Yea, that's the problem, the "old" UCA are Trailmaster and NOBODY makes bushings for them.....NOBODY, I emailed Trailmaster, they told me all they bought was the name and the only deal with Jeeps now

I have a brand new set of bushings in a box going back to Rock auto, they are for the stock control arm, why should I replace them if the stock arms don't work right?

 

How much material needs to be removed to get the clearance you need?

 

Not sure, at NAPA we miced out both the old one and the new one, them the guy said, "what if you take the metal off, so he miked it at the rubber on the new one and its too small, so its somewhere between the outside of the metal sleve and the inside of the metal sleeve, so basically I need bushings all rubber, or poly the same size as the outside of the non grease-able stock ones

 

I was referring to removing metal so it doesn't hit the tire.......

 

Since Trailmaster no longer sells bushings for it ... one possibility is to find some slightly larger poly bushings and turning them down on a drill press or lathe.

Don't laugh ... there's a guy who figured out how to make grease channels on his poly bushings via chucking the bushing in a drill press and using a strip of sandpaper. Takes time and slowly removing.

Or grind the lip off the stock "new" control arms.

And here's a minor problem - you keep referring to the Trailmaster as "stock". They're not; and that's been the problem all along. They're after market. The 93 arms you got in, now, those are stock. And don't fit your current application as-is.

(What I'd consider doing now is finding out what inner diameter bushing you need, what the outer diameter of the inner sleeve is for the Energy Suspension or Prothane poly bushings, getting some new sleeves made to fit your shafts with the Prothane or ES bushings, and doing the careful massage of the poly bushings with a strip of sandpaper and a drill press - or better, a good lathe if you have access to one! - but let's be honest, for this, a bolt chucked into a drill press and holding the bushing will do the job just fine.)

However, you can try grinding that lip off; I'd be concerned that it'll weaken the control arm (since that lip is there to help strengthen the control arm!) and one good whack in the mud and you've got a pretzel instead of a control arm. But I dunno; I'm not a mechanical engineer, I'm more of the 'Is that thick enough?' 'Dunno, let's do 1/4" instead of 1/8"!' mind set. If we HAVE a mechanical engineer, maybe they can do a finite state analysis on them and seeing what happens ...

RwP

 

your correct, the Trail masters are aftermarket and the originals that I bought are stock, the originals fit correctly the only thing is that lip rubbing on the tire because of the three inch extension on the top of the spindle

 

can I remove metal from the stock UCA's without causing damage that will cause the truck to break down? I'm thinking just that bottom lip then when those tires wear out getting a new set that are 8.5 instead of 10.5 and solve the entire problem, I can get bushings on Rock Auto for the stock bushings and anywhere else

 

You should be able to remove SOME; that's the point that some folks using 2nd Gen RT wheels have to grind some off to fit the wheels, as I remember.

I would not remove ALL ... and be sure that turning both ways you're clear while under load. I'd also carefully burnish and deburr the edges to keep it from cutting the tire in case of you mudding and it flexing the wrong way on you.

Shucks, I ground about 1/32" off my Cougar spindles to fit the Mustang PBR calipers; there's usually excess meat there in vehicles this old. How much excess, I don't know ... again, I'm not a ME, you really need a good ME to tell you how much you CAN remove. I'd go for "as little as fits".

RwP

 

oh k, I'd sat minimum of half of that lower lip in the pic with the red circle, and most 3/4, not the angles part, the very bottom

 

UPDATE!!!!!!!!
I just got home and went out in the

Gonna flatten this out a bit wanted to post teh results asap though

Clarence ( actual
barn and ground one side down it clears the tires now gonna do the other side here after supper, and I'm back in business, here's pics