Total Chaos Arms

I have total chaos arms up front and they are creaking pretty badly especially when I turn the wheel even a little to the left. I took it to the stealership since its under warranty, after an afternoon there and many many mechanics looking at it they said everything was fine and that it was a bushing in the TC arms that was the creaker. They say that it is a nylon bushing or something and they dont warranty aftermarket parts even though I bought it that way. They told me to go to a four wheel drive shop to have them look at it and to see if there is a different bushing to put in there. But of course they wont pay for that. Any thoughts on this or has anyone had this experience with these arms?

 

Not familiar with the TC arms ( have DSM UCA's) Are they greasable? If they are, you probably just have to grease them. I had the same symptom when I first installed them. I used Mobil 1 synthetic.

 

Thanks I will check it out... any idea if it is an easy dyi thing? I know my way around a truck but any special tools needed?

 

Anything I should use to press the ball out and in?. I also did some research for anyone else with this prob. There is a dry lubricant that forms a waxy coating that should b used on the uniball and that petroleum based lubricants such as wd40 and oil should not be used since they hold contaminants in. And new uniballs are about 120 to replace

 

Definitely worth getting some of that dry lube to see if it corrects the squeak. It may, and its a lot easier that any other solution.

 

well....i can say this much......if there isnt enough grease on the bushings...they will squeak. i've found it easier to loosen the long main bolt on the uca's and shoot a lil grease between the washers and retighten.

 

x2 I use triflow on the uniball, and i greased the inside and outside of the bushings with mobile 1 when I first got them and periodically squirt some grease in the zerks and it has never squeaked once.

 

Good deal man. I gotta do my passenger side....may do it tomorrow.

 

Ill have to give it a shot

 

There are a couple problems with using lube(grease) on the uniball at least in my experience(I have TChaos control arms w/ uniball) and what i've been advised by some mechanics, of course it depends whether they are new bushings or not.

-Putting grease on a new bushing that has a teflon coating can ruin the teflon coating only for the simple reason that the uniball is not covered, so all the dirt and rocks that spit up from your tires gets in the grease and as your suspension travels up and down, the abrasion will wear your teflon coating. The teflon is supposed to eliminate the need for any lubricants. I'm pretty sure as well that the new TC bushings that you get are of a better construction than previous Bushings from TC but im just making that assertion based on the old ones i took out and the new ones i had put in. The new uniballs are a tight fit so they shouldn't wear for quite some time if you clean them regularly. I just clean them out with water to get most of the dirt out and thats about it. Oh and i've also had my new uniballs on now for a year and they do NOT squeek at all at any varying degree.

-Now if your bushing is worn and the teflon coating is non existent, then grease is your only option for lube. When my old TC bushings were worn , i put a thick grease in them and packed it down, it worked like some have said for a month or so but just gets so annoying to pull out the grease tube every month and pack it down. Of course thats after you clean it out because of all the rocks and dirt that are now caught in the grease. Just sucks. Even after i would reclean it and pack it down i couldn't get alll the dirt out so it just made problems worse and wore them down until i actually had alot of play in them.

New uniballs with installation are pretty cheap to do at the shop, and i'm sure with the right instruction and tools at home it would be just as easy to do to. Didn't cost me to much to do at a shop. I have money but no time to do that shit at home lol.

 

when you put the new ones in how often do you clean them and do you take them out to clean them or you said you dump water on them. but if they are such a good and tight fit how does the water get in there to fluch out the dirt etc.?