Lower Control Arm Bushings and Ball Joint Replacement

The following is what I did to replace the old, stock lower control arm bushings, the ball joints and update the lower engine torque strut bushings. The bushings are Energy Suspension parts, and the ball joints are MOOG K7147 ball joints.

Tools:

-Chrysler Service Manual for my 2001 PT Cruiser

-Floor jack and jack stands

-Metric sockets and ratchet

-Breaker bar (long-handled socket driver for extra leverage)

-Nut driver set for small bolts holding splash shield and bumper reinforcement

-Hammer and mallet

-Beefy screwdriver with long handle for beating and prying

-2 jaw gear puller

-1/2”chisel (preferably an old one)

-Needle nose pliers (since I didn’t have external ring pliers)

-Charcoal

-Metal bristle brush

-Metal file

-C-clamp

-Torque wrench (needs to go to at least 185 ft-lb)

-Coil spring compressor

-4 quarts of elbow grease and an extra set of hands to help at times!

Process:

Removal

I set the e-brake and broke the lug nuts loose on the front wheels.

I used the floor jack to lift the car and support the front end with jack stands. I removed the wheels.

I removed the splash shield lining the lower inside of the passenger side fender well. Behind it sits the torque strut that has to come out. I took a few pictures just for reference when I put things back together later.

I loosened the bolt holding the torque strut to the motor. Then I loosened and removed the nut and bolt holding the pencil strut.

Once the pencil strut is off, I removed the rear bolt holding the torque strut. I made a note here that it would take a deep well socket to torque this back down later. I had to buy one. The torque strut had to come out so I could see the front isolator bushing bolt.

I removed the sway bar link bolt on both sides of the car and swung the end of the sway bar down out of the way. This gave me clearance to drop the control arm later.

It was time to crack the ball joint apart. I backed out the pinch bolt that goes through a notch in the ball stud. I hung onto the old bolt to help me line up the notch while installing the new ball joint later. No sense beating on the brand new pinch bolt to get the notch lined up!

Next, I put a 21mm socket on the bolt holding the front isolator bushing (120 ft-lb). Since it is hiding inside the pocket that housed the torque strut a short extension was needed to get the socket on the bolt.

Next I removed the rear isolator bushing bolt. It’s a 24mm, and is torqued to 185 ft-lb so I used a breaker bar to get it loose. Other model years might have different torque specs, so I’ll have to buy another Service Manual when it’s time to work on my ’05 in a few years.

When bolts are torqued this tight, I have to be sure I am turning in the right direction or I risk damaging the bolt or breaking it. Both isolator bushing bolts are quite long!

As you can see, that rear isolator bushing really needs to be replaced!

The control arm was ready to come out, but I had to use a long handled beefy screwdriver to coax it out. Pushing down on the outer end of the control arm while prying the isolator bushings out of their pockets took a little effort. I was careful not to pull the knuckle away from the car, as it is supposed to cause all kinds of havoc inside those CV boots! I also sprayed a little WD-40 on the bushings to help them slide out of the pockets.

Maybe you’ll notice this is a mirrored picture of the driver’s side control arm. I neglected to get a picture of the passenger side, but it’s the same. Removal of the driver’s side was next, and it is basically the same thing except I didn’t have to worry about the splash shield, torque strut or pencil strut.

Disassembly

Two support pieces for the lower engine torque strut came with the set. However, these pieces conflict with some of the original bushing on the car.

The circles show where the conflict is between the pieces. I had to cut away a little of the new pieces to get them to fit. I used a set of side cutters and end cutters, but an Exacto would have worked as well.

Another picture to show the conflict areas.

The instructions for the torque strut bushings simply said to cut away enough of one of the zip tie’s heads to clear the metal piece, then just zip tie the two pieces together after fitting them to the torque strut. I set this aside for reinstallation later.

My approach to preparing the control arms to go back in was to first get everything off of the control arm.

I set up the 2-jaw gear puller with a small bushing pusher. I just squeezed the jaws around the rubber on the backside of the bushing so the jaws would seat on the metal. The bushing pushed out pretty easily. I took a wire brush and cleaned out the shell. None of the old front bushing will be re-used.

Next I setup the rear isolator bushing at the press to push out the inner metal sleeve. Once it was removed, I used a hammer and a ½” chisel that had seen better days to separate as much of the rubber as I could from the inner metal sleeve. I set the sleeve aside as the remaining rubber would have to be burned off.

I went to the press again with a larger bushing pusher and knocked out most of the remaining rubber in the rear isolator outer metal sleeve (which remains a part of the control arm). The remaining rubber had to be burned out as well.

I returned to the press and setup to push the old ball joint out. I put a receiver cup under the control arm on the bottom of the ball joint, then just pushed on the ball joint stud with the press. These let go with a BANG when they come out!

Once I had both control arms stripped of bushings and ball joints, it was time to barbeque. I placed the rear isolator inner metal sleeves in the Weber grill and added charcoal. I placed the control arm rear isolator sleeves into the charcoal as well, balancing the other end of the control arm on the edges of the grill. I lit the coals and let them cook for about an hour. As they cooked, I continued with other tasks, hoping that it takes a higher temperature than charcoal will reach to soften metal.

The rear isolator inner metal sleeves came out of the fire looking like this, but cleaned up with a wire brush pretty quickly. I also took the wire brush to the control arm surfaces, cleaning anything that was going to come in contact with the new bushings or the ball joints.

On the bottom of the control arm I found a couple of rough spots where the ball joint would seat when I pressed it in. I took a metal file to them and they came off quickly.

Assembly

I grabbed a new ball joint and set it up at the press with an appropriate receiver. I actually broke the first new ball joint as I used an installer that was too small in diameter. It pushed on the bottom center section of the ball joint, which bent and leaked grease. The instructions that came with the ball joint clearly say not to push on the “cover plate”, it just took me too long to figure out what the cover plate actually was.

See the ring I pressed into the cover plate? I took a break and ordered another ball joint.

While pressing in the ball joint, I checked to make sure I’d pushed the ball joint all the way in without trying to push it too far and risk breaking something else.

I flipped the assembly over and grabbed the metal ring that came with the ball joint. I was supposed to use special ring pliers, but I had a set of needle nose pliers long enough to spread the ring open and seat it in the notch on top of the ball joint just above the control arm surface. One less tool to buy/borrow!

The rubber cover went on next. The cover on the MOOG K7147 ball joints I bought had an indicator that was supposed to face inboard. I placed it as best I could by hand, and then gently pressed it with one of the installers I’d borrowed to use with the press.

Next I greased the outer metal sleeve on the front isolator and pushed in the new bushing halves by hand. Then I greased the inside of these bushing pieces and pushed in the new inner metal sleeve. I used a c-clamp with a washer on either end of the sleeve to push this piece home. Then I cleaned up the grease that had squeezed out.

Installing the rear isolator bushing is difficult to master, as the small doughnut-shaped piece likes to move around too much. What eventually worked for me was to grease the inside of the outer metal shell, then push the small doughnut-shaped piece in from the bottom of the control arm, pushing it almost all the way to the top.

NOTE: A couple of these pictures were staged for illustration and aren’t slathered in grease.

Then I flipped the whole thing over and set it on a receiver cup that was narrow enough to support the doughnut without scratching up the inside of the outer sleeve. I greased the inner metal shell and the surfaces of the top bushing piece that would be touching metal. I inserted the inner sleeve into the top bushing piece, then placed this over the top of the assembly and started pressing.

NOTE: The doughnut obviously isn’t installed for these pictures, but you can see the 1-1/2” piece of pipe I used to hold the doughnut in place as the top bushing started down.

I had to be careful with the placement of the receiver pipe so that the inner metal sleeve didn’t hit it as it came down. Once the top bushing piece made contact with the top of the control arm, I switched to a normal receiver.

I pressed until the top bushing looked like this:

NOTE: The staining around the bushing pocket is from the WD-40 I used to aid in removing the control arm.

The bottom bushing piece won’t stay in place until the whole thing is back in the car, so I saved this bushing for last. I greased where the bushings touch metal and headed back to the car.

Installation

I took a wire brush and cleaned out the pockets and the bottom of the steering knuckle where the ball joint attaches. I put the goggles on as I did this. It’s too easy to flick stuff into your eyes!

Re-installing the control arm was the hardest part of the whole operation for me. This is the part where working on jack stands was a disadvantage.

I installed a spring compressor on the strut spring and tightened it down a little. This was probably not necessary as the knuckle was at full droop already and I could compress the spring with a light pressure.

I knew I needed to move the strut out of the way soon so I could lift the knuckle. I backed off the nuts holding the strut to the knuckle, then whacked out the bolts with a hammer. I couldn’t let the bolts turn as I loosened the nuts since the bolts are serrated near the head. I also removed a bolt holding the ABS sensor wire to the strut.

Since it won’t hold itself in place, I placed the lower bushing piece for the rear isolator in position as I placed the control arm into the pocket under the car. I had a helper hold the knuckle up as high as possible to allow the control arm to be as near horizontal as possible.

I had to work both the front bushing and the rear into place, walking them back and forth so they wouldn’t bind on the way in. I used a big screwdriver to pry and a mallet to whack the thing until it was positioned. It sounds easy, but this required lots of effort! I started the rear bolt, and then started the front bolt.

I grabbed the torque wrench and torqued the rear isolator to 185 ft-lb, then torqued the front isolator to 120 ft-lb.

With one last check to make sure the notch in the ball joint stud was aimed at the front isolator, I installed the knuckle atop the ball joint stud. This was a two-person job. I tied a short loop of rope around the control arm and had a helper step on it to push the control arm down. Meanwhile, I lifted the knuckle up and positioned it over the ball joint stud.

I put the new pinch bolt that came with the ball joint into the knuckle from the front side of the car, then put the nut on the other end. I torqued the pinch bolt nut to 70 ft-lb.

If I had needed to persuade the bolt to slide in, I’d have grabbed one of the old pinch bolts and hammered it in to set the ball stud notch properly, then pushed the new bolt in cleanly.

I pushed the knuckle and strut back together and reinserted the bolts, banging them home with the hammer. I tightened the nuts down to 40 ft-lb, then turned the nut another 90 degrees tighter. I reinstalled the ABS sensor bracket on the strut.

I installed the grease fitting in the bottom of the ball joint and snugged it down with a wrench.

I had to leave the sway bar link off until the other control arm was re-installed, and the ball joints aren’t supposed to be greased until the car is on its wheels again.

On the passenger side, I repeated the above installation steps, and then put the torque strut back in place. I started the rear torque strut bolt but didn’t tighten it yet. I started the bolt holding the strut to the engine and tightened it down to 87 ft-lb.

At this point, I carefully followed steps in the Service Manual to adjust the torque struts. I loosened the top torque strut where it mounted to the strut tower. I already had the bottom torque strut bolt that attaches to the car loose. I left the bolts that hold the torque struts to the engine tight.

There’s a measurement needed that is depicted in this picture.

The distance between the two hole centers is supposed to be 119mm. With the top and bottom torque strut bolts loose, the gap on mine started out at 126mm.

With a jack placed under the front edge of the engine and a block of wood to prevent damage, I raise the floor jack slowly. I had a short metal ruler marked in millimeters, and I eyeballed the distance as my helper raised the jack.

When the measurement was right, I torqued the top torque strut bolt down to 87 ft-lb, and then torqued the bottom strut down to 87 ft-lb. Then I removed the jack.

I put the pencil strut back on, remembering that the washer goes on the lower mounting bolt before the strut, then tightened the nut at the bottom and the bolt at the top to 43 ft-lb.

I wrestled the splash shield back into place and installed the bolts.

I threaded the front sway bar end links back through the sway bar and the control arm (see front sway bar topic for details) and tightened them down a bit.

I installed the wheels and lowered the car. I drove the car up onto some ramps.

I torqued the sway bar links to 250 in-lb, or about 21 ft-lb.

I took a grease gun to the grease fittings on the ball joints and headed for the alignment shop.