How to Replace Lower Control Arm Bushing Dodge Caravan or Chrysler Town & Country 2001 - 2007

How to Replace Lower Control Arm Bushing Dodge Caravan or Chrysler Town & Country
- A how to video showing the removal and installation of the lower control arm bushings for the following vehicles:
2001 - 2007 Chrysler Town & Country
2001- 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan
2001- 2007 Dodge Caravan
2001 - 2007 Chrysler Voyager (2001 - 2003 US market)

[@E4EonEbay]

If this video helped please let me know in the comments, Also Hit the Like Button & Subscribe! Thank you for watching!!!

[@galacticunderground1]

What's a good approach on the big pain in the ass bolts? I snapped both....

[@ashtonmarcum2661]

How could you dislike bro just showed y’all how to do the whole thing and every detail

[@danielswift7776]

Technics 1) go buy the 18mm open end. 2) get a ball joint tool. 3) use a set of vise grips to hold the shaft of sway link behind the mounting points. 4) torque lower strut bolts 95lbs +90* 5) mark all bolts as you tighten then double check 6) if your only doing one lower control remove all the bolts of the engine cradle, that allows for more than enough room to pull it out. 7) don’t let the spindle flop out - will pull your axle apart. 8) only replace on component at a time. 9) a little heat helps bolts and ball joints to pop apart My Right side is done , thanks for your video Steve. It helped.

[@raymondmartinez8942]

How long did it take?

[@jayk5825]

Excellent video! Not long winded. Short. Clearly spoken with concise instructions. And safety exercised.

[@dannymacdowall6516]

Thanks mate, about to renew bushings and ball joints so this has given me confidence to get stuck in - perfect video, concise with no waffle 👍

[@michaelmckee1860]

Hey man just wanted to say TY for the video. Just finished this job on the wifes 05 T&C grocery getter. This thing we bought new, she is very good at oil changes and making sure the reg maint gets done. It has 292K on her, uses suprisingly little oil between changes and purrs like a sewing machine. (crazy I know) I think we got our moneys worth. Anyways it started handling really bad, shaking wearing the tires on the inside. Needless to say the control arm bushing, ball joints all shot, not to mention broken sway arm link. Your video saved me a ton bud thanks! I looked at this thing 3 times not seeing a way to get this apart till I watched your video. You know your 2 PIA 21mm bolts in the far back. I could not get them out. I was able to get them like 5 turns loose. So I did the entire job by allowing the cradle to simply hang off those 2 bolts. I put the ball joint in first then I was able to slide the rear bushings back into place, used a small jack to lift the front bushing into place with a little help from a crow bar and a big c clamp. I am not sure I could have done this job without your video, the jacking up the trans axel to get that drivers side front bushing bolt out was golden! Thanks again! Oh she is driving like a new one.

[@E4EonEbay]

Thanks man! I am glad to hear the video helped you out, I know they were talking $$$ to do the job ( I called a few different places) so I was determined to do it myself and wanted to help others while doing so!

[@e.rivera4251]

Thanks for the video, Sir you help me a lot on doing this to my T&C 2006.

[@E4EonEbay]

Edwin Rivera your very welcome!

[@undertoe2609]

Very very helpful and more detailed than other videos for the same thing. Thank you

[@E4EonEbay]

Jerry Hunt I appreciate that! Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@chuckb9867]

@@E4EonEbay you did a great job on this video

[@E4EonEbay]

@@chuckb9867 thanks!

[@elisemgreen1]

You did a great job on what I believe is a northern Illinois car from the looks of the wheel wells.

[@E4EonEbay]

Might as well be northern Illinois, up here in New England we get just as much salt on the roads during winter.

[@santifly8707]

Good job Steve !! It will be very useful in my car, (Chrysler Voyager 2002) greetings from Spain!

[@E4EonEbay]

Glad it was helpful!

[@carlosbanegas7577]

very good thank you

[@jorgeortega3585]

Thank you

[@randydicotti3975]

I wanted to see the changing of the FRONT bushing. The rear one is a piece of cake

[@E4EonEbay]

One of these days I might shoot a video of that one, thanks for watching and commenting

[@MattJonesYT]

On my 2004 if the ball joints go bad the entire control arms have to be replaced, so if the control arm bushings are bad you may as well replace the entire control arm since at that point the ball joints are almost definitely bad.

[@ponchomunoz641]

Buen video gracias

[@chriswatts1412]

Learn english.

[@chadmangum4158]

Thumbs up for safety!

[@E4EonEbay]

Yes sir, I'm not a fan of getting squashed by a minivan as my way of leaving the earth

[@danielcotayo4357]

do not tight this down until you have the vehicle grounded on its wheels👍👍👍👍 my T&C 2006 is close to the 250 k miles

[@markfothebeast]

I wish this video was up when I did this nightmare job on the ground. One suggestion for viewers is; do not mix the bolts up! Remember to put the camber bolt in the proper upper shock mount if equipped. The front control arm bushings must have the proper diameter bolt as well or the control arm will have play from left to right while driving.

[@energizer8888]

I’m having a real bad trouble with sliding the bushing on the shaft. Any suggestions. I tried soapy water, dish soap and it just won’t slide on enough. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

[@randylee9109]

Did you have to loosen the ball-joint bolt before you could pivot the control arm out to remove the old bushing?

[@E4EonEbay]

I know it's a late reply but no I didn't loosen it

[@flyboydale54]

What I would like to see is replacing the front lower forward control arm bushing as well. Can this other bushing be removed with the ball joint still in place on the Grand Caravan with the Control Arm swung out as you show when replacing the rearward control arm bushing, or does the lower control arm have to be completely removed from the vehicle in order to get it pressed out?

[@E4EonEbay]

Those bushings are cheap if they fail and can be replaced with a C-clamp style bushing/balljoint press. They can usually be rented through the loan a tool department of the national chain auto parts stores like autozone, o'reilly, etc... If both bushings are junk at the same time, I would double check the ball joint to make sure it's not worth the cost of replacing the entire arm vs buying both bushings, I believe rock auto carries the arms fairly reasonable and they come with new bushings as well as the new ball joint. But if your on a tight budget and you just need one bushing (or even both) and don't mind the labor involved then yes, you can replace either bushing without removing the arm.

[@ronwalters8286]

Good Job on the video! Can I ask what were the symptoms of the worn bushings? I have an 04 caravan with a constant, very easy rattle, happens even on the slightest of unevenness. Have replaced all suspect components...steering and sway bar bushings and links, etc. Have even replaced the struts, noise basically went away. Then after lifting the car again to replace inner tie rod ends (oversight on my part discovered at time of alignment) and with car back on the ground the rattle came back worse than ever. Haven't noticed any obvious wear on lower arm bushings, I did check for play in the front bushing with a long pry bar but have ignored the rear bushing which kinda feels like the area where the noise is coming from. Now I'm thinking with the stress put on the rear bushings with jacking up the front end could very well be why the noise has come and gone and each time it coincided with jacking of the car! I think, with the help of this video I may have found the problem. I think I'll opt. for the lower arm assy replacement so I'll knock out the ball joint at the same time on the 130K mile car. BTW; good idea on storing the wheels under the car for safety...I do the same, even if my wife is at home. ;) Think I'll add the wood block as well. Anyway, sorry for the long post and was your vehicle making noise? Thanks!

[@E4EonEbay]

Ron Walters I was actually able to stand at the front of the tire and "shove" the tire rearward towards the door on the passenger side. By pushing the tire, trying to roll it back the rear of the control arm was able to move backwards, if the bushing was good it would not have let me... I hope that makes sense.

[@danielswift7776]

Ron Walters the symptoms of bushings failure every some but usually it’s a thumbing under your feet on these vans. Tin rattle sounds usually identifies loose heat shields or coverings. Ball joints usually sound like banging and can be felt in the wheel, so can the worn bushing but with more feeling in the floor. Those have been my personal findings.

[@wesman7837]

With mine I would describe it as a knock when you get on the brakes hard at first, but as it gets worse it starts to knock when taking off, and stopping, well obviously mine is completely trashed now, that's why I'm here.

[@ivanstanley6602]

Hey Bro, Love your video, one of the two main bolts that you mentions is being a real pain, one came loose no problem using the impact gun but the other one won't move in or out, I have tried a breaker bar and it still won't move, afraid i'm going to snap it off, any suggestions?

[@E4EonEbay]

Ivan Stanley someone commented that they were not able to remove the bolt and they were able to loosen up enough to get the plate low enough to get the control arm out, not sure how they did it, but they said they did. I sprayed mine, turned quarter turn, sprayed, moved it in a quarter turn, repeat 100 times, literally took nearly an hour for one bolt...

[@ivanstanley6602]

Thanks Steve for responding, I will keep spraying it and hopefully it breaks loose, right now no movement at all, Thanks again.

[@shortchange26]

Remove one more nut for the ball joint and replace the control arm with an assembled kit. So much easier. And you get a new ball joint.

[@a.n.conley8109]

dude said bushings were 20 bucks vs 150 for new arm

[@1shasty]

Could you just put the bolt in on the other side where you had to raise the transmission pan to avoid having to raise it again? And would it have been a good idea to just replace the whole control arm as a unit if the ball joint was bad too?

[@E4EonEbay]

Sid H if the ball joint was bad, yes, however in this situation the ball joints were fine and the bushing was like 20 bucks each vs 160 each for the arm and joint...

[@dancar02]

Excellent video. Can you show how to change the ball joint as well. The genuine lower control arm for the Dodge Grand Caravan 2003 is discontinued by Mopar. I would like to change the parts in the lower control arm if possible. Thank you.

[@wesman7837]

Get Moog part's if possible!

[@thardyryll]

Hope you got it fixed. Just did a major rebuild of the front suspension on my 2002 Caravan and a Moog control arm complete was just $85 at a local auto parts store. It’s crazy to wrestle with bushings and ball joint at that price.

[@GuidoGUID0]

Thanks for this. I replaced my entire lower control arms on my 2005 T&C. One thing I found out was that to jack up the transaxle I needed to pull a long (15mm) bolt accessed from behind the plastic flap in the wheel well, Maybe a motor mount bolt? It went straight in horizontally and kept the transaxle from moving either up or down. I didn't know about that at first because you hadn't mentioned it. Maybe you didn't have that with yours? Or maybe you assumed the folks trying this would not be as clueless as I am when it comes to cars. I'm learning little by little. Thanks for helping a newbie out!

[@E4EonEbay]

Your welcome, glad the video helped, not sure about the bolt you are referring too. I know there was a long bolt on either side that was a real pain, they are located to the rear of the fender on the underside...

[@magellanmax]

Aside from the rusty bolts that took forever to take off, how long was the total job?

[@E4EonEbay]

I shot the 1st video clip at 9:35am and the final clip at the end of the video was shot at 11:51am so even shooting the video and dealing with the bolts I figure about 3 hours. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@1shasty]

One more question- were you able to remove that whole plate covering everything by yourself? Seems it would be tough also to hold up to reinstall by yourself. Thanks

[@E4EonEbay]

Sid H it was fine to do myself, the amount of bolts was what made it a pain...

[@kolosvarga3732]

Steve Young I agree about the bolts taking it out. I have had change out the rack pinion twice over 5 year period. Not fun at all, but when you saving lots of money, it is worth it.

[@wesman7837]

@@kolosvarga3732 I hear that, I have had to do mine twice as well, that job is a pain in the @$$! I remember it was almost impossible to remove one of the hydraulic lines against the firewall.

[@GodsGreenPlanet]

I changed 1 at a time. It takes a bit of dish soap and muscle to get the new control arm in. ✌...

[@bugmanitswhatido4403]

Epic fail.... Got one side out but the other one broke off. There was no way I could of sprayed it. Thanks for the video.

[@E4EonEbay]

I'm sorry to hear that man, did you ever get fixed?

[@keithwiggins8784]

Way did u do same here

[@ExtremeRecluse]

All that work just for bushings. Replace everything, control arms with new bushings and ball joint already installed. Plus the links and tierods

[@rickwhepley3377]

Its not a must to remove those two long body bolts. I took a wizard and cut the plate. The two smaller bolts actually hold the bushing in place. The huge plate is really about Chrysler overkill so dont fret if those two bolts dont want to move. In some cases the bushing will just slide out.

[@sdott313]

Now I see why shops charge so much for these yikes what a job

[@elisemgreen1]

I salute you dude. Jesus this job just sucks...period....

[@E4EonEbay]

Took a while for sure, a lift and air tools would have made live easier. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@safffff1000]

If you did all this why didn't you just replace the whole control and ball joint assembly, for the labor involved it seems the parts cheap enough?

[@E4EonEbay]

safffff1000 $160 each side vs $20 each side...

[@safffff1000]

I quees I go cheap, from detroit axle off ebay I could get both lower control arms with ball joints shipped for $70

[@pcguysoffgridcabin]

JC Whitney had a Moog control arm for $76

[@randydicotti3975]

I cannot, in good faith, recommend Detroit Axel

[@jhitt79]

Randy DiCotti agreed!

[@breecraw7511]

Nah you didn't show the crucial part. How did you put the control arm back in.

[@E4EonEbay]

Installation is the removal just in reverse man.

[@MrMr123]

Them harbor Freight jack stands look sketchy sir.... lol

[@E4EonEbay]

Definitely!

[@needparalegal]

Screw this, I am selling my van as is.

[@E4EonEbay]

yeah, it was a pain in the ass...

[@darrylt1031]

it's not a "bushin'"....it's a bushing.....

[@E4EonEbay]

LOL, bushin or bushing, what it really was, was a pain in my ass 😂 thanks for watching and commenting!

[@joecostello6795]

It's a bushin

[@darrylt1031]

@@joecostello6795 .....obnoxious much?

[@darrylt1031]

it's not a "bushin'"....it's a bushing.....