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10mm or 1/2"

PacificEd

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
Middle Tennessee
I'm thinking about ordering the Iron Rock upper arm flex joint to ensure my front bushing stays put in the differential. It seems to float around some and someone recommended that I use this.

Here is the part: http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/10677.html

Now the question is it better to use the stock 10mm bolts or change over to the 1/2". I have good 10mm grade 12.9 bolts I'm using now but it sure would be easier to find 1/2" grade 8 bolts if I got into a pinch.

Is there any other advantages/disadvantages I overlooking to going with one over the other?

I won an IRO gift certificate and I thought this would be a good use for it.
 
I've got a 1988 Cherokee with short arms. The uppers and lowers are from Rubicon Express. The coils are Rough Country 4.5" lift and I have the 1.75" spacers. Everything sits pretty nice.
 
I wouldn't worry about the bolt size, I would work on getting drop brackets at that height!
 
I've got a 1988 Cherokee with short arms. The uppers and lowers are from Rubicon Express. The coils are Rough Country 4.5" lift and I have the 1.75" spacers. Everything sits pretty nice.

Okay, just wanted to make sure as radius arms are hard on UCA bushings by design.
 
I wouldn't worry about the bolt size, I would work on getting drop brackets at that height!

agreed.....

When I replaced my UCA arms & bushings, I went to the 1/2" bolt...

1) I didn't like the slop between the factory ones & the bushing sleeve
2) the factory flag was damaged, so I had to get new bolts anyway since I couldn't re-use the old ones



.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't worry about the bolt size, I would work on getting drop brackets at that height!

Sorry, I forgot to mention that. I have the Rough Country drop brackets. We chucked the crappy braces and my Father-In-Law fabricated some new ones very similar to Rubicon Express. They tie back to the transmission mount and are gusseted.

The XJ rides and drives really nice with no death wobble or tie wear. The bushing just bothers me since it really isn't seated exactly where it should be. I thought the IRO part might fix that.
 
The only disadvantage, if you call it that, to swapping to a 1/2" joint is that you need to drill your UCAs to 1/2". This really would only be an issue if you ever plan to resell the arms or something if you upgrade to a LA setup.
At the same time, with that setup a 10MM bolt is sufficient, so it's really just a personal preference.
 
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