Rep: 1
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I am going to replace rear upper control arm and ball joint in my jeep.
I have seen videos and heard suggestions as to how this can/should be done.
Is it possible to drive vehicle on ramps and remove ball joint and rear control arm as one or is it necessary to support chassis and rear differential to complete the replacement?
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Rep: 145
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Yes, its often done. That ball-joint is a PITA.
I picked up the special tool to separate the ball joint and it make life much much easier. Droop the rear suspension, undo the top nut, slide tool over, tighten until it pops off. Makes it a 30 minute job.
Miller 8278 - check E-bay. Since its a Miller tool, expect $100+
If you remove the entire A-arm, be careful tightening it back up. If you get a twist in the bushings along the side of the jeep, they will only last a few hundred miles and then you have to do the job again (guess how I know….) When you torque the bolts, the bushings tend to twist and this pre-loads the rubber etc.
BTW, A-arms are pretty cheap, consider buying a new one. Amazon has deals on complete suspension sets - all the control arms + a-arm etc.
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Just wanted to add. Separating the ball joint is tough. None of my tools fit in there - pickle forks etc. The Miller tool made a couple hours of frustration turn into "why did I pay this much for a tool that I only used for a few seconds" Not sure if you can get similar tool elsewhere. The tool is BIG time saver.
If you don't have the tool, you can remove the whole arm if you get to the 3 bolts on top of the axle.
When you re-install, The ball joint and bolts around it are pretty easy. The two bolts on the side are the ones you have to watch. As you torque them down, you will see that the bushing twists. This is bad. The twist stresses the bushing and it will fail in short order. I used anti-seaze on the bolt sides to try to keep it from twisting. I did pretty good and the 2nd time I did the job it turned out well (bushings are still good after many miles). What the bushings need is a flat spot you can get a wrench on them but I couldn't figure out how or where.
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