lower control arm - is my thinking ok?

[northern piper]

just got my 2000 3.8 126,000km van back from the shop for an inspection. It needs drivers control arm/ball joint, passenger inner tie rod. I plan on doing both inner and outer tie rods, stabilizer bar links, strutson both sides. The control arm is quite bad. Can I do the control arm/ball and drive for the month or so before finishing all the other stuff? I plan on doing the other things once it warms up a bit and then do the alignment. I'd rather not do it all now and I'd also not rather do just the ball now and alignment.

My way of thinking (not necessarily right) is to replace the ball and then leave the alignment until after the other stuff.

Is this ok??

Piper

[busboy4]

Hi

Yes you should be able to replace the lower arm, which will include the ball joint without changing the alignment. If you do not change any adjustment on the tie rods your alignment should stay as is.

[tomj76]

I've done this. An alignment tweak might be the ideal approach, but the additional tread will be minor.

FYI, one time when changing the Lower Control Arm I had a very difficult time getting the bushing to come of the ?Strut Rod?. I ended up using a heavy duty puller to force it out b/c the rubber had vulcanized to the rod. It has only occured once in the four times I've changed the lower control arm, so you probably won't see this happen.

[tripletdaddy]

Sounds perfectly ok, fine, reasonable, what I'd do. Don't sweat it. Leaving the alignment till the rest is done is reasonable AND the alignment shop won't do the alignment until everything is tight, ie. the tie rod is fixed. So, now you have two good reasons to put off the alignment.

[northern piper]

perfect! Thanks all