1999 Chrysler Town and Country drivers side control arm Bus

KINGBUZO

MEMBER
1999 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
250,000 MILES

This van is a town and country limited 3.8 litre

i am unable to remove the control arm pivot bolt because of the engine/tranny is in the way. The haines manual does not break this down for this year.

i may have to drop the whole pan underneath to get this control arm out.

what is the best way to get the drivers side control arm out?

i have searched everywhere and came up empty, your help would be much appreciated.

4 Replies

DAVE H

MECHANIC
13,383 POSTS

Hello .. thanks for the donation .. much appreciated

Removal (Control Arm)
Raise and support vehicle. Remove wheel. Remove wheel stop. Remove ball joint-to-steering knuckle clamp bolt. See Fig. 1. Mark cradle location. Remove 10 cradle bolts, noting location of M12 bolt. See Fig. 3. Remove cradle. Separate ball joint from steering knuckle.
CAUTION:Use caution when pulling steering knuckle from vehicle after releasing ball joint. The inner constant velocity joint can separate.

Fig. 3: Identifying Cradle Bolts
Courtesy of CHRYSLER CORP.
Separate steering knuckle from ball joint stud using a pry bar. Loosen front pivot bolt. Remove rear bushing retainer. When removing left control arm, front suspension cradle needs to be lowered to allow pivot bolt to clear transaxle. Remove pivot bolt. Remove control arm from vehicle. Check control arm for distortion and bushings for deterioration. Replace components as necessary.
Installation
To install, reverse removal procedure. Ensure control arm bushing bolts are tightened with vehicle at normal operating height.

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Thursday, September 16th, 2010 AT 5:56 PM

KINGBUZO

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3 POSTS

Thank you dave h for your reply. Eveything went successful. The only problem that I have may be hard to explain but I will try.

I was doing all this to replace the driverside control arm bushing which I did. Now the bushing that came out was fine so I put a new one in anyways. Everything back together and I still have movement in the control arm.

The movement is the in the pressed in metal center part of the bushing over the pivot bolt. I torqued up the pivot bolt to specifications and it stll doesnt seem to "clamp" the bushing in. Do I need some spacers in between the bushing and the pivot bolt housing?

There seemed to be less than an 1/8 play in the housing to bushing when untorqued and less than that when torqued.
The diameter of the pivot bolt is less than the diameter of the bushing center so there is the same movement when checked before the bushing was installed so I am assuming the housing holds the bushing in place and the bolt is there to "clamp" it.

I worked on a jetta that had the same type of install so im assuming this is similar. If not please help me understand how I can get the slop out control arm.I hope this is understood.I can make a video to show this in action if it helps, thank you again.

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Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 AT 8:54 PM

DAVE H

MECHANIC
13,383 POSTS

If I am understanding correctly. The actual metal part is moving on the bolt?. If yes then it sounds like the replacement part is wrong for the vehicle?

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Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 AT 10:05 AM

KINGBUZO

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3 POSTS

Yes it is. And the only reason im replacing it. Is that the old bushing started doing the same thing.

When you look at the metal part of the bushing. It is a split rolled piece of metal. So I dont see how they could match the diameter of the bushing to the pivot bolt. Thats why I thought there was another way of securing it in place

im at a loss on this one. Weve already gone through 1 tire because the shop wont align it because of this. No too sure what to do beside maybe get something machined for it. Thank you for helping dave h, jim

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Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 AT 4:42 PM