"Wrong" forum I know, but figure this is the best place.

01 4x4 w/ 77k mi. It would appear as though my idler arm is loose because it has some up / down play when the vehicle is sitting on the tires. It looks like a straight forward R&R, but wanted to make sure there weren't any tricks, like having the front end off the ground or jacking it up by an "A" arm or anything.

While I have ya here, the service dept. showed me that my lower ball joints were bad about 10,000 miles ago, so I replaced the upper control arms, ball joints, and lower ball joints with Moog improved parts. Well, last oil change they mentioned that they were VERY SLIGHTLY "loose" again. I told them that I had done the R&R and that they were FOS, and they said serviceable Moog parts tend to be that way and that all should be fine. I just wanted to get your opinion on the matter. Thanks.

 

Anyone?

 

You will most likely need a pickle fork to seperate the idler arm from the spindle , a air powered one os the easiest or a hammer will work , remove koter pin and nut then put the fork inbetween the arm and spindle and hammer until it seperates , I would do it with the tires off the ground just to insure nothing is binding, measure the amont of threads showing on the other end before unscrewing , and try to install the new one with about the same amount showing , torque the new one down to the spindle reinsatll new pin .
Yes you will need a front end alligment when done this will affect the toe in or out on the truck

If you did the ball joints then there is no warrenty so if every thing is tight , unless thay start poping when you drive dont worry about it.

 

Get a tie rod end puller. Hammering on ball socket of the idler arm will stress the tie rods and pitman arm. They were not designed to be hammered on.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier