gthbryce

I have Rustys offroad 6.5 short arm. # days ago I replaced my upper drivers side control arm bushing because it was completely torn crooked and was clanking up and down on the stud that goes through it. Problem is, what caused this to happen in the first place? My drivers side bump stop is almost touching the coil spring while my passenger side has like an inch of space. Something must be bent or something and that bushing is bound to get bent out of shape again. Where should I look first?

96_xj

is your axle centered?

do you have an adjustable track bar?

have you pulled te LCA to see if there is maybe an "edge" or "burr" that could tearing the bushing.

I know on mine i had a nice rough spot that just tore them up

gthbryce

Fixed arms. Adjustable Rubicon express track bar. It was not torn through. THe metal bushing inside the rubber was just completely crooked and the rubber was contorted from the axle being crooked I guess. Idk. Does adjusting my track bar change axle centering?

96_xj

okay now I understand better is the axle mount bent at all?

I know mine are after I broke them off the axle and had to reweld them on

gthbryce

does not appear to be at all. However my alignment has been off fro over 3 months. Would an alignment fix all this? My steering wheel is almost completely vertically left to drive straight... lol Do they adjust track bar at alignment shops?

nismo5

thats exactly what it does

i would take a look and see how centered your axle is also is it just one arm that sits crooked ??
im not sure if a alignment shop will touch your track bar but your steering wheel is an easy fix just adjust your draglink till its straight but the alignment shop will take care of that if you get it aligned but its hard to find a good place where people are knowledgeable about lifted vehicles most shops wont touch em around here

gthbryce

You can't tell it sits crooked but from the damage the bushing had it is evident. I had to drive my front axle against a 2x4 and my brothers dodge rams tow bar in order to get the upper control arm hooked back to the axle after the new bushing was pressed in. So technically, it seems the axle is kinda cockeyed front to back not off center. I can't tell by looking at it, i'm just wondering what the possibilities are since my other bushings were and are tight and fine, no play whatsoever.

TheJerm

Take it to a 4x4 shop and have them check it out or start measuring the squareness of the the front suspension