DirtyComanche Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Has anyone tried using JK UCA bushings in order to go to a larger bolt? Allegedly the OD of the bushings are the same as XJ/MJ ones, but they use as 12mm bolt rather than a 10mm. It would seem it should be easy enough to open the hole up a tiny little bit in order to then run a 1/2" bolt if one wished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Why? XJ/MJ UCA bolt failure isn't a problem that I'm aware of. And you would still have the flimsy U-channel XJ/MJ UCA with a smaller rubber mass bushing. I'd rather convert to the tubular WJ UCA's or box-in the XL/MJ UCA's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 This is for the bushing at the axle end, which is not changed out when going to aftermarket or WJ arms. The plan is to build the UCAs using junk I have lying around, so the frame end would be drilled out to a 1/2" bolt at least anyways as I don't have any poly bushings or similar that use smaller bolts. Bolt failures occur right after you get away from the flimsy U-channel setup, the fact they are so flimsy is why the bolts survive. No, I don't anticipate having a problem, but the JK bushings are actually cheaper than the XJ ones with my account discount, so if there's a (potentially) better part that's cheaper then why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Si. If they are the same "thickness" then why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-man930 Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Intewesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 I grabbed some ACDelco bushings because they're the ones I can get for cheap. Also they use a relatively round sleeve, so it can be drilled reasonably. Some of them use ridged/knurled/definitely not a round hole sleeve and apparently short of going at them with a carbide burr in a die grinder you won't get far. Here's the bushing and a bolt size comparison: Image Not Found Bottom is a 10mm, the stock MJ/XJ size. Above it is a 12mm, the JK size. Above that is 1/2". Just going to the JK sized bolt would be a massive improvement, and I debated doing just that, but the other end of the arms will use a 1/2" bolt so I figured I'd make it the same. Note, those are just bolts that were lying around but the right diameter, not hardware out of a UCA or hardware I would likely use for that. Drilled out the sleeve: Image Not Found I just used a tapered spiral reamer in a hand drill with some cutting oil and held the bushing by hand. The sleeve is hard. I'm not sure what the best way to do that would be without a reamer, I didn't want to try clamping the bushing in a vice as it might damage it, the idea of using a carbide burr doesn't sound to me like you would get a very round hole. Anyways, that's it for now, I still haven't ordered the few odds I don't have and need to build the UCAs, so not much is going to happen on this until then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 IIRC, IRO or RK make a joint style replacement 'bushing? With a 1/2" hole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 IIRC, IRO or RK make a joint style replacement 'bushing? With a 1/2" hole There's a few of them out there. I don't need the performance of one (this truck will probably never see the swaybar unhooked) and feel this OEM style bushing will last much longer. I really only drilled the 12mm out to 1/2" so it would take the same hardware as the other end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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