TJ Control Arm Bushing Replacement — Press Them, or Replace the Arms

The TJ front and rear suspensions are both 4-link coil setups: two lower arms and two upper arms per axle, eight arms total, sixteen bushings. The arms are stamped steel with a bonded rubber bushing pressed into each eye. Two more bushings live in the axle housing itself — the rear upper arms mount to a cast bracket on the axle that carries its own pressed-in bushing, and those don't come with new arms. Rubber lasts 80,000–150,000 miles depending on how much mud, salt, and articulation the Jeep has seen; a lifted TJ with the arms running at an angle wears them faster because the bushings twist further through every cycle.

How to tell it's the bushings. Front end on stands, axle supported: put a pry bar between the arm and the bracket and lever. A bushing that lets the sleeve shift visibly in the eye, or that shows cracked and separated rubber around the sleeve, is done. Grab each arm and try to rotate it about its axis — any rotational play at the eye is play in a bushing. Do the same at the rear. Don't stop at the arms: the track bar bushings and the sway bar end links make the same clunk, and the tie rod ends make the same wander. Check all of it before buying anything, because half the "control arm clunks" on a TJ are a loose track bar bolt.

Path 1 — press new bushings into the existing arms ($60–$80 parts). The rubber is vulcanized to the steel sleeve and the sleeve is a tight press in the arm eye. The method that works: burn the rubber out with a torch (outside, away from the fuel lines, with the arm off the Jeep), drill the sleeve to weaken it, slot it lengthwise with a reciprocating saw, collapse it inward with a chisel, and drive it out. Then press the new bushing in with a shop press or a ball-joint press kit. Budget 45 minutes per eye once you've done one. Poly bushings (Prothane 1-204, Energy Suspension 2.3106) are the usual replacement because they're two-piece and slide in; they last longer than rubber, transmit more road noise, and need grease at install and again every year or two or they squeak. Take this path if you enjoy the work or the arms are something you want to keep (long-arm brackets, custom lengths).

Path 2 — replace the whole arms with OE-style arms ($180–$250 for eight). Dorman, MOOG, Crown, and the house brands at the big Jeep retailers sell stamped or tubular fixed-length arms with the bushings already pressed in, $35–$60 each. No press, no torch. This is the right call for a stock-height or 2 in-lift TJ with tired bushings, and it's what most shops do. The arms are the same length as factory, so the alignment comes back to where it was.

Path 3 — upgrade to adjustable arms with rebuildable joints ($280–$400 per pair, $1,100–$1,600 for all eight). Currie Johnny Joints, Metalcloak Duroflex, Clayton, Rubicon Express Super-Flex, JKS. Rebuildable for the life of the Jeep, far stronger than stamped steel against rock hits, and adjustable — which is the point above a 3 in lift, where you need longer lowers to bring caster and the front driveshaft angle back. Below that lift height an adjustable arm is a nicer version of something you didn't need; the geometry is the argument, not the bushing. See short-arm vs. long-arm before spending here.

Mixed approach that makes sense: Path 2 for the uppers, adjustable lowers (Path 3) if you're lifted. The lowers set caster; the uppers mostly follow.

• Torque at ride height is the rule that everything else depends on. If the Jeep is on stands with the wheels off, the floor jack under the axle is what puts the suspension at ride height. There is no shortcut.
• Johnny Joints and Duroflex joints need periodic greasing (Currie ships a zerk on most; grease every oil change) and the balls wear — a rebuild kit is $15–$25 per joint and the reason these arms last forever.
• Poly bushings with no grease squeak within weeks. Poly on the lowers and rubber on the uppers is a common compromise that keeps the noise down.
• Rear axle-bracket bushings. If the rear uppers are worn, the bracket bushing on the axle usually is too. Order them with the arms; nothing is more annoying than a new arm mounted into a rotten bushing.
• Bolt heads facing the wrong way on the front lower frame bracket can contact the sway bar link or a long-arm bracket. Match the factory orientation.
• Broken frame bracket welds on the rear lower arm mounts are a known TJ failure and show up as a clunk that no bushing fixes. Inspect the bracket-to-frame welds and the frame rail around them while you're there — cracked welds get ground and re-welded (or a weld-on bracket from Rubicon Express or Poison Spyder), and a rusted-through rail is a frame repair, not a suspension job.

Quadratec, Northridge4x4, and RockAuto carry the OE-style arms; RockAuto is cheapest per arm and the fitment tool is reliable for the year splits. Currie, Metalcloak, and Clayton sell direct with the best instructions. If you're on the fence between Path 1 and Path 2: the press job is a good skill to have, and a bad way to spend a Saturday when eight arms full of fresh bushings cost $200.

Steps

1. Park level, loosen the lugs, and get the front on stands under the frame. Set a floor jack under the axle and raise it until the springs are at roughly their loaded length — you want the axle held at ride height so the arm bolts aren't loaded when you try to pull them.
2. Soak every arm bolt with penetrating oil the day before. They're 18 mm on the lowers and 15 mm on most uppers, with a nut on the back side. On a rust-belt TJ the sleeve rusts to the bolt inside the bushing and the bolt will not come out with a wrench; an air hammer on the bolt head, or a cutoff wheel through the bolt on both sides of the bracket, is the escalation. Buy new bolts if you cut any (grade 8, same thread — M12 on the lowers on most years).
3. Do one arm at a time. Pull the lower arm first: bolt at the axle bracket, bolt at the frame bracket, arm comes out. The axle stays located by the other three arms and the track bar. Never pull both lowers at once with the springs in — the axle rotates and the springs can unload.
4. Path 1: burn, drill, slot, collapse, drive out, press in. Grease poly bushings with the silicone grease that comes in the kit — not chassis grease, which swells poly. Path 2 and 3: compare the new arm against the old one eye-to-eye before installing; a fixed arm that's ¼ in off is the wrong part.
5. Install the arm with both bolts hand-tight. Set the bolt heads facing the direction the factory had them (toward the outside on most brackets — matters for driveshaft and exhaust clearance).
6. Repeat for the other lower, then the uppers. On the rear, this is where you find out whether the axle-bracket bushings for the rear uppers are shot; they're a separate press job in the axle bracket (Prothane and Rubicon Express sell them) and the bracket is welded to the housing, so it's done in the Jeep with a C-clamp-style press.
7. Lower the Jeep onto its tires or, on stands, raise the axle with the jack until the springs are at their normal loaded height and the arms are at their working angle. Then torque. Factory spec: front lower arms 85 ft-lb at the axle and 130 ft-lb at the frame; rear lower arms 130 ft-lb both ends; all upper arms 55 ft-lb. Aftermarket arms with their own hardware use the manufacturer's spec, usually 80–130 ft-lb. Torquing with the axle hanging clamps the bushing at full droop; the first time the suspension compresses the rubber is twisted past its limit and starts tearing.
8. Adjustable arms: set the lowers to the manufacturer's starting length for your lift, then check caster and pinion angle before final torque — see the SYE and driveshaft guide for the angle targets.
9. Test drive slowly, listen, and re-check torque after the first 50 miles. Get an alignment within the first couple hundred miles regardless of path; even fixed arms shift toe slightly.

Tools required

• floor jack
• jack stands
• 18mm and 15mm sockets and wrenches (21mm handy)
• breaker bar
• torque wrench (150 ft-lb range)
• pry bar
• penetrating oil
• shop press or ball-joint press kit (bushing path only)
• propane torch, drill, reciprocating saw (bushing path only)

Parts

Sources

• Prothane 1-204 TJ control arm bushing kit
• Energy Suspension 2.3106 TJ control arm bushing kit
• TJ control arm torque specs from the factory service manual (JeepForum)
• Control arm bushing replacement discussion (WranglerTJForum)

Related

• TJ Front Coil Spring Replacement
• Tie Rod Replacement — Stock and HD Options
• Track Bar Replacement — TJ Specifics
• All Jeep Wrangler TJ guides & tools
• Browse the full DIY database

Written and maintained by an AZ wheeler and driveway wrencher. How we source guides. Always cross-reference your factory service manual — modifications affect vehicle safety and warranty. Work at your own risk.