Older thread, but the first that popped up when I searched on "Dakota lower control arm torque".


This is exclusive to the 2005 Dakota. '06 and up are much closer to 100, for the lowers and 130 for the uppers. It does vary so check your specific year.


I encountered this today. My Haynes book listed 180f/lbs. A professional Dodge mechanic had not encountered this particular bolt. Out of an abundance of caution, he checked an on-line subscription database he often uses, it gave a spec of 110 f/lbs. Because of the discrepancy we checked the official Chrysler spec's as published in late 2004...180 f/lbs. One more subscription database was checked...180 f/lbs.


It was interesting to have the apparent error in a mechanic oriented, paid subscription database, but it was there, and was double checked. As I know zero shadetree mechanics who use a subscription like this, I neglected to get the names.


Ultimately I made a calculated decision to go to 150f/lbs ONLY because I was planning on a trip to the alignment shop within the week.


And re: Torque wrenches. Deep in the dreaded instructions, most recommend a periodic calibration.

 

And if you don't back them off to zero when you are done with them, they will go off calibration faster.

 

Thanks for posting this ScottFry, it finally solves this for me. I followed the 2005 FSM that was posted on this forum for the spec at the time. Now it all makes sense. I found it hard to believe that my torque wrench could have been off by that much considering I bought it new, never misused it, and always stored it properly. It's also not a cheap department store type either.

I remember the guy who did my alignment after I rebuilt the front end saying that he though 180 was way high and said that he just uses his impact to tighten the bolts which he figured put them around 140.

 

I did not use a torque wrench, but I made mine very tight with a breaker bar. probably a 2' bar with close to 100lb on it. they looked like very stout bolts and withstood immense torque when i tried to break loose the seized ones, so i just made them gorilla tight and sent it to the alignment shop.

 

Chilton Repair Manual for my 2007 says to tighten the Lower Control Arm bolts to 110 ft lbs. You would think the FSM would be correct, but 180 ft lbs seems high for that size bolt. I'm not sure the diameter of that bolt but looks to be around 1/2". At work we torque 3/8" socket head cap screws/bolts to 62.5 ft lbs. Too much beyond that and it weakens the bolt causing stripped threads and broke bolts and those bolts take a hell of a lot more day to day abuse than the lower control arm bolts. You're putting a force on both ends of that bolt when you tighten it and at 180 ft lbs would cause a lot of torsion on the shaft of that bolt. Heck my '98 dakota had a torque spec for 185 ft lbs for the wheel hub retaining nut and it was a 36mm nut that screwed on about 1" threaded shaft.

 

There are a number of specs on the 3rd gen Dakota that are all screwed up in the 3rd party manuals as well as in the Mopar created manuals. The diameter of the bolt itself doesn't limit the amount of torque that can be applied to it, you need to consider the bolt strength as well as the thread size. You don't always torque a bolt to maximum (there are a few "torque to yield" applications), so some of the applications like the front axle shaft at around 135 foot pounds is NOT the max for that shaft size but all you need for that application considering the thread size. The lower control arm bolts have a course thread and they have an entirely different application. I don't think 185 foot pounds on that bolt is excessive, but it should be pretty simple to ask a dealership for some support on this issue - that would clear the air and stop the guessing.

 

Well the bolt snapping when 185 foot pounds was applied would suggest to me that it is excessive. For the record I am not using a cheap torque wrench, never backed any bolts off with it or misused it in any way that would otherwise damage it, and always stored it properly.

I ended up torquing to 140 and driving it to the alignment shop which tightened the bolts using an impact which they claimed got them to about the same. I haven't had a problem since.

 

There are lots of reasons why a bolt would snap. The Mopar service manual also states 185 foot pounds. If I was re-doing something that affected the lower control and wasn't confident on the published torque value, I would check with Mopar (it's not that hard to get an official response from them) before guessing and setting critical values too low. Those cam bolts hold the entire front end in alignment. Hammering a bolt tight with an impact wrench wouldn't give me much confidence as to how tight that bolt was - impact wrenches vary in performance, even a slightly sloppy socket on an impact can drastically drop the torque values applied. Using a tool with some sort of calibrated readout would be the way I'd prefer to go.

 

Well, all I know is what the Mopar factory service manual told me consistently throughout the manual resulted in a snapped bolt, and what the alignment shop recommended I set it to didn't. Once I acquired a new bolt I consulted with an alignment shop rather than Mopar since it was Mopars factory service manual the mislead me to begin with. Want to call what the alignment shop does guessing? Ok, but they do alignments all day everyday and after several thousand kilometers including some mild offroading, the truck is still in alignment.

 

I know this is an old thread but it comes up on Google so just wanted to point out that there are at least 2 cam bolt sizes so for anyone in the future, that may be the difference.