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AZCooWhip

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Just now reading up on this. Having read through the TSB, what systems are affected? Had the Adventure Series installed back in March.

Have inquired with my shop as well.

Thanks in advance.
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Duke56

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I believe the RK TSB#2 pertains only to the Pro X series. They have grease fittings on them.
The Adventure series are “Maintenance Free” and no grease fittings and has a different adjustable joint end and hopefully doesn’t use junk from Daystar.
I purchased the Rear Upper Adventure series arms to replace the Pro X No limits rear uppers.
I’m done with grease fittings.
My trust has gone to the level of zero.
The remaining arms Front Upper/Lower and Rear Lower are being replaced with Metalcloak.
If the RK Rear Upper ”Adventure Series“ suffer the same ill fate then I’ll put the rear track bar back in and replace those also with Metalcloak.
I’m not going to stick a shop with a fk’d up deal from Daystar. And that’s IF you can find a shop that will even agree to that deal with Credit for Daystar goods. How stupid.
I’m chalking the whole fiasco up as a lesson learned and I’ll call shops to get their recommendation as to what’s good and what’s not on future products.
Oh, and one more thing…….
Anyone want to buy a set of slightly used RK Pro-X arms complete with a new set of bushings for you to rebuild? Only 15,000 street miles on them. $600 OBO + shipping.
You can buy the springs, spring seats, Swaybar Links, and Rear Cradle seperate form Northridge 4X4 to complete the 3” Kit.
 
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AZCooWhip

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I believe the RK TSB#2 pertains only to the Pro X series. They have grease fittings on them.
The Adventure series are “Maintenance Free” and no grease fittings and has a different adjustable joint end and hopefully doesn’t use junk from Daystar.
I purchased the Rear Upper Adventure series arms to replace the Pro X No limits rear uppers..
Interesting indeed. My set up that was installed has several grease fitting front and rear. I may need to do to more homework as well as I have reached out to my shop that did work.

Thanks for the additional info.
 

Duke56

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The Pro arms also have 2 set screws, 1 on each side of the grease fitting on the adjustable end with the jam nut. Did you buy the arms and give them to the shop or did they get them for you?
The pro arms cost more new as well.
 

MATANZAS STING RAY

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Just say the words "class action" and see what happens ;)
Let's just say RK was pretty pissed at Daystar's latest "resolution".... RK was not aware Daystar was offering shops "product" in lieu of payment for replacement of the bushings...That is not what RK agreed to..... Daystar is solely responsible for producing defective parts and would likely be liable for 3x in damages to RK and their customers.... I applaud RK for trying to resolve this before heading to court... I'll never buy a Daystar produced product again and I know several shops that won't either....
 

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As far as I can tell Daystar has not paid out a dime. I tried to just get the original $75 and was told “checks in the mail”. Now they won’t respond to email. They are not dealing with this honestly.
 

Mdean

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If you’ve torqued all those jam nuts as recommended you shouldn't to have worry about them coming loose. It’s odd that yours have. The threads holding the joint into the arm can fail and cause the entire arm to fail and come apart at that joint.
RK stresses how important that torque is and to check it often.
220 ft lbs is no joke and it takes all ya got to get there. A 4 foot, thick walled jack handle on the end of your torque wrench helps. 🤪
I match marked ALL the nuts and bolts on the complete set of arms and check them annually so I know nothing has changed. Safety first.
With the Pro-X No-Limits, you eliminated the rear track bar which would have been the adjustment for side to side axle location but now the Upper and Lower control arms effect the rear axle side to side location.
To get the rear axle moved 1/2” towards the passenger side you need to either shorten the Upper arm on the Passenger side OR lengthen the Upper arm on the Driver side.
I went to great lengths to make sure my arms were set to RK’s recommended lengths as per the instructions. The Upper Rear arms were a challenge to preset the lengths but when I checked my axle centering to the body I was only off 1/8”! I left everything in the rear alone.
Once I was happy with the rear adjustments (confirmed by the alignment shop) I had the cradle welded to the axle tubes.
The rear arm lengths also effect your pinion angle which if wrong can cause vibrations or premature wear of driveshaft components, U-Joint. I think RK says it should measure only 2 more degrees upward of the drive shafts angle. I used a digital angle gauge with a magnetic base to check that measurement on mine.
So once again…….
With RK’s Triangulated Upper Arms I would either SHORTEN the Upper Rear PASSENGER arm OR LENGTHEN the Upper Rear DRIVER side or a combination of both.
I would take it back to the shop that did the alignment and point out the adjustments they can make to get the axle centered. They will need to disconnect the arm at the adjustable joint end, break loose that 220 ft lb jam nut and either screw it in or out, reassemble it to the cradle and once it’s correct, torque that jam nut back to 220 ft lbs.
Also check the center to center distance between your front and rear axles.
If that dimension is the same then your axles are parallel and it’s a good starting point.
Even with them parallel, having them off center to each other can cause a condition called “Dog-Tracking” which makes your Jeep look like it’s going forward in a straight line but on an angle.
A 1/2” may not be that noticeable but it might effect tire wear.

Wheel Alignment is very important.
Trust me on this one,. I know from first hand experience.
I thought I had the Toe In correct on mine only to burn through a set of front tires in 5000 miles.
It was $85 for the alignment, $500 for 2 new front tires.
How much $$$ you got?? LOL

Sorry for the long winded reply but I hope I’ve helped you understand “Suspension Geometry”
Thanks for the reply Duke56.
i went through all the bolts again and verified that they are torqued. I found the link walls on the cradle needed to be bent in to touch the sides of the arms then torqued. I think the company that did it did not look to see if they were tight against the arms.

I also found a video post on YouTube from RK that explained why the back axle is off. Apparently, jeep had some axles that were slightly off on the bolt holes holding the parking brake brackets and the spare two holes. If the jeep is an automatic, it didn't matter, however with a stick shift, they corrected the axles. Of course, I have an automatic.

I reduced the air in tires down to 38lbs and that along with the tightening of the control arms, has seem to correct it for now. I live in Palm Springs and its 120 degrees now, so when it cools i will tackle the axle alignment. i am keeping an eye on the tires as well.

thanks,
 

Duke56

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Make sure you check your pinion angle between the driveshaft and pinion as well.
According to RK instructions the pinion should be 2 degrees upwards from the driveshaft with the suspension loaded.
My dealer had my tires at 42 psi when I picked up new and when I drove it home I thought something was wrong with the steering because it felt like I was wandering left and right.
Turns out too much tire pressure can have that effect.
The dealershiops are supposed to check it as part of the “Prep” process but mine forgot.
They are shipped from the factory with overinflated tires for shipping reasons I’m told.
I lowered mine to 32-34 and all was good after that.
Check all your torqeus again after 500 miles.
I also “Match Marked” all the nuts and bolts and jam nuts on the joints as a visual check and you can see if any of the nuts or bolts have loosened that way.
Check torques periodically after as well.
Bolts will stretch when torqued to their initial value and then relax to a lower value over time hence the recheck after 500 miles.
 

Mdean

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Make sure you check your pinion angle between the driveshaft and pinion as well.
According to RK instructions the pinion should be 2 degrees upwards from the driveshaft with the suspension loaded.
My dealer had my tires at 42 psi when I picked up new and when I drove it home I thought something was wrong with the steering because it felt like I was wandering left and right.
Turns out too much tire pressure can have that effect.
The dealershiops are supposed to check it as part of the “Prep” process but mine forgot.
They are shipped from the factory with overinflated tires for shipping reasons I’m told.
I lowered mine to 32-34 and all was good after that.
Check all your torqeus again after 500 miles.
I also “Match Marked” all the nuts and bolts and jam nuts on the joints as a visual check and you can see if any of the nuts or bolts have loosened that way.
Check torques periodically after as well.
Bolts will stretch when torqued to their initial value and then relax to a lower value over time hence the recheck after 500 miles.
I have marked all the bolts to see if anything moves. I did that when I found the control arms loose. so far, they have not moved. i look at them daily.

I think i will let more air out too. with the increase in temperature here, I am sure they went back up.
 

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Thanks for the reply Duke56.
i went through all the bolts again and verified that they are torqued. I found the link walls on the cradle needed to be bent in to touch the sides of the arms then torqued. I think the company that did it did not look to see if they were tight against the arms.

I also found a video post on YouTube from RK that explained why the back axle is off. Apparently, jeep had some axles that were slightly off on the bolt holes holding the parking brake brackets and the spare two holes. If the jeep is an automatic, it didn't matter, however with a stick shift, they corrected the axles. Of course, I have an automatic.

I reduced the air in tires down to 38lbs and that along with the tightening of the control arms, has seem to correct it for now. I live in Palm Springs and its 120 degrees now, so when it cools i will tackle the axle alignment. i am keeping an eye on the tires as well.

thanks,
Please post the reference to the video. TiA!
 

Duke56

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GREAT NEWS!
I just replaced my RK Rear Lower control arms with Metalcloak’s and the insane squeaking noise coming from the rear and into the cabin is 98% GONE!!!.
The only squeak I get now is from the upper arms and then it’s only by intentionally jumping up and down on the rear bumper.
I have preset all the MC arms to RK’s recommended lengths and it only took me 15 minutes to swap them out. I verified the lengths comparing the old and new and also when I installed the MC arms, the bolts just slipped right in confirming that I had them set to the same length.
To be sure I won’t have any more issues I’m looking forward to getting the rest swapped out.
 

Mdean

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Please post the reference to the video. TiA!
hello Membrain,
apparently i was mistaken on the video, it was posted by Rock Krawler in this thread on page 17, Dec.19, 2019 i belive. this is what they posted.

Yes, we found that Dana has had a pattern shift problem with the rear axle bosses and that any of the ones that aren't correct are put into JT's with automatic transmissions. So if you have a manual, you won't have any issue in the world, if you have an automatic, the pattern shift may be more challenging. We are adding more tolerance to the cradle to account for the pattern shift.
 

SCUBATIM81

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I had a local shop do the replacement for me. They charged 8 hours, which is slightly longer than they charged to do the initial install. The reason given was the time it took to clean out the housings before replacing the bushings. I called the number on the TSB and received a recording to send an email with the required information and I would receive a response within 48 hours. That was last Wednesday, but I have still not received a response....
I must admit, I had extremely low expectations with all the talk here of people getting the run around. That said, I just received a check from Daystar for $800! It doesn't cover my entire invoice, but it does cover most of it. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the rest of you as well.
 

MATANZAS STING RAY

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I must admit, I had extremely low expectations with all the talk here of people getting the run around. That said, I just received a check from Daystar for $800! It doesn't cover my entire invoice, but it does cover most of it. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the rest of you as well.
Thank you for providing us that update! I'm hopeful that recent conversations have sparked that change..... I just got my bushing kit and am headed to my shop next week. How long did you have to wait for reimbursement form Daystar?
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