woo hoo!

Well, that was easy.

Finished off one more of the jobs that needed to be done on the ZJ.

The inner right drag link ball joint (the one that connects the tie rod to the drag link) was shot. It was making ye old standard sucking noises when the wheels were turned and was probably contributing to a bit of road wonder.

Anyhow, The joint came out easier than the stabilizer did. Still used a ball joint press to get it out, but only had to tighten it with the small wrench and hit it once with the BFH.

The trick was putting the new one in without screwing up the alignment.

Took three measurements. One between the bolt and the far wheel tie rod clamp. Transfered the existing tie rod position to the drag link using a carpenters square. And finally measured between the bolt and marked the threads on the new link end.

When I put it back up the whole assembly simply slid into place and all the marks lined up. :) I got lucky the wheels didn't move.

The only thing that pissed with me was the castle nut. On this new ball joint the cotter-pin hole was further down on the shaft and didn't want to clear the nut when it was set to proper torque. It also didn't have a lot of clearance or a bevel. Had to piddle with the hole and one of my round files to get just enough clearance to pound it in.

Next up the track bar and upper/lower control arms. Eventually I'll have to replace the other control bar end and the drag link (the ball joint is part of the whole stinking bar). Probably should have just bought all the parts and did it in one go. But that's too much to mess with right now. :/

Reply to
DougW
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Just got back from a night on the town. :) Several miles of highway and some high sidewinds and absolutly no jittery road feel.. :D

Amazing the improvement. I'm still not fully understanding how a teeny movement can translate to that much road feel. :/

Reply to
DougW

Pretty exciting when just a little thing makes a big thing go away. Good to hear it :)

Reply to
Kate

Just fyi, when you have a castle nut to the proper torque and the hole doesn't line up, it is proper practice to tighten it more until the pin will slide through.

Taking a piece out of the castle weakens it. If it doesn't go onto the bolt far enough to set the pin, you have something wrong, either dirt or a deformed part or the wrong part.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
Reply to
Mike Romain

Yep.. initially set it then gave it a bit more to find the hole. Then gave it a bit more to get to the next hole but that was starting to go too far over the torque spec. The part is correct and the hole/shaft clean so it couldn't be dirt.

Took another look at it and measured against the old one. The castle nuts are the same but the old part has a chamfer around the hole and the hole is just a teeny

Reply to
DougW

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