I was in the process of removing the drivers side lower control arm when I discovered that the process to remove the ball joint, on my 2002 Dodge Caravan, is different than stated in the Chilton manual. It now looks like I have to remove the front axle to be able to remove the ball joint nut as the ball joint nut is directly below the CV joint/axle and there is no cross bolt (for the lack of better descriptions) as shown in the manual.

No doubt this has added a different level of complexity to the process as well as a bunch more time. However I do have several questions and they are follows;

1) Do I have to remove the front axle or is there an easier way?
2) What is the torque setting for this type ball joint nut arrangement?

Thank in advance

PWR

 

When I redid the front suspension of our 2001, I did not have to remove the axle. Since I was replacing the control arms(which came with the ball joints), I just removed the control arm. From what I remember, I did pull spindle off over the axle and then tied up the axle so as not to stress the CV joint. Also, after screwing around for several days trying to get the lower control arm bolt off and not getting anywhere, I just cut it off so that I could get it out past the differential.

 

I have figured it out and I will have to pull the axle or at least get it out of the way as the ball joint stud has a recessed hex socket to hold the ball joint stud while I remove the nut. There is not enough clearance to do this with the axle in place.

I had mentioned that the manual did not address this type of ball joint (the manual in question is the Hayes not Chilton). The Hayes manual addresses the older style of ball joint stud which is held in place using a pinch bolt arrangement. Strangely enough the Hayes manual does have the torque setting for the ball joint stud and nut arrangement.

As far as removing the one bolt to clear the transmission, this is simple enough, just loosen the K-member cradle bolt and drop that side, so that you can clear the transmission. If you ever have changed a water pump on this vehicles you will realize that you have to drop the engine several inches to remove the water pump, same idea here.

Finally, loosening rusty bolts, I read a tech tip in Grassroots Motorsports mag where they had tested several products such as Pb Blaster ...etc. The product that worked the best and it works (I just started using it today) is a homemade product using ATF fluid and Acetone.

Follow this link to the tech tip in Grassroots Motorsports Magazine for testing info.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/tech-tips/55/

Cheers