WJ Upper Control Arms on an XJ?

No problems so far with it. I have yet to flex it out on street corners and speed bumps but with the drop brackets I have no clearance issues other than what was necessary to make the longer bushing sleeves fit my application.

Actually the uppers were straight bolt on, no problems. It's the lowers that will fight you.

Fastdemise said:

Actually the uppers were straight bolt on, no problems. It's the lowers that will fight you.

Click to expand...

you didnt have to trim like the pics posted?

1988MJ said:

Got em installed...

I've got to say this upgrade has made a significant improvement in the way the truck steers and handles on the road. The is no more play in the steering wheel before the steering reacts, it is instantaneous (original steering box). Just minute movements of the wheel and it reacts. The whole front end has firmed up significantly, in a good way. Cornering body lean is reduced even further. Awesome upgrade. :rock on: On to the Pics:

Here is a pic comparing the stock arm with the WJ arm, notice the WJ arm is fully boxed. The stock arms measures 15" eye to eye, the WJ arm measures about 14.9". This corrects my caster with my 2" lift over stock, rather than adding spacers to the LCA buckets.

Picture of drivers side upper control arm bucket.

Remove this small amount of sheet metal directly below the bucket. (Cut a mirror image off the passenger side, I used a dremel with reinforced quick connecting cutting wheel)

Size reference.

Thats it, then install the WJ arms. I used a pipe wrench with my jack to help line up the axle side bolts, but a come-along will work too. Do them one at a time.

More pics:

Full Droop, no problems.

:chillin:

Click to expand...

Just out of curiousity, would this trimming be needed if these were to be done on a stock height rig?

bjoehandley said:

Just out of curiousity, would this trimming be needed if these were to be done on a stock height rig?

Click to expand...

I came in here to ask just this question. I have a stock height MJ and I am getting ready to install the lower WJ arms the next weekend that I am not scheduled either Friday or Monday. If the uppers will fit with little or no trimming I'll scrounge a pair from the yard. First. Also, I did not see that anyone cut the bushings on the uppers, so I assume no trimming was needed there.

My MJ is stock height and staying there or lower for a while. But I am very interested in the increased handling, and I have been scouring clunkers at the yard in search of a 28mm swaybar and brackets.

edit: I do not see why the trimming would be necessary. It looks as though it were meant to keep it from hitting when the axle droops on a lifted rig. SO on a stock height truck, especially one that will not see any large amount of articulation, I would think that it would not be necessary. However I sit here anxiously awaiting a response from those who already tried it.

wolfpackjeeper said:

I came in here to ask just this question. I have a stock height MJ and I am getting ready to install the lower WJ arms the next weekend that I am not scheduled either Friday or Monday. If the uppers will fit with little or no trimming I'll scrounge a pair from the yard. First. Also, I did not see that anyone cut the bushings on the uppers, so I assume no trimming was needed there.

My MJ is stock height and staying there or lower for a while. But I am very interested in the increased handling, and I have been scouring clunkers at the yard in search of a 28mm swaybar and brackets.

Click to expand...

I have no plans on lifting or lowering my '98 Limited, but improving the handling even further beyond better shocks and wider tires would be nice, I've even contemplated getting the Addco swaybars depending on how much my tax refund ends up being.

wolfpackjeeper said:

edit: I do not see why the trimming would be necessary. It looks as though it were meant to keep it from hitting when the axle droops on a lifted rig. SO on a stock height truck, especially one that will not see any large amount of articulation, I would think that it would not be necessary. However I sit here anxiously awaiting a response from those who already tried it.

Click to expand...

That is exactly why I asked in the first place!

bjoehandley said:

That is exactly why I asked in the first place!

Click to expand...

I know, and I think the angles would work out just fine on my MJ.

wolf you will have it all apart just try it

the bushings on the UCAs do not need any modification

nice, I flat traded my MJ shackles for some modified lowers a while back, so I just need some uppers to try.

Let me know then Wolf, I'm interested!

Fastdemise, how does it flex?

I just swapped WJ arms into a MJ w/4.5-5" of lift(not quite done over all, I will get exact measurements, photos and caster specs when I finish)

I performed the same modifications as above, triming the 3/4"x1" tab below the uca frame mount, and narrowing the lca bushing bolt sleeve;making sure to not cut flush with bushing, two reasons: A]its not needed, B] metal outer bushing sleeve will rub

PETE M from ComancheClub.com said:

Click to expand...

I found for my lift I was going to run into contact issues as others have posted about, stock/slight lift may not have these problems.

On the frame side UCA mount I ground out the bucket for clearance (removed yellow portion in pic) It ended up being a little more square than is drawn, but you get the idea. I used a straight grinder with a carbide burr.

Outside of plating the entire mount, I don't see an easy way of reinforcing the mount, The minor grinding I did for clearance shouldn't really affect the mount, but only time will tell.

Depending on my exact caster angle, I may move the axle side mounting hole on the arm to gain more angle.



On the axle side LCA mount I had to trim quite a bit out of the mount behind the shock,(again in yellow) by cutting the mount off at an angle it allows the arm to flex up into an arch formed into the plate, from the underside you have to further clearance the flat plate that makes a box out of the shock portion of the mount.

I plan on plating the leading/lower edge of the axle side LCA mount and capping the cut edge.


Another pic from PETE M on ComancheClub.com

Click to expand...

Can the upper control arms be used on either side?
Or is there a left and a right side to them?

The lowers are definitely side specific. I don't know about the uppers.

Here’s a Likely Very Dumb question .... or Frustration: why in the Hell do pics posted become (Unviewable) ? Is it solely because they were posted several years ago ? It really makes me Nuts.

Wouldn’t it be Nice if the SITE ‘Host’ retained (possession) of attachments, once posted, whereby, as long as the site exists, the pics do too ? I know .... I’m “Interweb Ignorant”

1DogRescuer said:

Here’s a Likely Very Dumb question .... or Frustration: why in the Hell do pics posted become (Unviewable) ? Is it solely because they were posted several years ago ? It really makes me Nuts.

Wouldn’t it be Nice if the SITE ‘Host’ retained (possession) of attachments, once posted, whereby, as long as the site exists, the pics do too ? I know .... I’m “Interweb Ignorant”

Click to expand...

Do you realize the size of server it would take?

Storage is cheap, but bandwidth is not. It would cost a *lot* more to host all the images.

I haven't checked but my bet is the images were hosted on photobucket or imageshack and those sites have since either changed their policies or rearranged their hosting structure, breaking the HTML image links used in the post made here.

EDIT: the first few posts have images that work for me but the ones posted by 1988MJ do not work. It looks like his Photobucket account is either dead or was restructured resulting in broken links.

I’m old & not very tech savvy, so No, I wasn’t aware of how all “that” works. Appreciate the clarifications ...