Loose Contol Arm Bushings and Tcase Mount

[Alan06SUT]

I was hearing a big clunk and some wierd noises when turning, or backing up hills, etc.

I took of the skid plate to find both lower contol arm bolts to be totally loose! one had maybe one thread left and about .5" of play. The clunk was the bolt extended out and actually touching the CV axle, if it didnt hit the cv axle, it would have fallen out! The big tcase bolt (under skid plate) was also extremely loose. It would move up about .5" when backing up a hill . BAD STUFF!!!!!!!

Basically if you hear creaking, clunking, etc. check these bolts before wasting countless more hours taking it in. And torque the ever living piss out of them! I dont know the factory torque speck, but 13/16 bolts can handle quite a bit of torque.

After I tightened them, I drove it around pretty hard, shifted from drive to reverse, etc. to load up the bolts. Then, I cranked them allm down one more time. After that, I hear no noises whatsoever.

What I thought was "normal" creaking from were and tear was actually the lower control arm bolts backing out on me.

I'll get pics soon.

[KenP]

Thanks Alan. That's great info and I'll be checking ours in the near future just incase they're thinking about backing off.