2005 Dakota 4.7 RWD is torn apart in the garage, can't get bushing out of the lower control arm, and can't get the ball joint installed because "just rent a kit from the auto parts store" is missing most of the sizes I need.

I checked 3 other stores and no one has the right size adapter for the receive side of the ball joint press.

No one has an adapter big enough to to go around the outside of the control arm busing.

No one has the right size to go around the strut bushing.

Can someone PLEASE give me some information about where to get these?

 

Whereabouts are you located? Perhaps a member near you could drop one off for an afternoon.

Odd that their kit doesn't have the right size. I got mine from Princess Auto (like Canadian Harbour Freight) and it came with everything and did the job fine.

 

Bushings are damn near impossible to remove. You need a press.

 

Yeah I had the press, the problem is having the right sized adapter cups.

I'm resigned to buying random master adapter sets until I find the right ones, I refuse to accept that this can't be done,

If I'm having this problem, everyone else is too, because I checked the loaner sets at 4 different auto part stores and all of them were wrong in the exact same ways.

 

Those auto parts store loan tools get abused. I tried years ago, c clamp was stripped in the kit I got. Wasted enough of my time - bought my own.

 

I've used various variations of the video below. I've also drilled out the center sleeve with a hole saw which makes it easier to collapse the outer sleeve and knock it out.

https://youtu.be/oZ9IKbRu91o

 

How do you collapse the out sleeve, a hammer and chisel?

 

Usually. Once you core it the rest of the bushing has more room to collapse. I just take a big effing hammer and a chisel to drive between the outer sleeve and control arm.

This guy below uses an air chisel same concept. Just bash that bastard out.

https://youtu.be/P7PvxtVLTKs

 

Or you can just take it to your local garage and they will press them out for you with minimal charge. I would be more inclined to go that route instead of "core drilling" the old out. Hole saws tend to wander and even the best set will have some elliptical irregularities. I had 2 front wheel bearings stuck in the spindles and my local pressed them out for less than $20 CAD.

 

I got a shop to do this, because it was turning into a nightmare. He charged me 2 hours of labor, over $250.
That included removing everything and installing my parts. A net gain, but not by much.