Tie my Jeep and you just might die!

[Stu Olson]

[rant on]

OK....so the shop that did my last front end alignment came highly recommended by many of the local VJC club members (and even a couple of close personal friends).

The short story was they never got my death wobble fixed because I discovered the stripped track bar bolt on the recent Rubicon trip.

However, during the process of trying to rid my Jeep of the wobble demon, they went through and tightened the control arm bolts, etc.

Well, to make a long story short, the more I thought about it, the more I kept worrying about the control arm bolts up front. So I went over to my friend's house this morning to loosen them up and then torque them down to spec (as I had originally done in March when the lift was installed).

I had to borrow his 2' long breaker bar to ket the lower arm frame bolt off. I couldn't manage it with my 18" bar that I carry in my tool bag. When I got to the other side's frame bolt, I couldn't budge it. I gave up and asked Alan for a 1/2" impact gun. He has a nice assortment of Snap-On air tools driven my a 220V compressor (30 gallon tank @ 150 psi).

I put an 21mm impact socket on the gun, and put the lean onto that stubborn nut. After 1+ minutes, it started to loosen up, and then finally spun off. I couldn't believe it. I seriously doubt we coulde have removed that on the trail....unless my breaker bar would have held with a hi-lift handle as a lever extension.

Bottom line.....new rule.....if you touch my Jeep, you better flippin' know what you are doing else I will beat you severly with a bent control arm!


Last comment.....the folks at the fab shop were the ones responsible for cross-threading the 5/8" grade 8 bolt that holds my RE front track bar in place. (that was the one I replaced during the Rubicon adventure)

Really, how stupid (and mechanically challenged) do you have to be to cross thread a bolt that big?

I guess I am going to have to learn and do some of those other things because I am about at the point where I don't trust anyone else with my Jeep....and I am sad to say that too.

[/rant on]

http://www.stu-offroad.com

[This message was edited by Stu Olson on August 24, 2001 at 11:58 AM.]

[Robert J. Yates]

Know Whatcha Mean there Stu. I was crawling around under my Jeep with the intent of isntalling some RE uppers before the Rubicon trip and I found that my cam bolts were welded in place by the shop that installed my transfer case with the Teralo. Needless to say, that little step would have made removal of the upper amms a very remote possibility on the trail at best. As far as all the stuff being super tight, if you needed an impact gun to take it off, most likely it was put on with one - seems the tire monkeys have moved their technique to the suspension monkeys

98 TJ Sport
D44ARB/D30Detroit/Teralow/Swampers
www.geocities.com/yatezess/

[Stu Olson]

-

[Scott Hill]

I now know why I feel if you cant do it yourself LEARN HOW after hearing this story and the ZJ incident. I now have proof behind what I always thought try and do the work yourself or have a friend show you. You and your friends will be a lot nicer to your rig than anyone else.

Plus this way you know how to fix it when you break it.

a little TJ with a few mods check her out at www.real-jeeps.com

[sethmark]

NEVER let anyone else work on your Jeep. Its never good enough.

I haven't brought mine in for service, except to have the gears done and the cracks in the header fixed, ever.

At least then you know bolts are tight and the Jeep is safe.

Bruised, Battered and Broken: Tightey Whitey World

[TJRON]

Stu,
Do you still have death wobble? Did the track bar fix it?
Ron

[Stu Olson]

Ron,

Once I put the new bolt in place (track bar frame end), my death wobble was history. I was able to drop the settings on my RS-9000 a notch too. (I found that for me, the lighter the shock setting, the worse the wobble was.)

So, my front end is once again happy and doing just fine. I also have a spare track bar bolt in the toolbox (just in case!)


http://www.stu-offroad.com

[TJRON]

Good deal Stu! We have some death wobble experts on this forum that are always willing to help.
It seems the world's buisiness' are being run by incompetents and morons these days.
I measured my toe the other day from zerk to zerk and came up with 52", might come in handy some day. I was wondering what others might have?
Ron

[mrblaine]

51 and 3/4" c to c of the grease zerks

It is not who you know, It is who knows you
Jeeps do not make jeepers, jeepers make Jeeps.