Has anyone fully removed a control arm from these vans? I have to replace ball joints, and have new bushings as well. The metal sleeved bushing(close to front) rubber is cracking and falling apart. I want to take off the control arm.

I have disconnected the ball joint from the knuckle, taken out the pivot bolt in the front bushing, and removed the bolts for the bushing retainer. It does not seem to pull out with that done. The Chilton manual says to remove the front suspension cradle plate from the cradle. I'm not sure what that means exactly. What is the cradle?

Any tips on removing the control arm? Thank you.


1999 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE(?)
3.3L V6

 

This is the craddle plate

 

LOWER CONTROL ARM

REMOVE

1. Raise vehicle on jack stands or centered on a frame contact type hoist. See Hoisting in the Lubrication and Maintenance section of this manual, for the required lifting procedure to be used for this vehicle.
2. Remove wheel and tire assembly from the side of vehicle requiring service to the lower control arm.
3. Remove the wheel stop from the steering knuckle. When installing the pinch bolt when assembling the steering knuckle to the ball joint, the pinch bolt must be installed from the rear facing the front on the vehicle
4. Remove the nut and bolt clamping the steering knuckle to the ball joint stud NOTE: The attaching bolts for the cradle plate are of two different thread sizes. Nine of the bolts are a M-14 thread and one of the bolts is a M-12 thread. Refer to for the cradle plate attaching bolt locations.
5. Remove the 10 bolts attaching the cradle plate to the front suspension cradle. Then remove the cradle plate from the cradle CAUTION: Pulling steering knuckle out from vehicle after releasing from ball joint can separate inner C/V joint. See Driveshafts.
6. Using a pry bar, separate steering knuckle from ball joint stud Use caution when separating ball joint stud from steering knuckle, so ball joint seal does not get cut.
7. Loosen but do not remove the pivot bolt attaching the front bushing of the lower control arm to the front suspension cradle
8. Remove retainer attaching rear bushing of lower control arm to front suspension cradle CAUTION: Make location reference marks where the front suspension cradle is mounted against the front frame rails before loosening and lowering the cradle. This is required so the cradle can be re-installed in the design location to achieve proper front suspension alignment.
9. Loosen but not fully removing the 2 left side suspension cradle to frame rail attaching bolts NOTE: When removing the left lower control arm from the vehicle, the front suspension cradle needs to be lowered for the pivot bolt to clear the transaxle.
10. Lower the left front corner of the suspension cradle until pivot bolt will clear end of transaxle. Remove the pivot bolt and the lower control arm from the cradle

INSTALL

NOTE: If the left lower control arm is being installed on the vehicle the front suspension cradle needs to be lowered for the pivot bolt to clear the transaxle.

1. Position lower control arm assembly into front suspension cradle. If installing the left lower control arm, pry down on the left front corner of the suspension cradle until the pivot bolt clears the end of the transaxle Install pivot bolt attaching front bushing of lower control arm to front suspension cradle Do not tighten or torque pivot bolt at this time
2. Install retainer attaching rear bushing of lower control arm to front suspension cradle. When installing retainer, be sure raised rib on rear bushing is positioned in the groove on the retainer. Do not torque attaching bolts at this time. NOTE: If reference marks were not put on the frame rails prior to lowering the suspension cradle, Refer toFrame And Bumpers for the cradle positioning procedure.
3. Raise the front suspension cradle against the front frame rails. Align the cradle with the reference marks on the frame rails.
4. Tighten the 4 mounting bolts for the front suspension cradle to a torque of 163 N·m (120 ft. lbs.)
5. Install lower control arm ball joint stud into steering knuckle. Then install the bolt and nut, clamping the steering knuckle to the ball joint stud. Tighten the clamping bolt to a torque of 145 N·m (105 ft. lbs.)
6. Install the cradle plate on front suspension cradle and then install the 10 cradle plate to cradle attaching bolts. Tighten the 9 M-14 attaching bolts to a torque of 165 N·m (123 ft. lbs.) Tighten the 1 M-12 attaching bolt to a torque of 108 N·m (80 ft. lbs.) CAUTION: When locating jack stands under lower control arm, do not place the jack stands under the ball joints
7. Position jack stands under the lower control arms as close to the ball joints as possible. Lower the vehicle onto the jack stands, until the jack stands are supporting the total weight of the vehicle
8. Tighten front lower control arm pivot bolt to a torque of 183 N·m (135 ft. lbs.) first, then tighten rear lower control arm bushing retainer attaching bolts to a torque of 68 N·m (50 ft. lbs.)
9. Install the wheel/tire assembly on the vehicle.
10. Install and tighten the wheel mounting stud nuts in proper sequence until all nuts are torqued to half specification. Then repeat the tightening sequence to the full specified torque of 135 N·m (100 ft. lbs.)
11. Remove jack stands and lower vehicle to the ground.

 

Thanks, got them off.


One cradle bolt was a total pain in the ***. Speaking of this, what is the point of the cradle plate at all? It seems to simply be a metal brace for the body. The Control arms bolt into the metal body frame, not the cradle plate.


Not sure why I even attempted this. The boots on both ball joints were torn, for years. I figured they were bad and it was due. Both ball joints were movable by hand but weren't super loose or anything. Oh well.

 

The cradle is the U shaped alluminum piece that everything bolts to. The plate keeps it from snapping in two like a wish bone.