Adjustable Control Arms Jam Nuts
 

Is it okay to loosen the Jam Nuts while the control arms are on the jeep?

Yes indeed. In fact it might be your only way to get enough leverage to do so.

gotcha is there a special type of wrench to be able to set it up at 220lbs? I have a torque wrench for the bolts but not the jam nuts

A couple ways to do it. If you have a torque wrench that goes that high, you can consider investing in a set of crows feet. They can be awkward to use but will get the job done and you'll know it's torqued to spec.

On the other hand, many will tell you to just put an adjustable wrench on the jam nuts, put on your big girl panties, and go to town. In other words, tighten the bejeezus out of them as best you can.

Option 2 sounds more fun i will do option 2, option 1 looks similar to using a torque wrench with an armorers wrench for ar15s

I have never heard of anyone over torquing the jam nuts I have heard of someone popping a nut tho on these bad boys lol.

Crows foot and breaker bar

I'll usually use a large pry bar to keep my joints nice and even, not canted on the mount.

Jam the tip of the pry bar in between the joint head and the axle or frame mount. Stays in place and gets tight without swaying the joint.

Maybe it's odd I just use a 20" crescent wrench with the pry bar trick till I scream. I check them all the time, not once loose.

Was that from Goody? The pic looks familiar and I've got a few of these that I've been asked to double-check.

Amazon.com is where I got mine.

Just get you a big ole crescent wrench or open end from Harbor Freight and go to town. I say HF in this instance because they will rarely be used for someone that isn't constantly doing installs. :)

^That's what I use. Never had one come loose yet. The two footer. I've had joints come out though. You buy a Wrangler and all of a sudden you need monster sizes of every tool you already have. It's like having a tractor I would imagine.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/atta...8&d=1471549620

No kjeeper haha I got the idea from him.

I don't like using a regular crescent wrench because of the slop. They don't seem to grab the not tight rounding off the edges or slipping.

I was asking about the jig, but I'm on the same page- having that crescent slip is tough. They don't fit well on the track bar nuts either.

I made the jig. Goody used a jig similar to stock mounting points. This means he had to use spacers to prevent the joint from twisting.

The only arms I tightened on the jeep,
rear uppers. I used pieces of metal to keep the joints centered

Never had that problem even with the cheap HF wrench. Never came loose, never slipped.

Now I'm wondering if I tighten them enough. I don't kill myself on it. Whatever a 180 pound guy at 2 feet comes out to. Maybe 200 lbs. with the extra foot of leverage. :dontknow2:

Also you can torque stripe them after tightening. Then you can just glance at them for a quick and easy way to check to make sure nothing is loose.

This is what I do on almost every bolt and nut. Makes checking things easy.

Is that when you make a mark over the nut and a neighbor surface and see later if they budge?

Yep, it makes for quick inspections. It's something I should have done.....and may still do.

Call my crazy but I get them as tight as I can with the joints centered and then put a couple tack welds on each jamnut/arm. When I go to readjust it takes about 5 seconds with a grinder and it's good to go.

Not crazy. In fact a lot of people do that from what I understand.

Thought about that, at least the lowers. Locked in place use the uppers to adjust caster/pinion.

Good. I've never heard anyone doing it. I told RK that and they sounded shocked. I didn't feel it being much different than tacking u-joint caps, lol.

Theyre prob thinking the tack was going to replace 300 ft lbs of torque lol

Is there a certain sequence to follow front lowers first then front uppers, is is same for the rear? Lowers first then uppers. Had a shop try to do it for me, they didn't do it right as I ended up with 2 deg positive caster and the shop wouldn't stand behind their work

Typically you want to set your wheelbase with the losers and use the uppers to adjust castor/pinion.

is it lowers for both for the wheelbase I heard the rear uppers were for wheel base?

Who you calling a loser? Lol


Correct, decide and set your wheelbase with lowers. I prefer to install the lowers, ensure axles are parallel and square, then hold pinion angle where you want it and adjust the uppers to the mount locations. Torque before dropping the jack. Front you can do easily with the tires on the ground. Rear will need to be on stands with tires removed to gain access to the uppers.

The lowers locate the axles so the settings of each arm are more important. Uppers lengths dont matter as much, setting to the mounts so all 4 bolts slide in/out ensures theres no binding or preload.

Rear Uppers are commonly used to raise the pinion to correct pinion angle. Youll see people will install front lowers for caster and rear uppers for pinion only. Rear lowers add wheelbase and front uppers are kinda a waste in a short arm setup.

I was so confused until I re-read my previous reply. I meant to say *lowers*, lol.

Also, are you suggesting the control arm bolts be torqued while still up on the jack? Don't people always preach to leave them loose, drop the jack, shake the jeep a bit, and then torque- in order to avoid binding/preload on the bushings?

Yes sir, front is done "on the ground" rear stands are under the axle... Same as on the ground. The jack is supporting the pinion (angle)
Also tightening at ride height mainly refers to the stock bushings or any arm with bonded rubber joints. Heims, Spherical joints wont matter as much as far as binding because the ball spins.

After adjusting my fronts I got 4.90 driver camber and 4.77 on my passenger. On the center of the road of a 3 lane drives straight.

If you had 4-5* of camber then you'd have some funny wearing tires :thumbsup:

gotcha right now I'm at 1.3 driver and .9 passenger on camber will be doing my ball joints this weekend. Hopefully it is just ball joints not the c's if it is the c's I heard there's this wedge people can install to fix the camber issue, but pretty sure it's my ball joints that are bad.

I figured I resurrect an old thread due to having to tighten my LCA jam nuts.

I didn't have a Crows foot but I found a very similar method that worked for me.

Bench vise + C-Clamp :thumbsup:

Then tightened down with a pipe wrench with a long pipe from my floor jack.

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B9VL...FBUeGp4aFFSLVU

There you go. The 2nd time around i used a c-clamp and spacers i made for the vise.

Here is a little Video on how to properly tighten a Jam Nut


https://youtu.be/gvkSpsvVkPA

Metal cloak has these nice crows foot wrenches in 1 1/2" and 1 7/8" . We have them in the shop I help at and they are handy and the price is pretty good. They allow you to get into tight spaces where you might not be able to get a big wrench into.
Crow's Foot 1 1/2" Duroflex Jam Nut Wrench