lower control arm bushing(s)

[landyacht318]

I've been contemplating replacing my very tired coil springs. 9 months ago I had my DS upper control arm bushings replaced when in Baja(38$, I brought the bushings), and I figure that if any of my other bushings are even near as bad as what came out than I should do the remaining while replacing the springs.

I'm looking at the Pics of control arms and bushings and am guessing that each lower control arm only has one bushing. Is this correct?

Also is it obvious at a glance wheather or not my lower ball joints are the threaded or the press in type? I'm assuming the upper joints are all the threaded type as I don't see a listing for the press in type.

I'm getting ready to place an order to take the parts with me back to Baja.

My only experience with suspension and steering is replacing my Idler arms, and all I can say about that is not to buy the cheap ones. They lasted less than a year. If anybody has some reccomendations on brands (springs, bushings, steering gear, ball joints, tie rod ends) I would be most appreciative.

BTW, My interior is progressing slowly but I have managed to stop all the leaks and have the hardwood floor installed, the captains chairs re foamed and covered, and am beginning to build the cabinet around my xtra insulated ac/dc fridge.

Geoff

[van-nut]

Geoff -

I'm not sure about the bushings. If no one here has an answer (where has Nate been lately???) then maybe call a dealer and see if they can pull up an exploded view to see what it looks like. Can you even get just the bushings from a dealer, or do you have to buy the whole arm assy.? Who are you ordering the bushings from? Just wondering.

As for the ball joints, the newer vans use threaded uppers and press in lowers and I think the older vans are the same.

I would love to see a pic or two of the hardwood floor. Sounds nice!

Pete

[landyacht318]

I've been browsing on Rockauto.com. They have photos of most every Item they sell. It seems to be a pretty well designed and thorough site. I have had problems with what they sent on a few occasions, like the timing chain being too short, and the replacement computer listed for the automatic tranny was actually for the manual.
I was gonna wait till everything is done before posting any pics, but I'll try to get to it today. What size to I have to reduce the photos to?

[Dodgevanman]

Yepper...lower ball joints are press-in type and the lower control arm only uses one brushing. While you're at it, go ahead and replace the strut rod bushings as well.

[landyacht318]

Nate,
Thanks for the answer and the recccomendation of doing the strut rod bushings. Mine don't appear bad, but they are fairly inexpensive and I might as well do them while the whole front end is apart, I mean have Antonio do them.

I was wondering about the lower ball joints because RockAuto lists both press in and threaded for my year lower control arm. Guess I can crawl under and see if they're completly round or have some flats for a wrench on em, just to make sure.
Thanks again.

How much better, do you think, the professional grade ball joints are compared to the service grade? The price is about 4x as much.
Geoff

[B-300]

The screw in lower ball-joints aren't very common, in fact I have never seen one.
I put an entire front end rebuild kit from Performance Suspenion Technologly on mine a few years ago. It had Moog ball-joints.
I used the polygraphite kit on mine, but they also have rubber bushing kits too.