Big driving improvement after LCA swap

[WagzDad]

Just did my LCA swap. I pretreated with kroil yesterday and was not tough to get loose. Getting to 190 ft-lb on the ground was tough for the front 2. I did the initial work on ramps. I used a ratchet strap to coax the second LCA to align ...probably less than the 1/4” length change.

I took it for a 10 mile winding drive and a brief stint on the interstate at 65 and seems to run tru. It also is more cooperative centering up following a turn. I crossed a couple Rough RR tracks, straight and diagonal and did not feel like the Feedback had changed.

My pre and post measurements indicate that the change added 2 degrees on a stock JLUR. Ended at 6.7+/- . I used the camber bubble 40 degree rollover Method to measure.
I plan to add 0.75” spacer to the front for sag correction in the near future. One change at a time.

I work slow. It took me a little over an hour, maybe 90 minutes. Younger and more agile hands will complete in 45-60 minutes.

FWIW I weighed the new bars and they are almost 2# heavier (each) than the stock version.

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[dpike]

did mine today as well. i used an 1/2" battery impact gun and box wrench and it went well with no real issues. i didn't use official ramps, but 2 2x6s stacked gave me a little more room under. it took about an hour total, the biggest pain in the ass was re torquing the bolts, but thats pretty much to be expected.


*edit*
ok.. so this is a 2020 LJUR.. i didn't tell my wife i did anything to the jeep, and pulled a "lets take the dog for a ride" thing to see if she felt a difference. about a mile from the house she looked over at me and said "what'd you do to it?" i smiled and answered about the longer LCAs and how bla bla bla, pretty proud that she was going to be happy with it. she let me finish and then said "i hate it, put it back to how it was" and then proceeded to tell me how big the dead spot was now and how there was too much slack and freeplay in the steering now. when we got home i made noise in the garage for half an hour re torqued everything up, then recruited her for another ride. a mile down the road she looked at me and said "you didn't put the old ones back on did you ?" which i didn't, i just wanted to see if she'd notice. (yes you can imagine the look i got after this) after that i put the factory ones back on, recruited her again for a ride... 3/4 of a mile down the road she said "thank you"

so moral of the story, these might not do the trick for everyone. i didn't bother driving it to see if they made a difference, if she didn't like it then it didn't much matter.

they'll be a set of these for sale in the member market if anyone is interested.

 

[jmcdtucson]

I used a floor jack to push the torque wrench on the passenger side where the torque wrench needed lifted. That worked really well. Body weight on the other where the torque wrench needed pressing down. Impact wrench to loosen them. I also put PB Blaster on them 24 hours in advance.

 

[blnewt]

I used a floor jack to push the torque wrench on the passenger side where the torque wrench needed lifted. That worked really well. Body weight on the other where the torque wrench needed pressing down. Impact wrench to loosen them. I also put PB Blaster on them 24 hours in advance.

Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do
Kinda like this "street trick"

 

[WagzDad]

One change at a time and then give it a couple weeks to be sure. I want to make sure it’s right with the doors and hard top off. That was when I noticed the wander the most. My LJUR is an inch + higher front and back when I lose all the weight and my kit box.

Trivial note: PB blaster is excellent for cleaning firearm barrels that are leaded. It’s been said that was the original intent for the product...not sure if it’s true.

 

[blnewt]

did mine today as well. i used an 1/2" battery impact gun and box wrench and it went well with no real issues. i didn't use official ramps, but 2 2x6s stacked gave me a little more room under. it took about an hour total, the biggest pain in the ass was re torquing the bolts, but thats pretty much to be expected.


*edit*
ok.. so this is a 2020 LJUR.. i didn't tell my wife i did anything to the jeep, and pulled a "lets take the dog for a ride" thing to see if she felt a difference. about a mile from the house she looked over at me and said "what'd you do to it?" i smiled and answered about the longer LCAs and how bla bla bla, pretty proud that she was going to be happy with it. she let me finish and then said "i hate it, put it back to how it was" and then proceeded to tell me how big the dead spot was now and how there was too much slack and freeplay in the steering now. when we got home i made noise in the garage for half an hour re torqued everything up, then recruited her for another ride. a mile down the road she looked at me and said "you didn't put the old ones back on did you ?" which i didn't, i just wanted to see if she'd notice. (yes you can imagine the look i got after this) after that i put the factory ones back on, recruited her again for a ride... 3/4 of a mile down the road she said "thank you"

so moral of the story, these might not do the trick for everyone. i didn't bother driving it to see if they made a difference, if she didn't like it then it didn't much matter.

they'll be a set of these for sale in the member market if anyone is interested.

Interesting result, the happy wife-happy life mantra rings true for sure!

I think I still would have taken it out for a run though, just for your own curiosity/piece of mind

 

[WagzDad]

Interesting result, the happy wife-happy life mantra rings true for sure!

I think I still would have taken it out for a run though, just for your own curiosity/piece of mind

They do have half the keys....

 

[Amaruq]

Drove a good bit since the swap yesterday, it’s definitely noticeable. I don’t believe the dead spot is more pronounced for me, but I’m about to drive 700 interstate miles today so I’ll report back on that and hopefully can compare it to the same trip two weeks ago. It feels like it wants to stay more centered for sure.

 

[dpike]

Interesting result, the happy wife-happy life mantra rings true for sure!

I think I still would have taken it out for a run though, just for your own curiosity/piece of mind

yeah, to be honest, i didn't really matter what i felt about it since it's her daily driver and i have about 3 miles of drive time total in it. it was also part of the reason for having her drive it twice with them in. a pretty common fault of mine is i look to improve on things that sometimes dont really need to be improved, i tend to be a bit over analytical.

 

[aro]

post your impressions Aro. i have a '20 JLUR and i'm thinking about doing this.

I finally did the job. The first one took a little longer, just to figure out the best positions to wrench, the second one was quick.

At blnewt's recommendation, I used SAE wrenches. They fit tighter than metric. I also used 6 point socket, which are much better than 12 point when working with high torque values. (I'm sure many use 12 point and metric, but I wanted to do everything I can to avoid even the possibility of rounding the head).

The tools I used:
15/16" wrench
13/16" deep socket 6 point (the non-deep socket didn't work)
torque wrench that goes to 250 lbs/ft
piece of pipe as breaker bar

To my surprise, Sears still exists nearby, and they had both the wrench and deep socket.

Breaking the bolts was a little tedious just because the range of motion is limited, but slowly does the job; one click at a time. An impact would make a huge difference. It helps a lot that you don't have to hold the wrench on the nut to break the bolt loose; it fortunately doesn't turn. (It turns later, when it's loose, but it's easy to hold it at that point).

Torquing was easier for me. I torqued the rear bolts from the sides of the Jeep, and the front bolts from the front.

 

[DadJokes]

My 19 Sahara drove well. A little dead spot on center but otherwise decent. I then did the Rubicon takeoff suspension swap getting 1”+ lift up front and .750”+ lift in the rear. I also did the Mopar LCA swap following the manual precisely. I chose the factory specified torque value plus X many degrees torque method over the Mopar suspension 190lb ft torque value.

I haven’t checked the caster value but I know it just a bit easier to drive on the highway. There are less small corrections to keep it where I want it in the lane. It should have up to 1* more caster than it had stock.

I recommend the Mopar LCA’s if you don’t need the adjustability.

 

[Rodeoflyer]

There's really no reason to buy non-adjustable stamped steel, rubber jointed arms.. You will have the same flex and bind as the cheapo stock arms. Get some good aftermarket adjustable arms.

 

[AnnDee4444]

There's really no reason to buy non-adjustable stamped steel, rubber jointed arms.. You will have the same flex and bind as the cheapo stock arms. Get some good aftermarket adjustable arms.

Sure, no reason except for:
- Price
- OEM fit
- Dealer can't tell that anything has been done, warranty stays intact
- Doesn't require an alignment to install
- Un-adjustable arms can't ever go out of adjustment
- Some places won't work on "modified" suspensions

Edit: Stock LCA flex: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...iew-stock-height-can-you-even-flex-bro.30338/

 

[JerseyDIrt]

Sure, no reason except for:
- Price
- OEM fit
- Dealer can't tell that anything has been done, warranty stays intact
- Doesn't require an alignment to install
- Un-adjustable arms can't ever go out of adjustment
- Some places won't work on "modified" suspensions

Edit: Stock LCA flex: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...iew-stock-height-can-you-even-flex-bro.30338/

My sentiment, exactly.

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