Blazing New Trails
Jeep Rubicon Eibach Lift Kit
& Toyo Tires M/T Install

The next item that we replaced is the upper control arm. Because we’re lifting the vehicle 3.5-inches the stock control arm will ultimately be at the limit of where it’s still in the tolerable range for caster and pinion angle. To be on the safe side we decided to replace them with adjustable arms from Eibach.

The upper mounting bolt is located inside the frame rail but with an extension can be removed with ease, partly thanks to the flag nut that’s holding it in place.

The driver side upper control arm came out with ease but on the passenger side we ran into a slight issue. The upper bolt can’t be removed without taking off the exhaust! And on this seven year old Jeep that’s seen many Canadian winters, we really didn’t want to touch those rusty exhaust bolts in fear of breaking them.

Instead, we called our local Jeep dealer, ordered a new bolt and cut this one off.

Replacing the stock upper control arms would be stronger, more articulation friendly and adjustable Eibach upper control arms. These allow ample amounts of range for dialing in proper caster and pinion alignment. They don’t come with the All-Terrain-Lift-Kit but in our eyes are a worthwhile purchase if you plan to do any serious off-roading.

To set the length of the arms, we stuck two bolts through both mounting points and lengthened the arm until it was the same length as the stock one. That way the length isn’t crazy out of wack before we take the Jeep to an alignment shop.

For installation on the passenger side, we reversed the way the bolt was installed meaning no more interference issue with the exhaust.

There you have it, the new Eibach upper control arms are in place. I should note here that we didn’t tighten any of the nuts and bolts to proper torque spec yet. Instead, we snugged them down as the best practice is to tighten and torque everything with the suspension compressed when the wheels are on the ground.

Eibach actually provides caster/pinion adjustment bolts that bolt into the lower front arm axle location to allow for adjustment if you didn’t opt for the upper adjustable bars so this is a great time to install them. 

Now is a good time to bolt the new Eibach adjustable track bar in place.

As you can tell, it too is a much beefier item then stock and has loads of adjustment to ensure the axle is centered after the lift. Don’t go bolting in the upper mount just yet, install the bar with only the lower mount snug but not tight.

New bump stops are included in the Eibach kit and require a hole drilled and tapped to mount them up so we used a pen marker to mark the center spot.

Using a drill, we cut a hole just big enough so the supplied bolt would begin to thread into the metal.

This is where a tap set would come in handy but we didn’t have one so we had to rely on the supplied bolt to make its own threads, a step that is in the Eibach installation instructions but like I said, you’ll be much better off with a proper tap for this job.

Here it is set in place. You won’t be bolting the spacer down just yet though, we need to fit the spring first!

We fit and bolted the top of the Eibach shock up to the chassis, I’m not sure why we did this before installing the spring but don’t go securing the lower bolt just yet.

Here’s comes the somewhat tricky part, obviously the Eibach spring is longer than the stock spring which makes for a more difficult install. As you can see the brake line and ABS line are pretty tight and dropping the axle lower isn’t going to work. What we did here was while I pulled up on the spring compressing it, Jeff pushed down on the axle just enough for us to slide the spring in place.

A spring compressor would be a great help here or you can always disconnect the brake line and ABS sensor for more clearance.

Fitment was on point!

Now you can slide the spacer through the spring and install it. Be sure not to over tighten the bolt as the threads the bolt tapped aren’t going to be that strong.