I've got to replace my upper ball joints and the bushings in the upper control arm are cracking so I figure I'll replace the control arm too. Moog sells the control arm with the ball joint already in it. I looked at this video to make sure it is as easy as it looks but he marked something and I don't understand why he did. Can anyone tell me what he is marking / why he is marking that piece at 1:40? What does that do?

 

You make a line through the center of the bolt to keep your alignment close. When you put the new arm in, make sure the bolt is in the center of the line.

 

yea what he said^^^

after you are done take the truck straight to the alignment shop

 

^^ yeah what he said.

Dont cheap out and try and get away without a proper alignment, you'll end up doing more harm then good.

 

I don't understand how that works. Does that washer move as I tighten my bolt or something? Or do I make sure it is where it needs to be and tighten my bolt to the 100 ft lbs then the alignment is decent enough to drive to an alignment shop?

 

its called an eccentric bolt

 

Ok, that makes some more sense to me after looking it up haha, thank you.

 

You mark it because the control arm slides outward and inward. Both back and front. Wire brush it, you'll see markers from the factory. The camber adjust.. You mark it first so you know where to put the new arm in relation to the slots.

If you screw up your markings, yea, then get it re-aligned. If your installing new Cams, yea get it re-alignment. Other than that and unless you installing new tires, I wouldn't wast money on the alignment.

You can, it sure doesn't hurt. No need, unless there's another reason like say, everything came loose and it moved around in there. Should be evidence of that tho. Or after doing the job, it pulls, bump steers or other.

Like I said, you can..for piece of mind sake.

 

IIRC the washer the bolts slide through are offset so the position of the bolt shifts the position of the control arm. I agree it's best to get the alignment done after considering the price of tires.

 

Yeah, when I cranked my T-bars it didn't feel like I needed an allignment so I ended up pretty much ruining my tires. I am going to spend the 60 bucks to possibly not spend 1k lol.