BuffaloBill
Well-Known Member
I installed the lower control arms sold with the Mopar lift kit today. There’s a lot of discussion on this topic in the general section; I thought I’d mention it here amongst my fellow diesel owners.
As others have said, these LCAs are about 1/4” longer than the standard ones, and are an inexpensive means of increasing caster. I didn’t attempt to measure caster before and after, but other people report ending up with 6 degrees or a bit more, when installed on a Rubicon with no lift kit.
The installation was really simple. I did it with the front wheels on typical ramps, removing one LCA and replacing it with the longer one before removing the other. It didn’t fight me at all. With the Jeep on the ramps, the front axle seemed to naturally move forward a bit as I removed the first bolt on the factory LCA. I used ratchet straps to pull the front axle forward, when tightening the bolts, trying to take advantage of any slop in bolt holes to maximize the increase in caster. Having it up on ramps made it easy to brace a foot when pulling on the torque wrench to the 190lbft spec. As reported, 13/16” and 15/16” sockets fit the bolt and nut very snuggly.
I took it for a drive down the highway and back just now, trying hard not to fall victim to the placebo effect! I’m certain it made an improvement in how it tracks down the road. I believe it does a better job of ignoring the little differences in road slope where the majority of traffic travels, the rain grooves I guess people call that. It didn‘t drive terribly before but it’s better imo now; a bit less vague feeling.
My Jeep is otherwise stock, except for 315/70/17 KO2, Method MR313 +25mm wheels, and tazer.
The longer LCAs are part number 68322798AA.
As others have said, these LCAs are about 1/4” longer than the standard ones, and are an inexpensive means of increasing caster. I didn’t attempt to measure caster before and after, but other people report ending up with 6 degrees or a bit more, when installed on a Rubicon with no lift kit.
The installation was really simple. I did it with the front wheels on typical ramps, removing one LCA and replacing it with the longer one before removing the other. It didn’t fight me at all. With the Jeep on the ramps, the front axle seemed to naturally move forward a bit as I removed the first bolt on the factory LCA. I used ratchet straps to pull the front axle forward, when tightening the bolts, trying to take advantage of any slop in bolt holes to maximize the increase in caster. Having it up on ramps made it easy to brace a foot when pulling on the torque wrench to the 190lbft spec. As reported, 13/16” and 15/16” sockets fit the bolt and nut very snuggly.
I took it for a drive down the highway and back just now, trying hard not to fall victim to the placebo effect! I’m certain it made an improvement in how it tracks down the road. I believe it does a better job of ignoring the little differences in road slope where the majority of traffic travels, the rain grooves I guess people call that. It didn‘t drive terribly before but it’s better imo now; a bit less vague feeling.
My Jeep is otherwise stock, except for 315/70/17 KO2, Method MR313 +25mm wheels, and tazer.
The longer LCAs are part number 68322798AA.
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