Took my Dakota to the dealership this morning to get the upper ball joint recall fixed and I just got a call from them telling me that the lowers are worse than the uppers. They quoted me almost $700 to change the lowers out. I can't afford that right now, so I was hoping that someone has changed these out themselves and could provide me with some information on how-to. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

John

 

Tis not really that hard to do, just time consuming

 

Great. I have time. Any advice on how to? I have the trusty ol' Haynes manual, but haven't look at it yet.

 

$700 is crazy. The lowers do have to be pressed, but the dealer won't do that. I know of a few who took their's to the dealer. They want to change the entire arn. An independant shop will just press new one's in. You can do it yourself, but if you are not mechanically inclined, it's better to pay someone. Moog is a good unit, as their greasable. NAPA's also aregreasable. There are some posts on here explaining the change. I'd call around for parts, then call independent shops to get their labor.

 

GO SOMEWHERE ELSE NOW!!! i hate stealerships. i just had my truck in for inspection and it needed a right lower ball joint. well they accidently stripped out the upper one or something trying to get it out so they replaced the right side ball joints, serviced my rear and did the whole inspections which included some other small parts for $487. You could most likely get all your ball joints replaced somewhere else with moog greasable ones for 700 most likely cheaper though. dont pay them that much thats a rip off.

 

on another note you'll love the way your front end will feel after they replace them whereever you get it done. mine feel so much stiffer and rides so much better now.

 

The hardest part, I believe, would be drilling the rivets out. I do wish they bolted them in, like they used to. So the ball joint is actually pressed into the lower control arm? That would make the removal of the entire control arm necessary for a DIY-er.

 

No you wouldn't have to remove them necessarily. A lot of parts stores let you borrow a press. Autozone will, but I don't know if their ball joints aregreasable. It looks like a c-clamp with different size bushings. You put pressure on the ball joint turning the screw. We heat up the arm a little, "not red", and tap on the arm with a hammer and hopefully they will pop. My Dad puts a big socket under the lower ball joint, and puts a heavy piece of steel he has under it, and just smacks the top of the old ball joint. It works for him, but I'd be afraid of cracking the control arm. If you pull ther arm and take it to ashop to get pressed, check out your control arm bushings. Might as well do them if they need it.

 

After lifting a few Jeeps with coil springs, I've become very leery of working with coil springs. Not too bad on solid axles where you can usually drop the axles down far enough for the springs to at least become pretty soft. But working with coil springs in these control arms -- that makes me nervous. I'd rather farm this type of work out, if it need require control arm removal. But it's good to know that there are loaner tools for the job. What else is involved -- just your standard ball joint separator to loosen the lower spindle mount? This job becomes somewhat easier if these can be pressed out by hand.

 

spring compresser? chain the SOB if ur that worried