2003 Durango Ball Joint Removal

The Dodge Durango has two control arms and ball joints on each of the front wheels. In both cases, these joints are built into their control arms and can't be separately removed. You have to remove the whole control arm as an assembly if you need to remove the ball joint. There are slight differences in the removal process depending on whether the Durango has two or four-wheel-drive.

Instructions

Upper Control Arm

1

Raise the truck on its front end and support it on jack stands, then remove the wheel for the ball joint. Raise the floor jack under the lower control arm underneath the upper joint to take weight off the upper arm.

2

Mark the position of the pivot shaft's mounting nuts/bolts and their relationship to the pivot shaft or frame bracket using whiteout or paint.

3

Unbolt and remove the brake hose bracket from the control arm using your wrench.

4

Unbolt and remove the brake caliper on a two-wheel-drive model and hang it with a wire to avoid damaging the hose. On a four-wheel-drive, unfasten and remove the shock absorber with a wrench, gripping the shock rod with an open-ended wrench to keep it from turning.

5

Pull out the cotter pin from the ball joint's castle nut -- you will use a new pin for installation -- and loosen the nut by a few turns with the wrench.

6

Connect a two-jaw ball joint puller to the nut and break the joint loose from the steering knuckle, then remove the castle nut.

7

Remove the pivot bolts/nuts with your wrench and remove the upper control arm with the ball joint.

Lower Control Arm

8

Raise the front end onto the jack stands and remove the wheel.

9

Mark the driveshaft's relationship to the front differential and transfer case, remove the shaft's bolts, push its rear half forward off the transfer case and separate it from the differential. This is only needed for a 4WD model.

10

Unbolt and remove the shock absorber, using an open ended wrench or locking pliers to hold the rod in place while you remove the bolts.

11

Compress the coil spring on a 2WD truck using an internal spring compressor. Follow the compressor's specific instructions.

12

Mark the torsion bar's relationship to the control arm and its anchor, unbolt and remove the swivel from the bar with your wrench, then remove the anchor from the bar and pull the bar out of the arm.

13

Remove the castle nut cotter pin, loosen the nut and separate the ball joint from the steering knuckle with the puller, then remove the nut.

14

Remove the lower arm's pivot bolts -- they may be capped by plugs you need to remove -- and pull the lower arm out of its frame brackets.