I rebuilt the entire front end on my jeep this past weekend.
I replaced the ball joints and hubs on Friday, the control arms and bushings on Saturday and the tie rods, drag link and track bar on Monday.
Upon first drive after getting the truck aligned, there was an annoying squeak coming from the kickpanel.
Realizing my bushings are squeaking, I read up on what causes new bushings to squeak. DOH! I tightened the control arm bolts without body weight on the bushing. No biggie, I jacked the jeep up and loosened the bolts, lowered the jeep down on it's wheels and tightened them up.
The squeak is still there the next day when I drive to work.
UGH.
Final diagnosis? Overtorqued control arm bolts. Turns out there's a torque spec for a reason. I tightened them with a 500ft/lbs impact wrench set on 1.
This must have tightened them to somewhere over 200ft/lbs. The ears that clamshell the control arm bushing on the body mount were deformed and bent inward. I had to pry them back apart and reinstall the control arm bolts.
55 ft/lbs for the uppers, 130ft/lbs for the rear.
I've been wrenching for 11 years and I still make the dumbest mistakes. haha.
I replaced the ball joints and hubs on Friday, the control arms and bushings on Saturday and the tie rods, drag link and track bar on Monday.
Upon first drive after getting the truck aligned, there was an annoying squeak coming from the kickpanel.
Realizing my bushings are squeaking, I read up on what causes new bushings to squeak. DOH! I tightened the control arm bolts without body weight on the bushing. No biggie, I jacked the jeep up and loosened the bolts, lowered the jeep down on it's wheels and tightened them up.
The squeak is still there the next day when I drive to work.
UGH.
Final diagnosis? Overtorqued control arm bolts. Turns out there's a torque spec for a reason. I tightened them with a 500ft/lbs impact wrench set on 1.
This must have tightened them to somewhere over 200ft/lbs. The ears that clamshell the control arm bushing on the body mount were deformed and bent inward. I had to pry them back apart and reinstall the control arm bolts.
55 ft/lbs for the uppers, 130ft/lbs for the rear.
I've been wrenching for 11 years and I still make the dumbest mistakes. haha.