Hello all,

Just bought a 98 XJ and I'm relatively inexperienced. I was told by a mechanic friend of mine that I need to replace my control arm bushings. He didn't say which ones, so I'm assuming all of them. I now need to identify exactly which RE kit this Jeep is equipped with in order to buy replacement control arm bushings. The previous owner (whom I am unable to contact) apparently installed a Rubicon Express 5.5 inch short arm lift with drop brackets.

The thing is, there seem to be multiple RE 5.5 inch short arm kits (super-flex, extreme duty, etc). Here are the clues that I have that hopefully help identify this particular kit:
-The control arms are black in color (which is weird, because every RE kit I've seen online has grey control arms). *Maybe* they were painted. Not sure.
-He used add-a-leafs for the rear axle rather than a replacement leaf spring. So I assume this kit that he bought was some RE kit that either came with add-a-leafs, or it didn't come with replacement leaf springs and he added leafs that he bough separately.
-He installed the kit at some point within the last 2 years. I would estimate around 1-2 year ago, no more recent than that. So I'm assuming he also bought the kit within the last 1-2 years. But maybe not. Now that I think about it, maybe he threw it onto this Jeep from an older Jeep he had.

On a side note, it surprises me that control arms that (I'm assuming) came with a brand new RE lift kit and have been wheeled for only around 1 year already require replacement. Maybe these bushings were the old bushings pressed into the newer control arms? Or maybe they were wheeled hard when this lift kit was installed on his old Jeep. Not sure.

So all in all, I'm in a bit of a bind here because I need to know which control arm bushings to order, which I'm assuming depends on which lift kit this is. Or perhaps Rubicon Express bushings are universal across their products? Any guidance would be much appreciated, thank you all in advance. I live in Portland so I'm looking to use this Jeep for some mudding in Browns Camp and riding the dunes in Florence. Can't wait for summer!

 

Upper control arm bushings on the D30 front axle are part of the axle, not the new arms.

Are the upper control arms stock?
I have a RE kit here I took off a parts jeep with black fixed (not adjustable) lowers and the jeep it came on had stock upper arms.

 

Thank you for your response. So I wanted to replace both ends of all 4 control arms, so I guess it would still depend on the control arm type. But it's interesting you say that the upper control arms are likely stock, because I thought all lift kits came with 4 new control arms.

Here are pictures. Perhaps you could help me identify if they are stock or not?

 

Those upper arms are not stock ones.
The lowers I have here are different.
I an not an expert on Rubicon Express Parts ID. All their stuff here came with a parts jeep.

Definitely diagnose and replace whats required, ask your mechanic friend.

 

Bottom arms are the old design RE arms (one piece bushing instead of newer style 2 piece bushing). Cant tell if they are the superflex or super ride arms. Need to see the bushing that goes in the axle on the bottom. If they are the superflex, you can get a rebuild kit for them. Cheap and easy. I can get you part numbers when I get home.