Well the ball joint has dropped enough due to wear to push the dust cover into the back of my alloy wheel.....thereby scraping the alloy in maximum turn situations. So I want to replace this beast. Its a Y shaped fitting. The store version looks a little different than OEM. Anyway, there is a yoke on the bottom of the strut that slips over this control arm with a bolt going thru it.

My questions is, is that yoke/clevis thing under compression? In other words...will I be able to put it back on once I get it off?

Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/im...nt/D281503.jpg

 

Well I managed to replace the LCA. It was pretty straight forward. The old ball joint dropped into heat shield and the heat shield bent to the extent it was gauging my alloy wheel on the inside. Clearance is very tight. Getting the LCA off took about 1.5 hours of take my time work, with breaks for coffee. Wheel, rotor, brake pads and heat shield had to be romoved. Next was the balljoint at the end of the sway bar. That held up the job due to a lack of allen wrench. Allen wrench is required to hold the balljoint of sway bar while removing the nut that held the swaybar balljoint to the body. Next the sway bar bracket had to be removed (2 nuts). Next the LCA bolts had to be removed. Fairly easy as long as you have a 2 ft pipe to put on the end of your wrench. Ball joint on LCA actually hung so low that one balljoint separator was useless. Lucky for me I had two separators. I piggy backed the two of them and the balljoint separated with a 2 pound hammer.

Getting the LCA back in place took hours due to blinds spots for nuts and the LCA refusal to line up in its proper place. Having an extra car jack will come in handy.

The lower end of strut clevis was not under compression as I thought it might be.

In the shop this might take an hour. At home, with minimal tools, the first time, you can expect to frig with it for 6-7 hours.

I had a tremendous amount of sand (FLORIDA) that I had to clean off threads, nuts, and in the housing area for the LCA points of attachment. That added to my time.

I would recommend replacing the brake pads while they are off, and the sway bar balljoint, since it is off also. You might consider the transaxle as well. Heck you might as well consider the Upper Control Arm also.

I ordered a part that was a third of the price that the parts stores wanted. It was made in China by Dorman. Hopefully it will last a year or two. I have low expectations. But who knows. It might last as long as the last one.

 

All sounds so familiar, especially the part of getting it back on. And because of all the fiddling to get the rear part of the control arm into its place, I ripped the dust boot on the lower ball joint without knowing it! Just try finding the boot by itself - impossible! (as if this part never goes bad!) To paraphrase Billy Crystal - thanks for pouring lemon juice on my cut!

 

help im replacing the lower control arm on 2002 dodge stratus 2.7 in the driver side but the bolt on the front suspension crossmember it seems to be to long is not coming out because the transsmission is in the front of the bolt any ideas is like maby one centimetor longer or do i need special tool

 

You might want to start a new thread about your issue, as it is NOT the same as what was discussed here. On top of that, the 95-00 Stratus is COMPLETELY different from the 01+ models (and then we'll still need to know if it's a coupe or sedan, since they are completely different from each other too!).

 

Reviving an old thread here because I need help specific to my '99 Stratus. I've gotten the old LCA removed, but I'm having trouble installing the new replacement. Per my instructions, I'm to install the Rear of the LCA into the front suspension crossmember FIRST, THEN the front of the LCA into the crossmember. I can't get the rear of the LCA into place. It's like it's binding up and I can't seem to "twist" the LCA in order to get it in place. It's ending up around 1/2" or so from lining up with the bolt hole and the front is about half way of the crossmember bracket.
Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.


-Got them in but now I'm having issues torquing the castle nuts in the LCA Ball Joint to knuckle.