upper control arm replacement

[fencepost]

I purchased new tires for my 2001 ranger today and the mechanic told me my upper control arms were in need of replacement. has any one out there replaced them? the tire shop charges $480.00 to do the repair. I think that is a little bit high. I looked at the upper arm and it does'nt look all that difficult. Are there any parts that will fly off when the bolts are remmoved? any body that has done this repair can save me a lot of time and bruised hands and ego.

 

[fencepost]

I purchased new tires for my 2001 ranger today and the mechanic told me my upper control arms were in need of replacement. has any one out there replaced them? the tire shop charges $480.00 to do the repair. I think that is a little bit high. I looked at the upper arm and it does'nt look all that difficult. Are there any parts that will fly off when the bolts are remmoved? any body that has done this repair can save me a lot of time and bruised hands and ego.

 

[McCormack]

Nt

 

[fencepost]

thanks for the reply , was not able to seperate the control arm and the ball joint. press and heat did not work. the haynes book said that they would not seperate. the bottom came right out. with all ball joints replaced and new tires it sure steers a lot different. thanks.

 

[McCormack]

The ball joints are a bear to get out of the A-arm, and if I had to do it over again I would just buy the arm and ball joints as one unit.

New ball joints really make a vehicle drive nice. I replaced my '00 2wd Ranger ball joints at around 80,00 mi, and the non-greasable lowers are already worn out again at 140,000 mi. My replacement uppers have grease fittings and are fine, and when I get around to replacing them I'll be putting greasable lowers in.

 

[haywood]

with all the post out there on upper ball joint replacement--what is the best an correct way to do it--if you replace the r side with the one piece can you reuse the old cam bolt an still get it aliened properly or should you purchase the cam an bolt kit from aftermarkets or should you just replace it with the origional two piece design for proper aliement--also on drivers side should you resuse the original bolt an cam or get aftermarket bolt kit-as for the aliement shops--when you go to most of them after replacing all these parts an expect a good aliement well wake up an smell the coffee--you are taking food out of their mouth an when they see what you did they will say or do anything to reject aliements or tell conflicting stories to get get work--not all but most--so lets be fair--its like taking uour eggs to a restraunt an saying to them --how about cooking these for me at no cost