So I poked my head under my jeep and I was greeted with a little thanksgiving day surprise. The rear upper control arm was just hanging down. After a closer look the threads were completely stripped and the tube seperated from the heim joint.

The weird thing is that the jam nut is solid on the threads and will not budge. I thought this situation only happens when the nut is loose and causes the two pieces to wobble back and forth.

Any ideas how this happened? All this after only 7k miles

only crappy cell phone pics....

 

EXACT same thing happened to me with my Rubi Express rear upper CA.

However my jam nut was not completely flush and locked, so the common concensus is it just wiggled free and stripped the threads smooth over time.

I heard a metallic pop of sorts IIRC while wheeling, went to go investigate and found it just like yours.

Your cause however I'm not sure. Just wanted to say you're not alone.

 

Wow I am going home to check all my jam nuts

 

Looks like a lot of rust and wear on the arm for 7000 miles.

 

I try to check my nuts on a regular basis.

 

it doesnt look like you have enough thread contact..

the other arms dont wobble at the joint do they?

 

Possible I guess. The jam nut is in the exact position when installed so it was about half of the thread lenght on the hiem.

I checked the other joints and found that they were a little loose as well. The two pieces should not wobble as long as the nut is tight.

 

Wow. I am going to have to check all of mine. They seem to be fine thus far, had mine on for about 5K miles. wheeled it a bunch, too. Do the jam nuts just get loose over time or what?

 

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I only had 7k miles on the arms and its been through one Utah winter. The only thing that I can think of is that the nut came loose a while ago and water has been getting in there and caused the excess rust. Both threads on the control arm and heim joint are gone. I can put the two pieces together without any twisting.

Im kinda miffed cuz I had teraflex adjust and torque all eight control arms and do an alignment no more than about 8 months ago. I dont know if it has been loose ever since. I guess that I should have checked everything more regularly. Lesson learned.

 

um. not sure, theres plenty of thread contact. BTW..............Get some anti-seize on the threads......