Jeep Grand Cherokee Forum banner
1 - 10 of 10 Posts

WXman

· Registered
Joined
·
133 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have OME heavy duty coils in the front with 10mm OME "trim spacers" and OME medium coils in the rear. All of a sudden after a few thousand miles of driving on and off road I've developed a knocking noise when I hit a rut or bump in the road. I checked all control arm bolts for torque, checked the ball joints, checked the motor mounts, checked the shocks, etc. Can't find anything loose. Then yesterday I noticed that my front lower control arms are touching the frame at the frame end. Like, you couldn't slide a pencil in between the arm and the unibody. It seems like a super tight fit. Is this normal? Anybody else have this issue? The control arms are new also, but they are not Mopar brand.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Here are a couple of horrible pics so you can see what I mean. Anybody else have this happen?
 

Attachments

Discussion starter · #4 ·
Are you sure that your axle is centered under the body?
Yes, and I have a JKS adjustable track bar with the axle measured to perfectly centered.
 
Those arms look a bit different from the factory pieces, definitely appears to have more metal at the end sticking out, or the bushing is completely collapsed and the weight is pushing the arm up into the body and is more likey. You have 2 options, pull the arms out and replace with the correct Clevite RUBBER bushing or install aftermarket arms that have rounded ends with more clearance. Another option is I have a set of new take off OEM control arms from when my neighbor worked at Jeep and saved me a few.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thanks for the tips. I'll look at my old arms if I still have them laying around and compare. I never even noticed this before and I laid these new arms side by side with the OE arms before installation to check for length and bushing width...guess I didn't even notice the body of the arm itself. Sigh....
 
Ahh, I see where it is hitting now, yeah that has nothing to do with the track bar. I agree with Utah, different arms seem to be the best option.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Just an update: I unbolted the lower arms, grinded the edges off them where contact was being made with the unibody, and reinstalled them. There is now no contact between the control arms and body. However, my "knocking" noise is still there when I hit bumps. So something else is the problem. Guess I'll keep looking....
 
Just an update: I unbolted the lower arms, grinded the edges off them where contact was being made with the unibody, and reinstalled them. There is now no contact between the control arms and body. However, my "knocking" noise is still there when I hit bumps. So something else is the problem. Guess I'll keep looking....
Did you thoroughly check the bushings?
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
They have about 2,000 miles or less on them. I visually inspected them with the arms out of the vehicle the best I could. I don't see anything at all wrong with them. That doesn't 100% rule them out. But they are almost brand new and appear to be in great shape.

What's the proper torque for the lower control arm bolts? Could this happen if those are torqued too much? We used an air impact gun to run them down faster. Maybe I should loosen the bolts and torque them with a torque wrench?
 
1 - 10 of 10 Posts