new front control arms ( ebay part) and when we went to put them in the holes just didn't line up.
the arms look to be a few mm longer than originals, enough to not fit.
Any methods for doing this replacement?
The GC was up on a lift and my mech had 2 jacks under the Diff.
and was trying to replace one arm at a time.

93gc40

Are you sur ethe arms are for a ZJ,XJ or TJ. Anyway it's alot easier to do both sides at the same time, with the axle on the ground, or at least free to move around.

lliamsdad

I did mine with all 4 tires on the ground. Used a bottle jack between the lca mount and the axle to push the axle forward. Worked like a dream.

sturoc

Was wondering about the 'on the ground ' method seem to recall this technique somewhere.
As stated before the diff was on jacks, ZJ was high up on the lift so we could work comfortably on it.
The parts seller listed them as Grand Cherokee 93-98 -
I thought some things changed after the 1997 ZJ ?
A little suspect on their years description now.

ZeeJay95

our lift kit came with control arms and since the Jeep was on a hydraulic lift for the install we had to muscle things into the alignment with straps, prybars and manpower.

ol"blue

As stated, you just have to muscle them into alignment and get the bolts in. When it's on a lift, or lifted up with a floor jack, the front axle wants to go rearward, and the the rear axle wants to go forward. Just put it where it needs to be, get the bolts in, and that should be it. Then measure and adjust the trac-bar (if adjustable) to get the axle centered under the vehicle side-to side.

sturoc

So maybe the method is to do it on the ground then the diff doesn't drift out of lining up things? Although I can see issues with working space then.
We were using pry bar and ratchet strap to try and get them in but it was getting late I said 'screw it ' just put the old ones back .
I still have the new ones.

ol"blue

If the old ones went in when you couldn't get the new ones in I'd measure the length (bolt hole to bolt hole) and compare the new versus old, to verify the correct new part.
Otherwise it may be easier on the ground as you stated. Doing 1 at a time.

sturoc

Thanks Ol Blue for the reply.
I am halfway across the country far from my ZJ now, so measuring has to wait.
But I can tell you that I took the old and new one and matched them up side by side and the new one was slightly longer by a few mm's.
Also there seemed to be a slight bend in new one that also hindered proper lining up of the bolt holes too.
It was a small battle to line up the old ones but we did get it.