ZJ Control Arms

[PacificEd]

I'm going to be going into the front end of my Grand (see Verde build thread) to address some issues with the front axle, tire wear and occasional death wobble. The Grand has 192,600 miles on it. Unfortunately the front axle has a "bow" to it and it continues to wear the inside edges of the front tires. It has done this with the last two sets of tires. The alignment shop warned me of this when I had it aligned two years ago.

I'm planning to freshen up the front end with a straight Dana 30 front end. While I'm in there, I was thinking on bringing the control arms and bushings up to par. I have found complete kits of front and rear control arms or I can upgrade to any number of aftermarket arms. I do have a set of adjustable BDS lower front control arms on hand. I have found several D30 fronts but most are XJ so they with require adjustable arms to change the caster as the XJ lower control arm brackets don't include the adjustment cam bolt like the TJ/ZJ axles use.

I have found a lot of different companies that offer control arms. Some are sponsors. Ironman4x4Fab, Iron Rock, Core4x4, JKS, Rubicon Express, Crown, etc. are just a few of brands I've found.

This Grand is my wife's daily driver but I will probably inherit it some day. I need it to ride good so I will probably want to stick with the rubber bushings.

So what do you guys recommend for a ZJ?

 

[smokeyyank]

On my WJ I just went with Crown OEM control arms. Originally I was going to go with MOOG but quality has taken a dive and they only offered the cheap ones made in China. I'm only 3.5" so that is maxed out on the stockers. I debated on going with some adjustables but figured I'd rather wait to get LA instead of spending the coin on adjustables at a little lift. If I was to go adjustable I would go ironman or ironrock.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Use your adjustable arms. Get a set of cam bolt eliminators. Basically washers and a bolt that are not adjustable.

 

[PacificEd]

I figure I was use the adjustable lower BDS arms I have. If I use an XJ front axle, the only way to adjust caster will be to lengthen or shorten the control arm, which could be a pain.

Should there be an issue if I used the stock upper control arm on a ZJ with an adjustable lower? I don't know why it wouldn't work. Remember, this is using an XJ axle.