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Bent LCA Bracket Bolts - Source/Tricks?

J

jnewell

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Eastern Mass.
Inspection station idiot bent one of the LCA bracket bolts on my 2000 XJ. I assume that replacement is straightforward - remove the LCA rear bolt, remove the bracket to the front of the Jeep, then replace bracket and fasteners?

Bigger issue is finding the part. It looks like it's discontinued from the factory. I found a couple of sources. Do I need to worry about Chinese pot-metal knockoffs? Any opinions on TeamCherokee.com or Parts.com?

Many thanks as always.
 
What does inspection have to do with the LCA bolts? I'm confused.
 
Well, that explains it. Is it just the bolt that's bent, or the bracket?

We are talking about the frame-side bracket, right?
 
Rob Mayercik said:
Well, that explains it. Is it just the bolt that's bent, or the bracket?

We are talking about the frame-side bracket, right?
Click to expand...

Thanks, Rob. Explains it, sort of. I didn't see it happen, but the only person other than me who's had a jack under the vehicle for years is the guy who did the last inspection, and it wasn't bent before. It was inspected almost a year ago so it's too late to go back and have a conversation about it.

So, yes, it's the frame-side bracket. Not the bracket on the frame, but the bracket that slips inside that. And it's just one of the bolts that's bent, not the bracket itself. Googling this turns up some pretty tough pictures of vehicles that must have landed on a rock and bent the whole bracket, including the frame-mounted bracket.

The FSM doesn't even mention replacing the inner bracket/mount. It mentions adding shims to adjust caster, and refers to this part for R&Ring the LCA. Probably because it's hard to imagine needing to replace it.

Honestly, I think it's just a cosmetic issue (as long as I don't need to adjust caster) but it bugs me.

The TeamCherokee part is $12. The Parts.com part is $41. The price difference makes me wonder about the quality of the TC part. This part doesn't seem like it does anything more than hold the shims in place, but still...

To R&R the bracket, it seems like removing the rear LCA bolt and dropping the LCA should allow you to loosen the two rear bracket bolts and take the bracket and shims out of the frame bracket frontwards. But if anyone's ever done this and has any tips, I'm all ears.
 
Hmm. Wonder if that's the sort of thing that a 4x4 shop might have in the "cast-off pile" from converting XJs/TJs to longarm suspensions? (which generally involve cutting the LCA mounts off the frame to clear the longarms)

Biggest worry I see about trying to pull the existing one out is how rusty those two bolts are, especially bolts like these that disappear into captive nuts inside the frame rails. if they're anywhere near as bad as the ones that hold the front ends of the leaf springs in, I'd wager that trying to get those out could easily turn into a nightmare.

While I do understand the OCD aspect of "knowing it's bent is bothering me" (heaven knows I get that way some times), if the truck takes an alignment without issue and doesn't have any funny handling characteristics (in other words, you wouldn't know it's bent just by driving it, you have to climb under and look at it), I'd be inclined to leave well enough alone for now.
 
You may well be right. There are zero issues functionally. The only possible issue would be problems if you had to adjust the caster setting, which just isn't going to happen, at least not unless you change the lift (this one is factory). So leaving it alone may be the money bet...
 
Jim Malcolm said:
https://comancheclub.com/topic/18223-lower-control-arm-alignment-shoe/
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the part. The issue is that it's discontinued from the factory and such an odd part that no one seems to have any NOS. I found the two mentioned above. If I were going to do this, I have doubts about a $12 part when the factory retail was something like $60. Don't need pot metal parts in my suspension... Then again, there's always the junk yard. It's not like this is a wear part.
 
Unless you need some alignment adjustment, I'd let them ride as is. It won't hurt anything.

If you absolutely need to fix them, remove the bent bolt by cutting then drilling it out. Install a new bolt, with a low profile nut to hold it in place, or you can tack weld it.
 
While I don't disagree with Ivan one bit (leave it alone unless you need to), the $12 Omix Ada part is a legit part. You can buy them from Team Cherokee if you're concerned about finding a legit vendor. Just another example of the stealerships raping the average Joe.
 
Jim Malcolm said:
While I don't disagree with Ivan one bit (leave it alone unless you need to), the $12 Omix Ada part is a legit part. You can buy them from Team Cherokee if you're concerned about finding a legit vendor. Just another example of the stealerships raping the average Joe.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Jim.

I think my conclusion here is that I'll buy the part from the lower cost vendor and warehouse it in case I change my mind about R&Ring the bent one, but I don't think I'll do it unless some good reason comes up - like, possibly, selling the Jeep. Nah, never happen... ;)
 
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