Replacing Control Arms

MtnMedic76 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2016 12:49 am

So my 2011 KK Renegade has about 115K on it and the ball joints are pretty much shot, the bushings on the control arms are also pretty worn. She has seen alot of trail use so no surprise. Anyway I ordered brand new upper and lower control arms for both sides, since that includes all new bushings, ball joints, everything. That ran me $335 total. The dealer wants $729 to put them in. There is a local DIY Auto shop with a lift, tools and help if you need it. Does anyone have experience with replacing these? Dealer says it is a 6.5 hour job. Looking at the pieces and parts it doesn't seem that complicated. I know I'll need to immediately get an alignment after the install. Anyway do you guys think its do-able or should I hand over $729 to the dealer?

Bmxer524 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2016 1:34 am

I pressed my lower ball joints out and replaced them with new grease-able joints in about 2 hours or so. My axle nut was pretty corroded too.

NAMoulton1 · **Joined:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1054

It's not a hard job to do. You'll want to remove everything to make it easier. But I'd have plenty of PB Blaster (or whatever you use as a rust remover) and a wire brush to make life a little easier. The threads on some of the pieces can be a PITA (especially the axle nut (35mm but 36mm works well too)). It's pretty straight forward though. About an hour to remove the engine bay pieces for access to the upper control arm bolts and an hour to remove the spindle and everything from the lower side. Then maybe 10min per arm (add another 10min for curse words when doing the driver's side upper control arm...just really hard to get to those bolts haha. You'll definitely want a second person there. While you have the driver's side lower control arm off though, remove the bolt in the front of that hunk of metal that is bolted to the face of the diff cover and replace it with a shorter one (or just cut it and clean the threads) it's a 1/2" bolt but I don't remember the length (sorry). Doing this now will save you a LOT of time if you ever need to service/remove the front diff (otherwise you'll have to remove that driver's side lower control arm to pull that bolt out). Let me know if you have any questions! I've torn apart just about everything in these little beasts!

MtnMedic76 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 15, 2016 12:20 am

NAMoulton1 wrote:

It's not a hard job to do. You'll want to remove everything to make it easier. But I'd have plenty of PB Blaster (or whatever you use as a rust remover) and a wire brush to make life a little easier. The threads on some of the pieces can be a PITA (especially the axle nut (35mm but 36mm works well too)). It's pretty straight forward though. About an hour to remove the engine bay pieces for access to the upper control arm bolts and an hour to remove the spindle and everything from the lower side. Then maybe 10min per arm (add another 10min for curse words when doing the driver's side upper control arm...just really hard to get to those bolts haha. You'll definitely want a second person there. While you have the driver's side lower control arm off though, remove the bolt in the front of that hunk of metal that is bolted to the face of the diff cover and replace it with a shorter one (or just cut it and clean the threads) it's a 1/2" bolt but I don't remember the length (sorry). Doing this now will save you a LOT of time if you ever need to service/remove the front diff (otherwise you'll have to remove that driver's side lower control arm to pull that bolt out). Let me know if you have any questions! I've torn apart just about everything in these little beasts!

Cool. That doesn't sound too bad. I might add some extra time for curse words. Luckily the DIY shop here is pretty sweet. Has lifts. tools, and ASE Certified mechanics around in case you need some help. Think I'm gonna give it a shot this weekend. Really appreciate the detailed response. Gotta get the control arms replaced so I can get my new Cooper Discover AT-W's on before the snow starts flying here in the high country. SO far out of alignment right now that it would eat my new tires up in no time.

NAMoulton1 · **Joined:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1054

MtnMedic76 wrote:

NAMoulton1 wrote:

It's not a hard job to do. You'll want to remove everything to make it easier. But I'd have plenty of PB Blaster (or whatever you use as a rust remover) and a wire brush to make life a little easier. The threads on some of the pieces can be a PITA (especially the axle nut (35mm but 36mm works well too)). It's pretty straight forward though. About an hour to remove the engine bay pieces for access to the upper control arm bolts and an hour to remove the spindle and everything from the lower side. Then maybe 10min per arm (add another 10min for curse words when doing the driver's side upper control arm...just really hard to get to those bolts haha. You'll definitely want a second person there. While you have the driver's side lower control arm off though, remove the bolt in the front of that hunk of metal that is bolted to the face of the diff cover and replace it with a shorter one (or just cut it and clean the threads) it's a 1/2" bolt but I don't remember the length (sorry). Doing this now will save you a LOT of time if you ever need to service/remove the front diff (otherwise you'll have to remove that driver's side lower control arm to pull that bolt out). Let me know if you have any questions! I've torn apart just about everything in these little beasts!

Cool. That doesn't sound too bad. I might add some extra time for curse words. Luckily the DIY shop here is pretty sweet. Has lifts. tools, and ASE Certified mechanics around in case you need some help. Think I'm gonna give it a shot this weekend. Really appreciate the detailed response. Gotta get the control arms replaced so I can get my new Cooper Discover AT-W's on before the snow starts flying here in the high country. SO far out of alignment right now that it would eat my new tires up in no time.

Nice! That's how I've learned a lot is by going to my base's Auto Hobby shop. They make sure you're not hurting yourself and are able to guide you through some of the things that can get you into trouble haha.

Replacing Control Arms

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