NOLATHANE Control Arm Kit - Upper with Fitting Position Front, Rear for 2013 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

An upper control arm kit covers the top link on a double wishbone corner, either as a complete assembly ready to bolt in or as the bushings and hardware to rebuild what is already on your Jeep Wrangler.

The upper position fails differently to the lower one and it is adjusted differently on a lot of vehicles, both of which change what you need to order.

Why Jeep Wrangler Upper Control Arm Kits Exist as a Separate Repair

The upper arm carries less vertical load than the lower one on most designs, because the spring sits on the lower arm. What it takes instead is the twisting and lateral load from cornering and steering, fed through a ball joint that is usually smaller than the one underneath.

That means the two arms rarely wear out together. An upper control arm can be finished while the lower one on the same corner has years left, and the upper joint typically fails from a split boot letting contamination in rather than from being worn out by load.

Some trucks turn this around completely by putting the spring or torsion bar on the upper arm, which makes the upper the loaded position and the first to go. Knowing which layout you have decides where to start looking.

An upper and lower control arm kit covers both positions at once, which is efficient when both are genuinely due, since separating the ball joints and supporting the suspension happens once either way.

Alignment Shims and the Jeep Wrangler Upper Control Arm Mount

On a great many older trucks and rear drive cars, the upper control arm is where the front alignment is actually adjusted, and this catches people out.

The arm mounts to the frame on a cross shaft, and behind that shaft sit stacks of thin steel alignment shims. Adding or removing shims moves the upper arm inboard or outboard, which changes camber, and moving shims between the front and rear bolt changes caster. That is the entire adjustment mechanism on those vehicles.

Two consequences follow from that arrangement, and both matter on the day. The shims come out when the arm does, so they need keeping, counting and refitting in the same positions, or the alignment starts from scratch. And if your Jeep Wrangler has been aligned before, the shim stacks on the two sides are rarely identical, which means they cannot be swapped.

Bag and label them by side and by bolt position as they come off. Front end alignment shims are cheap to buy if some are damaged, but knowing what was there originally saves the aligner a great deal of guesswork.

Newer designs with no shims adjust elsewhere or not at all, which is why correction arms exist for those.

Jeep Wrangler Upper Control Arms After a Leveling Kit

This is the most common reason people buy upper arms in the United States, and it is worth being clear about what is happening.

A leveling kit raises the front of a truck to match the rear. The suspension arms then sit at a steeper angle than they were designed around, which moves camber and caster, and the factory upper arm usually does not have enough adjustment left to bring them back.

There is a second problem that gets less attention. The upper ball joint is built around factory travel, so at the new ride height it works closer to the end of its range, and at full droop it can bind. That is why upper ball joints start failing repeatedly on leveled trucks, and why replacing the same joint twice is a sign the geometry is the issue rather than the parts.

A kit designed for the lifted or leveled position restores the alignment range and uses a joint with the articulation the new angle demands. Check the listing for the lift height it was built around, since an arm designed for one range fitted to a very different one moves the geometry in a direction you did not want.

Upper Control Arm Kits on Trucks and on Passenger Cars

The same category serves two audiences with very different problems, and it helps to know which one you fall into.

On a passenger car or an older rear drive vehicle, the upper arm is a wear item. The bushings perish, the ball joint boot splits, and the repair restores what the vehicle had when it was newer. Shimmed designs mean the alignment is part of the job rather than an afterthought.

On a modern truck, the upper arm is more often a modification. The vehicle has been leveled or lifted, the geometry has moved, and the arm is being replaced to recover alignment range rather than because anything has worn out. The original arm may well be in perfectly serviceable condition when it comes off.

Those two situations call for different parts entirely. A direct replacement puts the geometry back where the factory set it, which is exactly wrong on a truck that has been raised. A correction arm hands the aligner range the factory never provided, which is unnecessary on a vehicle sitting at standard height and will move the alignment away from where it should be.

Work out which of the two you are doing before ordering, because the parts are not interchangeable and the listings do not always make the distinction obvious.

Jeep Wrangler Upper Control Arm Bushing Kit or Complete Assembly

The decision follows the condition of the arm and the joint.

An upper control arm bushing kit is the cheaper route when the ball joint is still tight, the arm is straight and free of corrosion, and ride height has not changed. On older designs the bushings press into the arm around a cross shaft, and an upper control arm shaft bushing set typically supplies both sides along with the seals.

A complete upper control arm assembly is the answer when the joint has gone as well, when the arm is bent or badly corroded, when a mounting eye has worn out of round, or when you need correction that the factory arm cannot provide.

Because the arm comes off the vehicle either way, the labor is much the same. Once both the bushings and the joint are due, the assembly is usually the better value even where rebuilding is technically possible.

Jeep Wrangler Upper Control Arm Bolts and Shaft Hardware

Worth ordering alongside the arm, particularly on anything with age or road salt behind it.

The upper control arm bolt passes through the mounting point and frequently seizes in place, which turns a straightforward job into a long one. On cross shaft designs the shaft itself, the nuts and the shims all need to come apart cleanly, and any one of them can resist.

An upper control arm bolt kit costs little next to the rest of the job and removes the risk of being stopped halfway through by a fastener that will not move. Some manufacturers also specify these as single use, in which case reusing them is not an option regardless of condition.

Check the service information before assuming the original hardware goes back in.

Jeep Wrangler Upper Control Arm Replacement Cost

Upper control arm replacement cost is driven by access, by what is being fitted, and on shimmed designs by the alignment that follows.

Removing the arm is unavoidable in every version of this repair, and the vehicle needs aligning afterward in all of them. On a vehicle with alignment shims that alignment takes longer, because the technician is adjusting by adding and removing metal rather than turning a bolt.

What moves the quote is whether the ball joint is included, whether both sides are being done, whether a correction arm is needed for a leveled truck, and whether the hardware comes out cleanly.

Doing both sides at one visit avoids paying twice for the same teardown, and it also means the aligner can set the vehicle symmetrically rather than working around one new arm and one old one.

Torquing Your Jeep Wrangler Upper Control Arm Kit at Ride Height

Support the vehicle properly and take the load off the suspension before separating the ball joint, since a joint under spring load releases suddenly and without warning.

Use a proper separator rather than a hammer, which damages the knuckle bore and the stud threads.

Keep the alignment shims organized as they come out, labeled by side and bolt position, and refit them the same way unless the aligner tells you otherwise.

Leave the inboard fasteners loose until the vehicle is back on the ground carrying its own weight. Polyurethane and rubber both take a set from the position they are clamped in, and an arm tightened while the suspension hangs will sit under permanent twist once the wheels are loaded, which shortens the life of the bushings considerably.

Fit a new cotter pin to the castle nut, cycle the suspension through its travel to confirm clearance, and book the alignment for the same visit.

Find Upper Control Arm Kits for Your Jeep Wrangler

Upper kits are listed with the rest of the Nolathane control arm kit selection.

Select your Jeep Wrangler to see the upper control arm kits listed for it, including complete assemblies, bushing kits and the hardware that goes with them. Every Nolathane component is backed by our warranty, a fitment guarantee and 60 day returns.