Control arms and I'm excited
 

I've been searching the forum for a little while now and didn't find much on the subject, but I pulled the trigger anyway. I'm gonna start this control arm replacement and I'm crazy excited because it's my first "major" project I'll be doing myself.

The truck's been squeaking and creaking for a while now and it's gotten to the point where I don't even wanna drive it out of embarrassment. Kinda hard not too though cause it's the family driver. (Hopefully) Narrowed it down to the ball joints and instead of fussing with the joints, I'm just gonna replace the whole arm. Wish me luck! I'll update with pictures and whatnot.

Any tips, questions, or comments are greatly appreciated!

04 durango. MOOG replacements for under 100 bucks for the pair!

Are you doing just the uppers, or both upper and lower. Either way, I made a terrible mistake in choosing to replace just the lower ball joints themselves..I absolutely should have just replaced the whole arm, probably wouldn't have been much more expensive to be honest, but that was one of the biggest pains I have ever encountered working on any vehicle because the factory Ball Joints don't have a clip - they are pressed in with a lip that I had to chisel away with an air chisel. Also, the standard rent-a-tool ball joint remover didn't have a size big enough to fit. Had to search all over to find something that would work. My oldest son and I finally got it done but told mysel I would never do that again - though the replacement MOOG's do have a clip so it wouldn't be as bad. Ironically, I think I now need to replace both control arms now!

My only advice is that I hope you have air tools and an impact wrench because suspension parts that have never been changed on an 04 - you are gonna have a hard time getting that stuff apart. It is possible, but I finally broke down and purchase a big enough tank and some cheaper Kobalt air tools that made the job SO much easier. Other than that, it really isn't that bad at all. Good luck!