so ive got a 98 dakota 2.5 2wd, and it recently has been pulling HARD to the right, but not wearing down the P/S tire, i believe all the bushings are Original, as i tried to run 195/70 15's and they worn down to wire in less than 2k miles with no pulling at all...

Im guessing i need to do all of the bushings, ball joints and an alignment, i see theres kits on ebay, they worth it??

Ball joints:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/K7241-Durango-2wd-Suspension-Kit-Upper-Lower-Ball-Joints-Tie-Rod-Ends-Right-Left-/171216560114?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1998%7CMake%3ADodge%7CModel%3ADakota&hash=item27dd4d5ff2&vxp=mtr
Bushings:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Energy-Suspension-5-3139G-Control-Arm-Bushing-Set-97-04-Dakota-Durango-/321354599370?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1998%7CMake%3ADodge%7CModel%3ADakota&hash=item4ad23a0bca&vxp=mtr

 

I D K my BFF Jill (sorry)

I have never ordered from them but I would inquire about the length of the warranty. Most auto stores gives a year.

I looked at the first link and saw this
"
Research installation procedures. Improper installation by the customer or any third party .voids any warranties. All parts must be installed by a certified mechanic or certified specialist.

"
I've never had a store void a warranty because they thought it was installed wrong. But I've never order auto parts off ebay.

If you do have any problem with them failing while under warranty, you may need to have the receipt from the certified mechanic or certified specialist that installed them.

 

do yourself a favor, speaking from experience, and just order assembled control arms with bushing and ball joints attached.

 

I agree, I have done the bushing and ball joints. The upper ball joints are a piece of cake, but the lower one are a pain in the butt. Have you done a alignment first and see what your readings were?

 

no i havent done an alignment yet

what makes just replacing them so difficult?

I see sets from $159 to $189

 

I agree 100% get the all in one control arms way less hassle and faster without the headache that comes with DIY-ing ball joints and bushings.

I did it the hard way and don't want to do that again.

The ready to go control arms are the best way to go.

If your front end is bad most shops will not Aligne your auto

You need the proper torex sockets to remove the lower arms the top are Big nuts.

If your Dakota is a 2WD get new springs if you can and spring isolators be sure to get the correct springs you may want to get springs that are for the 3.9 V6 they should be stronger the springs in a 2.5 are kind of whimpy/weak.

Be sure you are not getting lowering springs.

Springs should run you around $80 to $120 a pair.

 

well i got 2 tires today and i took a look at my front end components and my ball joints all have bolts/nuts, so theres no need for me to buy the complete arm when the hard work has already been done by someone in the past =D

But i am thinking of just replacing Everything on the front end so i dont have to worry about going back in again

i see AZ has hubs/bearings and also bearings, the hubs by valucraft (I believe thats who theyre by) are $77 and the timken Bearing for the hubs are $79 and then a high dollar hub/bearing for like $150, i know my P/S bearing is toast, i can jiggle my tire

i need the bushing kit, upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar links and what else??

 

have FUN changing your control arm bushings. The uppers took me about an hour and a half to do both sides R&R with a habor freight press, PITA but got it done. The lowers I had a shop do and they said that they won't do it again- there's no safe way to compress the spring (they used a transmission jack and 3 ratchet straps) and they broke their press trying to get the bushing out and had to borrow another shop's press.

 

Like magnethead said you are missing half the puzzle the bushings are the hardest part of the control arms Ball joints are the second half of the job.

I removed my top arms and had a machine shop replace the bushings even they didn't like doing them and damaged one of the bushings trying luckily I gave them extra bushings as a backup knowing how hard the bushings are to do.

Do this machine shop for the top arms and slap new ball joints on them as you said the ball joints are already bolted on so easy to replace.

The bottom new arms is the best way to go.

magnethead on the springs they are easy to do you don't need the spring tool they don't work as you said.


How to get the springs out safely without danger??

1. Remove shock or shocks if doing both sides

2. Front of truck on good solid jack stands and remove tire and brake parts

3. Put a floor jack under the control arm jack up arm just to the point the arm is not on any bumpers.

4. Remove the knuckle by removing the ball joints and steering ball joint

5. At this point you should have a top control arm just sitting waiting to be removed by un bolting them and the bottom arm on the spring still under load

6. Now all you need to do to get the spring out is slowly drop the jack down if the jack is in the way still at full bottom and under a small load by the spring just pull the jack out with a yank.

Now the key to this is how high on the jack stands you placed your Dakota it needs to be a bit higher than you may think so the spring can be unloaded and pulled out.

My springs had a small load on them still but pulling out the floor jack did the trick and the springs dropped out.

If you have two floor jacks and the spring is under too much load still you could jack the front of the truck up to the point the springs unload 100%

If you do this correctly the spring just drops out for you, you may need to pull it out as the spring isolator may have it glued in place.

The spring tool is very dangerous DO NOT USE IT


I may have missed a step or two just think everything through and look for any possabilitys

 

I forgot

As you jack up the control arm to start removing the ball joints and knuckle be very carful not to jack it up to the point the truck starts to come off the jack stands if this happens the jack stands may need to be extended more or you have jacked the floor jack up too much you are just jacking it to the point the arms are not siting on any bumpers causing a load on any of the two arms. The arms need to be jacked to the point they look like they are normal or you could say free floating.


New arms are the best just get them any time you replace the bushings you run the chance of bending the arms then at that point you must get new arms anyway.