I saw in another thread he had outlined the cams with a utility knife to score their position on the frame. I'm going to be ordering all new bushings this week and replacing them this weekend or next. This time around I'm going to save myself some hammering and heat up the bolts as Alfons described and replace everything.

 

That's exactly how it is, I did put score lines around cam bolt, didn't matter though, as I did a spring chop and needed an alignment anyways. That only affected my camber/caster angles, but my toe was still spot on. They barely had to change it.

But the alignment is done by rotating the back of each bolt, well it was the back for me but I noticed on another Dakota that they were reversed. I ended up going to a shop a couple times as the new parts wanted to slide back out of alignment.. I actually have to go back a 3rd time. Might not be as bad with stock height.

 

Thanks, did you use the original bolts or manage to get new ones?

 

I had to get new ones, they were rust-swollen worse than the strut bolts. $20 each and cutting through them made me cry $80 worth of tears.

Only one survived, I'll ship it to anyone who needs it if they pay shipping, just the bolt, no nut.

 

Here's a great pic I found on bimmerforums that is exactly what our alignment system is like. The only difference is that the flat plates you see are welded to our crossmember.

 

That's good info, thanks. You were mentioning that your alignment keeps "slipping", causing a need to realign often - your pictures show only one nut on the cam bolt, but there should be 2. As the control arm goes up & down, it causes a back & forth twist to the bolt shaft & it doesn't take much to loosen the nut just a fraction of a turn to allow the cam bolt to move. The outer nut is a jamb nut to keep the single nut from loosening.

 

That must be why mine slid loose. My outer nut (chuckle) is a 1 piece, part of which isn't theaded. It sits over the shaft of the cam bolt. Its a good 1 3/8" long.

When the dealer ordered me some new nuts, what I got wasn't the same that was on my truck, and looked like a normal nut, without the extra length that slides over the cambolt.

 

I decided to fix my seized control arm bushings now while I have everything apart and have come to some new facts and conclusions. The cam bolt shown in this thread isn't the correct one and the way I had described the bushings is apparently also wrong, so tomorrow before I cut up all the old stuff and install the new, I'll take some pictures of what's what.

 

Lol, no not too late. I've been procrastinating this suspension rebuild as I have too many things on the go. At least the hardest part is done and the front end is completely apart. I've been buying the parts bit by bit. I didn't expect to have to do the control arms due to the seized strut bushing though.

The first attempt at ordering the replacement bolts was botched by the dealer and they had to reorder. More than point to the pictures and tell them how many of what number I need I just can't do, but I now finally have the right ones. Cost me large even at garage price.

I'm now waiting on new strut mounts and I still have to order the control arms (not from the dealer and not Mevotech). Surprising how many parts dealers want to push the Mevotech's.

This truck will have new rotors, pads, bearings, rebuilt struts, upper and lower control arms with all associated bushings, ball joints, axle seals, tie rod ends, rear shocks, and both front and rear sway bar links. And I still owe money on this damn truck as I bought it used.

 

But man, it will feel worth it. It won't be, but it will feel like it lol. So Dodge was trying to sell you mevotechs? that's crappy. I didn't check to see where they are made, but their offices are in Montreal, Canada so we can blame Dakkkota.