Anyone ever had this happen?

My Driver Side, rear upper control arm was stripped this past weekend. Heard a metallic pop after traversing an obstacle. I went to go investigate and found this:




The threads on the male side of the arm is almost smooth.

One of the other wheelers said it may have been because the jam nut came loose but even if so

I ordered some Currie replacements

 

What brand are those arms???

 

Yep I'm going to agree with the above. Jam nuts can and often do come loose. Throw some blue loctite at the next one, should help some. Looks like its been run that way for a lot of miles. I also saw some kind of locking jam nuts right after I tightened mine last week but I can't seem to remember where.

You should be checking those nuts and all other components of your suspension regularly. I check mine after the Jeep sees dirt and before it see the pavement. That's not to say I take a torque wrench to it, though if somethings loose I will. (If I remember to put the torque wrench in the bag) I just grab it and see if it's loose. When I get home and wash the Jeep, that's when the torque wrench gets put on each bolt. I spend more time checking bolts, cleaning & lubing after wheeling than actually wheeling. But that's all part of my Jeep therapy

Hope you made it off easy enough and nice ride.

 

are those RE CAs?

 

there are tons of people running with loose control arm jam nuts as they are very difficult to keep tight. in fact, that is the reason why off road evolution developed their LinXLok's. but, having said that, this is a first for me.

yeah, those are definitely rubicon express control arms.

 

agreed, it shouldn't matter about brand but just out of curiosity, have you ever seen a break like this before? while i would agree that your explination of things is sound, why isn't this an epidemic problem? i wonder if maybe this is a manufacturing defect - maybe the tube got warped a bit during welding. this would cause the threads to not have a clean fit. looking at the pic, it looks as if the threads were grinding for some time as they look worn down and smooth.

 

Yes, the CAs are from RE.
I havent bothered to check if they'd be covered under warranty since I wanted an excuse to get Currie Arms.

 

LOL!! i love excuses to upgrade

the currie arms are awesome and provide the most bind free flex i have seen in a short arm - you will be happy with them

 

LOL!!

regarding the tube, trust me, if it were warped, it would still turn freely - this is something that i have seen before or at least with an assembly joint. the spanner ring would go in just fine but there was just enough of warp that it prevented the threads on one side to make a clean fit. this ultimately allowed the ring to pop out under pressure.

 

My brother races Baja 1000 and the Best in the Desert. He said they use a product called "amazing GOOP" on all the fasteners. It is a clear adhesive that dries firm but semi-flexible. Put a big dollup of it on the fasteners/jam nuts after they are torqued. Amazingly, it seems to work.

It is applied externally. Since it stays semi-flexible, you can grab it with a pair of pliers and peel it off. It's pretty tough stuff, but it comes off.

My brother said one time they were in a rush to finish rebuilding the truck and they didn't put any GOOP. He said they had to tighten fasteners 3 times during the race.

I put it on all the jam nuts and lift bolts. I check them all regularly. So far, not a single fastener has come loose.

http://ww w.eclecticproducts.com/Automotive.htm I get mine at NAPA for $5 or $6.