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I by no means appeared ahead to engaged on the decrease management arms of my TJ as a result of placing the arms again in place was all the time a battle. The brackets, not less than mine, are all the time tight when I attempt to slide the RE cartridge joint into place. One day, whereas doing a little management arm work at Scott’s place, he described a neat little trick he had used on his RE arms. I made a decision to provide it a attempt the following time I needed to change my arms. While it’s possible you’ll not battle with you brackets, you must keep in mind that mine have been boxed in with heavy plate so they don’t seem to be as simple to bend/unfold as inventory brackets.
With the third Annual JeepsUnlimited Moab Run only a week away, I needed to place my pair of RE adjustable decrease management arms, that had not too long ago had the bushings changed, within the TJ. I had been operating my spare set of RE fastened size arms since discovering the bushings within the adjustable arms wanted some consideration. I finished by the native ironmongery shop to get some 9/16″ grade 8 threaded rod. I used to be disenchanted to seek out no 9/16″ rod however did find a two foot part of 1/2″ advantageous thread. However, the bin of 1/2″ advantageous thread grade 8 nuts was empty so I opted to buy some 1/2″ coarse threaded rod (which was not Grade 8).
So, with the 1/2″-13 threaded rod and a few Grade 8 nuts and washers, I made a decision to provide Scott’s suggestion a attempt. With change again from my $5 invoice, I headed for dwelling to alter out the management arms.
I lower off a chunk of the threaded rod, grabbed my instruments, and slid below the TJ. I eliminated the 9/16″ Grade 8 bolts from every finish of the management arm and slipped the arm out from the brackets (utilizing some light tapping from a brass hammer).
The above photograph reveals the brand new “bracket spreader” in place. As the nuts are tightened out in opposition to the washers, the bracket is gently unfold open. I didn’t crank on it too onerous, in all probability a few threads value as soon as the washers have been tight in opposition to the within of the bracket.
I then eliminated the bracket spreader and slipped the cartridge joint finish of the RE arm into the bracket. It went in good and straightforward….so significantly better than the previous technique of tapping with the hammer and a screwdriver (or what ever else was round) and utilizing a punch to attempt to line up the bolt holes within the bracket with the cartridge joint.
Scott, thanks for a easy concept that works nice! I tossed the bracket spreader into my device bag so I’ll all the time have it helpful!
Note: You might want to use 3/8″ rod to do the higher management arm brackets since they use smaller bolts.