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ROCK HARD 4X4 Front Control arm skids.

the.jl.adventure

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Probably to overcome manufacturing tolerances, they make them loose so they can move. That is my best guess, I'm going to loosen mine to the 100fp in hopes of eliminating my creaks.
Controls arms should definitely not be lose, they are designed to be squeezed down onto. There is an internal metal sleeve that the control arm mount clamps onto, pinching it in place. Then it is the job of the bushing to provide the flex, as the metal sleeve stays in place. A loose control arm just spells disaster, and will really do a number to the internals if its banging around in there. hope that helps you figure it out. I am very happy now that I tightened mine down to 175 ft/lbs, no more creaks for me! :D (others have gone up to 190 ft/lbs and been happy as well.)
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I agree with those who have stated that there’s too much space/slop in the fit of the skids on the LCA, and 100 ft/lbs is not enough torque. When you tighten them more than the 100 ft/lbs that you’re directed, you’ll notice them squeeze in at least a couple of 16ths. This may be within their acceptable machining tolerance, but I’d rather have the shims a 16th or so too big and have to tap them into place than have the slop.

Overall I still like them, they’re a good product that work well. Just not perfect.
 

Buddy Lee

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I think the rear skid plates are well designed and 100 ft lbs works perfectly. The front skids need thicker shims to prevent the pinching of the ears on the skid plates when torqued to 190 ft lbs. Metal fortunately has some ability to flex but this puts more stress on the LCA. I will be changing my hardware to grade-8 in the future for more strength. I think Rock hard is taking on some liability by telling us to use almost 50% less torque than what is factory required.
 

Jeep&dogs

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Grade 8 is a SAE measurement and 10.9 is a Metric measurement, both are the same MPA steel and strength.The factory bolts that were replaced that were torqued to 190 were 10.9.

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SlickRickMotoADV

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Different bolt than OEM, so different torque spec.
Any comment on the above posts regarding the need for 175+ ftlbs to make things fit correctly? I called this morning asking about fitment of these, and was ready to buy them. Did a quick search on the forum to check for opinions, and this thread definitely stuck out. It would do us all great to know what we should be doing here. Thanks.
 

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SlickRickMotoADV

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Just called Rockhard. "The forums are overthinking it."

I kind of agree. They say you won't hurt the skid by cranking it down to OEM ftlbs. It's not going to impact anything, restrict movement etc. I'm going to grab a set. What's the worst that can happen ;)
 

stino

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I used to have these, they got all out of wack (maybe from torquing them down to OEM? or maybe from hitting stuff) I had to hammer tf out of the fronts for 30min trying to get them off one day. Ended up having to cut off the tab. I swore them off forever after that, lol. Run naked in the front and Rancho's in the rear, which I think is a much much better design. My rear LCA's used to loosen up sometimes with the RH's too.

Maybe it was just me or my jeep, I bought them right when they came out a while back, so could be that they've improved it.
 

Mattyp1214

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That's unfortunate, looks like the rancho rear skids for me and skip the front ones!
 

OBJLU

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Lol I gave mine a good bunch of ugga duggas and no creaking I am absolutely sure it’s over 100 ftlb
 

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gato

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I used a ratchet strap to help line it up.
Late in responding, but I too had a hard time getting the bolt through. I used a punch from one side, then tapped the bolt from the other side, having the bolt push out the punch as it went in.


P.S. I had to do it twice, because the instructions said "Not side specific", but the skids are in fact side specific (they will rotate if they don't engage the axle tab at the front). This was my least favorite thing to install of all the things I installed on the Jeep. The punch idea made it much easier, though.

P.S. #2 I also have their rear skids and the bolts are completely rusted after only 3 months. :(

P.S. #3 I tightened it to 190 ftlbs and it still clunks a little going from forward motion to reverse or vice versa.
 

JL2021guy

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So I did some more diagnostics this weekend and it turns out the culprit was not control arm bolts but my track bar. So ROCK HARD 4X4 was right. Edited my previous post so I don't confuse anybody and undermine a great product.
Still cant explain how over tightening control arm bolts helped with creaking for a short time, but I guess it was some weird coincidence.
Still it would be nice to know why ROCK HARD 4X4 recommends just 100f/lbs of torque instead of 190.
Chad from rock hard said follow 190 ft/lb . They need to update the instructions. However they are nice lca skids. When I had mine at 100 too much noise then went away little by little as I added 30lb torque incrementally. But do drive it and then check torque again once more
 

MadDog27

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Good to know about the torque update. I just ordered a set, hopefully I don’t have the issues listed here.

Cant wait to get them in and installed.
 

D60

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Grade 8 is a SAE measurement and 10.9 is a Metric measurement, both are the same MPA steel and strength.The factory bolts that were replaced that were torqued to 190 were 10.9.

Jeep Wrangler JL ROCK HARD 4X4 Front Control arm skids. 3F0C586F-D7E7-4558-AC35-171605E517B3
Torque is as much of -- or actually MORE -- a function of thread pitch.

Metric fasteners tend to be a finer thread pitch generally speaking coarse to coarse or fine to fine, but of course we could easily reference what WAS there and what was provided as a replacement. And it's not uncommon for metric to come in THREE possible thread pitches where as Amuhreecan is pretty much always two, but now I'm just rambling useless trivia....

As for forums overthinking it --- YES. ALWAYS.

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