I took my vehicle in for Virginia state safety inspection and unfortunately have some work to do to get it passed. This 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee has 210,000 miles on it, isn't worth much, and it's an extra vehicle that I won't need after August. The math doesn't make sense to throw money into it just to get to August, so I'm planning to DIY.

Unfortunately in Virginia, when you drop your car off for inspection the first thing they do is scrape the old sticker off. If you fail they put a big noticeable "reject" sticker on your windshield and you have 15 days to make the repairs and get it re-inspected.

Is it feasible to replace the upper control arms and rear shocks in an afternoon? I've done a decent bit of wrench turning but haven't messed with suspension. I have a torque wrench and breaker bar, but no specialty suspension tools. I also have to swap out front/back brake pads, but I've done that a dozen times (and somehow lived to tell the tail) and I'll already have the wheels off so I'm not too worried about the additional time there.

Yup.

If you have the budget, get a battery powered impact wrench and appropriate impact sockets. That'll make taking nuts off MUCH easier, which will make life easier/faster.

Taking the wheels off will go from 2-5 minutes each to 5 minutes total.

Also helps with body bolts and such. When I changed my struts on van, it made the job for both struts to be about 90 minutes total instead of 90 minutes for each one.

~egon

The $80 1/2" hyper tough at walmart is a surprisingly decent tool for occasional use that actually puts down the advertised 550+ torque.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tough-20V-Max-Brushless-1-2-inch-Mid-Torque-Cordless-Impact-Wrench-with-4-0Ah-Lithium-Ion-Battery-and-Charger/5589903045?athcpid=5589903045&athpgid=AthenaItempage&athcgid=null&athznid=oos&athieid=v0&athstid=CS020&athguid=ohAtOLOBwseKXTymGkv2hSdBW03jyUhDWn_f&athancid=5453691137&athena=true&athbdg=L1600

I did rear shocks on my ram a few months ago

Took me all of 1.5 hours. Second shock went much faster one I learned from my missteps on the first shock

Haven't tried UCA but have considered it. With the proper tools I estimate it would take me half a day.

Good recommendation. I may go pick this one up today.

Text me

+1 on battery powered 1/2" impact, get whatever battery you already have. My dewalt is great though I wish it was a little smaller for stuff like brake jobs.

Big hammer, ball joint separator, and/or pickle fork will make separating the ball joint from the knuckle a whole lot easier. You can rent the non-hammer tools from Autozone/OReilly and return when you're done.

You'll replace the second UCA in half the time it takes you to do the first one.

Make sure to take measurements from the fender to the middle of the wheel at ride height, so you know where to jack the knuckle up to before torquing the UCA bolts/nuts. Don't torque them with the suspension drooped.

Also factor in that you'll need an alignment afterwards.

drumboy said:

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+1 on battery powered 1/2" impact, get whatever battery you already have. My dewalt is great though I wish it was a little smaller for stuff like brake jobs.

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https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCF911B-Impact-Wrench-Anvil/dp/B09HVXKJF6

This is what I bought (at Ace, with coupon) and while it doesn't do the MAX TORQUE!!!!11!!, it is pretty skinny, so it fits in places I think a larger tool wouldn't. I would recommend, again, if you have DeWalt (which I do).


Another point, they do make conversion kits for batteries/tools. I have a bunch of old 18V firestorm tools that I want to use with my DeWalt batteries. Bam!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBNFXTT7

Problem solved!

~egon

This $60 hyper tough did 323 lbft torque for $60 with battery. Hard to beat that even if you're already bought in on DeWalt batteries. TTI who makes Milwaukee also makes Hyper Tough. Seems like they've been recycling some Milwaukee designs for much lower prices.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/HT-20V-BL-IMPACT-WRENCH-SMALL/5589753969

Lol I got the MAX TORQUE one, maybe I need to get a second small 3/8" impact.

Thanks all. Picked up an impact wrench and watched a couple YouTube videos this afternoon. I should have clarified, it's the front UCAs that need to be replaced.

Looks like Jeep engineers really did their best to make getting to two of the bolts a challenge. The "proper" way on the drivers side involves decoupling the steering linkage. The passenger side requires the fuse box. I think I can macgyver my way around those, may cost me some bloody knuckles though.

Having done this type of work on many different makes, I feel this. I hope it worked out for you, and I'm happy to have another shade tree in the forum. This sounds like a conversation I have with my buddies almost every weekend.

Can we talk about what they are doing in VA that an inspection would turn up needing to do these repairs? I could see lights and tires getting flagged but this sounds like a racket. Did the inspector recommend his brother in laws shop for the repairs?

Glad my wife and I switched to diesels recently. No more trips to the inspector for us in TX.

I'll be honest, I have not yet prevailed and spent a couple of hours cussing Jeep engineers yesterday. The rear UCA bolts are in a dang near impossible position to get out. I can get a wrench on the nut (through the engine bay), but can't get any leverage. Ended up swapping the brake pads out and putting the wheels back on. I'll give it another go today.

Question- I'm assuming there's nothing wrong with trying to get the bolts loose with the wheel still on is there? Itd be a lot easier to fool with it as I have time if I don't have to jack it up and take the wheel off just to try another way of getting the nut loose. Logic tells me that would be fine since you're supposed to snug them down with the car on the ground at ride height anyway.

I could easily get leverage on the bolt and hold the nut with a wrench, but the bolts have flags on them holding them in place against the frame to keep them from spinning. I did read about one guy who just pried the flags back and bent them back when he was done. Might try that.

It's pretty intense, nothing at all like the process in Texas was. Back home I had an inspection place where I didn't even get out of the car. Here in VA you drop the car off and come back for it 1-2 hours later. Link to the regs below.

https://vsp.virginia.gov/safety-and-enforcement/vehicle-safety-inspection/

South Dakota allows you to tag your vehicle there even if you don't live there. I think it's $100 extra the first time. No inspection and a modest registration fee. I would do this in a heartbeat if I lived in VA.

Yeah, they have that covered too. If you don't get your vehicle registered within some period of time after moving here the fines are pretty steep. VA also has a personal property tax on vehicles annually, which is ridiculous. You might suggest that not registering your vehicle would keep you from being taxed, but not so. They have license plate scanners and if your vehicle is picked up x number of times over x period they pull owner information and compare it to other databases to determine if you live in state and whether your vehicle is considered "garaged" in VA. I got my first tax bill before registering our cars in Virginia…