95 RMW Front Suspension

Hello fellow wagoneers,

I am looking for complete upper and lower A arm assemblies. I know that I can get them from Rock Auto for around $60 a piece complete, but looking for any advice or suggestions from the experts here for replaceing mine.

Thanks

Jim DeArmond

jimmydpcc@aol.com

Are yours damaged?

Yes, My Control arm bushings have been going out for a while now, and they are finally to the point where the car is somewhat unsafe to drive.

Bushings can be replaced. I used PST products for that. If you are keeping your ride "factory" I see no reason why those wouldnt work.

I suspect that my ball joints and springs are worn too, so might as well just do the whole thing, am I wrong? I heard you cant replace the bushings without pulling the control arms anyway as they have to be prssed in.
thanks for your input

You are correct about needing to remove the control arms to replace the bushings.Unless the ball joints have been recently replaced go ahead and replace them too.If the front end is riding real low and you don't like it that way,replace the springs too since the front end will be apart anyway.

Check out PST's website. They have complete rebuild packages.

Thanks for your help, yea I think since it appears I may have damaged the control arms by driving so long with worn out (or in one case missing!!) bushings, I think its best to just go new. I cant imagine the task it will be to remove those 20 year old chasis bolts!!

thanks again

Jim D

It costs less to replace the whole arm with one from Rock Auto, than to replace the individual parts yourself.

Depending on whether you are in the rust belt or not, they can be removed with a reasonable amount of effort. You need a large bolt, nut, and washer, along with a deep socket that fits over the bolt to pop the balljoints. Use a tierod end tool (not a pickle fork) to take the tierod ends off, unless you are replacing everything. If you are replacing everything, remove the cross link from the Pittman arm, and remove the idler arm, then all you have to do is pull the outer tierod ends, and the whole linkage will drop out, and you can use a pickle fork.

Be careful with the lower arms because the springs can be deadly. There are a few threads on the forum offering instructions for the safest way to remove them.

If you are going to replace the ball joints too, get the whole arm and be done with it. The bushings are a pain to replace even with a press to assist you, same goes for the lower ball joint.
And as Fred said, watch out for that lower spring, read up about that before you mess with it.

too keep this thread as a resource, does anyone have part numbers or links for these all in one kits?

These are the part numbers for the MOOG kits on Rock Auto:

Front Left Upper Control Arm
Moog part# RK620158

Front Left Lower Control Arm
Moog part# RK620168

Front Right Upper Control Arm
Moog part# RK620159

Front Right Lower Control Arm
Moog part# RK620169

Thanks so much Guys, I am going to be ordering the parts in a few weeks and tackeling this. first i have a fuel pump to replace in our van. the fun is neverending!!!
I can only imagine I will end up having to torch off some of the bolts that havent moved for 20 years.

I live in the "Buckle" of the Rust Belt!! Indiana. so yea.