Lower Control Arm Replacement

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Chuck B

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I had a little mishap with my 05 SRT10. Just getting around to pulling it apart to see what I need to do to fix it. One area I'm having trouble finding an aftermarket solution is the lower control arm ball joint.

Our ball joint is riveted on and generally you can purchase just the ball joint and bolt it back in once you cut off the rivets. I'm having trouble finding that ball joint or in fact a complete lower control arm replacement from aftermarket. Both the regular 1500 and 2500 ram appear to be a different design.

Anyone with Dodge parts list know if this is a SRT10 only part or available from another Ram truck? If its SRT10 only can someone post part # please. I may just go with OEM if this is an SRT10 only part. The steering knuckle is also SRT10 and boy is there a premium for that sucker! lol

THIA!
 
Did more research and with the help of our vendor, Avondale Dodge, we determined that the lower control arm is 04 & 05 SRT10 only part.
 
Thanks for keeping us updated. I would have incorrectly guessed that the lower control arm was the same as a regular 1500. SRT-10 only sounds expensive.....
 
I thought the ball joint was pressed into the unit sealed, guy I work with had to buy a whole lower control arm, his is not a srt tho.
 
It would be classic youtube type video that any observer first thought would be is "What a f'ing idiot!" I had the dog in the passenger seat and an item resting on the center console. We were headed east on 60 at Mesa Dr in AM traffic. Dog stood up and spun around knocking the item off the console. I watched the item hit the floor and roll. Glanced up just in time to see a stopped white/blue car stopped in front of me. Hint...blue/white car also had lights on the top. Yup...DPS parked on the side of the highway.

Thank goodness no one was injured though I probably got it the worse as the dog hit the windshield and bounced back into me....black/blue face. Within 5 min I had over 12 DPS officers along with news copter and DPS copter circling overhead. DPS vehicle was totaled. My front wheel took most of the impact. Airbag never went off. Only body damage was front fascia and right front fender as well as destroyed tire/rim. Door, hood, grill all just fine. Once I get it rolling I'll take to a body shop to check frame etc.

Working with Avondale for parts. Patrick and gang are great to work with.

Ramdude...the lower ball joint is riveted. I've tried to find a substitute but have been unsuccessful. It would be fairly easy to cut the rivets and bolt in a new ball joint.
 
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4 year old thread but not liking what I'm reading about non availability 4 yrs ago for control arms, ball joints or spindles. Going to the dealer tomorrow to find out unless I'm missing a Part # thread somewhere??

also i'm assuming the torque values are the same as for regular 1500 from same year?? i found my Haynes manual from my 05 QC Tona but in little print it also says "no info on SRT10"
 
i will tell you guys right now that the lower control arm is identical to the 04-05 dodge ram 1500 2 wheel drive trucks, i had mine off my 10 and compared it to the regular 1500. no difference whatsoever
 
That's good to know. With these PA roads it's only a matter of time till I need some. Especially Carbon county.
 
Does it have the same rivets on the lower ball joint? ??? I'm hoping mine r ok after i find a way to get them out of the spindle. I hope that I won't have to replace the whole shebang do to the rivets
 
Just replaced my lower ball joints. Ordered new Mopar units from Rock Auto. Removed the lower control arms, pressed out the old ball joints, pressed in the new ball joints. Also, I installed new poly LCA bushings while the control arms were out. Wasn't fun, but got it done. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
 
misterak said:
Just replaced my lower ball joints. Ordered new Mopar units from Rock Auto. Removed the lower control arms, pressed out the old ball joints, pressed in the new ball joints. Also, I installed new poly LCA bushings while the control arms were out. Wasn't fun, but got it done. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Click to expand...

So you can press the ball joint out of the arm without removing it at the rivets?
 
my dealer said (parts guy) you had to drill out the rivets and re-bolt with hardware that comes with the ball joint.

whats funny is he said that the lower ball joints with the rivets were available separately from the LCA but the UCA with the pressed in ball joints is only available as a single unit…… :dontknow:

anyway, hope they post the rock auto stuff if it really works

here are the Mopar numbers they gave me with my cost and their cost

LCA 5290560AD MC 623.76 / TC 331.00
LCA 5290561AD " "
lower ball joints (X2) MC 84.41 / TC 44.80
UCA (w/ball joints)52106577AI MC 184.19 / TC 97.00
Spindle 5290707AB MC 578.00 / TC 307.00
Spindle 5290706AB MC 565.00 / TC 300.00

easy to see how they make so much money on parts alone, 50% mark up plus they hope they get the labor also:chain::chain:

of course they say all of these parts are on backorder but "at least they are available" they say. as far as i'm concerned, infinite backorder is the same as not available

he also said the spindle for the 04-05 trucks use the 06 spindle as a replacement so that is an 06 part number

for what its worth this is the parts guy's statement. as a side note he is a mopar guy with a r/t dakota he's putting back together

as a positive thing, i would get about 20% off for being a member of the local mopar club:rock: still over $2500 to me though:chain:

p.s. i also asked him about the reg 1500 LCA and he said they are different:dontknow:
 
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I had to drill out the rivets on my 1973 Lincoln and replace with new ball joints and bolts.... GIGANTIC PAIN IN TEH ASS BATMAN!

TO completely avoid doing that on my SRT I found some lower control arms with good ball joints... just bought the whole thing.
 
ViperPete said:
I had to drill out the rivets on my 1973 Lincoln and replace with new ball joints and bolts.... GIGANTIC PAIN IN TEH ASS BATMAN!

TO completely avoid doing that on my SRT I found some lower control arms with good ball joints... just bought the whole thing.
Click to expand...

I agree with doing it this way simply because my time is worth more than money. At least at this point in my life, and I do love money. :D
 
NukeGM/Ford said:
my dealer said (parts guy) you had to drill out the rivets and re-bolt with hardware that comes with the ball joint.

whats funny is he said that the lower ball joints with the rivets were available separately from the LCA but the UCA with the pressed in ball joints is only available as a single unit…… :dontknow:

anyway, hope they post the rock auto stuff if it really works

here are the Mopar numbers they gave me with my cost and their cost

LCA 5290560AD MC 623.76 / TC 331.00
LCA 5290561AD " "
lower ball joints (X2) MC 84.41 / TC 44.80
UCA (w/ball joints)52106577AI MC 184.19 / TC 97.00
Spindle 5290707AB MC 578.00 / TC 307.00
Spindle 5290706AB MC 565.00 / TC 300.00
Click to expand...

Old thread for sure but now relevant...
What I ended up doing back in 2011;
Frt right: Purchased new lower control arm, Purchased new upper control arm then had the spindle down at my local machine shop. They cut a new tapered bore then press fit it into my old spindle. Has been working perfectly.

Now that I'm over 150K miles I'm starting to get the occasional popping in the front left (classic ball joint bad) so I'm actually looking at rebuilding the front left. I was at Avondale Dodge last month getting a bunch of other things and did some inquirey about the lower control ball joint. Seems Dodge now sells a separate unit. Parts person said you cut rivets and bolt this new one. Same info you got. Haven't decided which way I'm going to go just yet.

I'm thinking of replacing both front wheel bearings (mine are still original) and rebuild both calipers (mine are still original), add braided brake lines, install B&B cat back with cat delete mid pipe and recently ceramic coated stock headers as I want to get rid of the heat shields.
 
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