Just received my control arms from rock krawler and plan on installing them my self (dealer wants 300$ to do it). I've tried lookin all over the Internet to find a good guide to doing this. I know a lot of people have said its pretty simple. Any tips before I get started? I'm on a 3" bds lift.

 

I'm in the same boat. I'm about to order them and had questions. Do you you need to support/take load off any parts, or is it just unbolt and swap. Also I heard the Johnny joints on the RK LCAs are 14mm and need to be drilled to 9/16 if you did the grade 8 bolt swap. I found that to be true on my RK track bar.

 

That is also true for the RK arms.

The install is not that difficult to do if you are mechanically inclined. RK has great instructions on exactly how to do this. It is posted on the website.

http://objects.dreamhost.com/rockkra...STRUCTIONS.pdf

Only pay attention to the portions that apply to you.

 

Just did the 2.5 RK XFactor lift this past weekend. I ordered the 9/16 kit with the lift and it was a waste as the RK lift is set for OEM hardware.

I struggled with the front but applied the lessons in the rear. To install the lowers, get the frame on long jack stands. Then get the axle on low jack stands. Then put your floor jack below the axle pinion. Unbolt the OEM lowers and remove the bolts. Lowering the floor jack should allow the axle to rotate down, increasing the distance between the frame mount and axle mount for the LCAs Line up the holes with your jack and install the bolt. Don't tighten until you have the weight on the ground.

Took me hours on the fronts. Did the rears in about 15 minutes.

 

The grade 8 bolt swap is still necessary due to the size of the holes on the LCA mounts. The holes on the mounts are 9/16 so if the bolts go even a little out of spec you will have play. Either keep the stock hardware and weld 14mm washers over the stock mounts, or drill out the Johnny joint and use 9/16 grade 8 hardware.

 

I am sure it would be better for one with access to the equipment to do that properly. I will try with OEM bolts tightened to OEM spec. I thought it would be a simple upgrade but will have to stay OEM like nearly every JK on the road. Good luck.

 

Another thought I had on this was I may have naively thought that if RK thought it was essential, the arms would have come with 9/16 holes, new 9/16 Grade 8 Bolts and they would have charged me an additional $40.

 

Tightening the jam nuts is the hardest part. You'll need 2 big wrenched and a friend or a nice bench vise.

They didn't mention it in the instructions but I mounted the Krawler joint with the set screw facing up so it wouldn't get sheared off on rocks.

 

You are correct. I got 2 steel rods (home depot) and aligned the 2 arms to assure equal length and to use together to keep the ends aligned while I used a 15" adj wrench with my high jack handle to torque them tight.

 

It is a great idea to make sure the arms are balanced out like that!

Currently our track bars do take 9/16 hardware upgrades and we might be listening the the JK community and have something coming out that allows for 9/16 hardware upgrades all the way around!

However, from our findings, the OEM hardware is plenty strong of course, but the locking feature or lack their of on the OEM nuts is a potential problem. Getting just new nuts with a new locking feature, like a nylok or something would not be a bad idea!

RK