The XJ's front control arm bushings locate the axle fore-and-aft and set caster — when the rubber cracks and delaminates, you get clunks, wander, and a real contributor to death wobble, and fresh bushings or fresh arms bring the front end back under control.
The Cherokee's front axle is held by four control arms — two lower, two upper — and every one of them pivots on a rubber bushing at each end. After decades of trail flex, road salt, and heat off the exhaust, that rubber goes hard, cracks, and pulls away from its steel sleeve. You feel it as a clunk when you get on and off the throttle, a front end that wanders and tramlines, and caster that has drifted off spec. Worn control arm bushings are one of the classic ingredients in XJ death wobble, alongside a tired track bar and loose steering. You have two honest paths here: press new bushings into your existing arms, or replace the whole arm assembly. For most people, complete stock replacement arms cost barely more than the bushings plus press time and skip the fight entirely — but if you're running good arms or adjustable arms, pressing bushings is the right call. Do one arm at a time so the axle stays located.
Steps
Park on level, hard ground, chock the rear wheels, and confirm the front is solidly on jack stands under the unibody frame rails. Support the front axle with a floor jack under the differential so it can't shift when an arm comes loose. Never work with the axle hanging free on a single arm.
Identify which bushings are actually bad before you buy anything. With the axle supported at ride height, pry against each control arm at both ends and watch the bushing — a good bushing barely moves, a dead one lets the arm walk and you'll see the rubber separated from its sleeve or cracked through. Lower arms take the most abuse and usually go first.
Soak the control arm bolts with penetrating oil and give them time — these are long bolts through captured nuts or welded tabs, and on a rust-belt XJ they fight back. Do this the night before if you can.
Working one arm at a time, remove the two bolts holding that control arm (one at the axle bracket, one at the frame/unibody bracket). A breaker bar and a good six-point socket do the heavy lifting; if a bolt spins its captured nut, you may have to cut it out — plan for that possibility on a rusty Jeep.
Drop the arm out. If you're swapping the whole arm, skip to installing the new one. If you're re-bushing, press the old bushing out: support the arm in a shop press with a receiver cup larger than the bushing shell on the exit side, and a driver the size of the shell on the pressing side. A ball-joint press with the right cups works arm-off-the-vehicle for the same job.
Clean the bore in the control arm eye down to bare metal with a wire brush. Any rust or old rubber left behind means the new bushing seats crooked or won't press in square.
Press the new bushing in square and slow. Rubber bushings go in dry or with a light film of soapy water — never petroleum grease, which swells and destroys rubber. Polyurethane bushings get the supplied poly-safe grease on the inner sleeve and flanges to stop squeak. Press until the shell bottoms fully in the bore.
Reinstall the arm loosely — start both bolts by hand, at the axle end and the frame end, but do not torque yet. The bushings must be tightened at ride height so the rubber sits neutral, not preloaded to one side.
Repeat steps 4 through 8 for each arm you're servicing. Front lowers and front uppers are different lengths and the uppers sometimes carry an offset for caster — keep them sorted and don't mix sides.
Lower the Jeep onto its wheels (or raise the axle with the jack until the suspension is loaded to ride height) before final torque. This is the step people skip, and it's why their new bushings tear out in a year.
Torque the fasteners to spec at ride height. Commonly cited XJ figures are roughly 55 ft-lb at the upper control arm axle end, about 66 ft-lb at the upper frame end, and in the 85–130 ft-lb range for the lower control arm bolts depending on model year and source. These vary meaningfully across the 1984–2001 run, so verify every figure against your factory service manual for your year — control arm bolts are structural and not the place to guess.
Reinstall the wheels, torque the lug nuts to 95 ft-lb, and take a slow test drive on a road you know. The clunk should be gone and the steering should track straight. If you replaced bushings to chase death wobble, also inspect the track bar and steering linkage — bushings are usually one piece of that puzzle, not the whole fix.
Get a front-end alignment check afterward, or at minimum a caster reading. Fresh bushings and any change in arm length shift caster, and correct caster is what keeps the XJ tracking straight and self-centering.
Why it works
Kills the on-and-off-throttle clunk and restores straight, stable tracking
Removes a major contributor to death wobble at modest cost
Restores correct caster and even tire wear once aligned
Complete replacement arms are cheap enough to skip the press entirely for stock rebuilds
Trade-offs
Pressing bushings needs a shop press or a rented press kit and patience to keep them square
Seized or spinning control arm bolts can turn a clean job into a cutting job on a rusty XJ
Polyurethane bushings last longer and firm up handling but can squeak and transmit more harshness
Bushings are often only part of a death wobble fix — budget to inspect the track bar and steering too
Tools required
floor jack and jack stands
second jack for the axle
metric sockets and wrenches
torque wrench
breaker bar
penetrating oil
shop press or ball-joint / bushing press kit
assorted sockets or receiver cups for pressing
wire brush
grease
Parts
Some parts links are Amazon affiliate links — if you buy through them Trail Manual may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only list parts we’d run on our own rig, and never on safety-critical pages.
Written and maintained by an AZ wheeler and driveway wrencher. Always cross-reference your factory service manual — modifications affect vehicle safety and warranty. Work at your own risk.