Lower Control Arm Replacement

[Hark]

Ball joint is bad on a 2004 V6 Chevy Malibu, new body style with only 60,000 miles. Has anyone replaced the right side lower control arm? My Chilton repair manual says that on vehicles equipped with a V6 engine, you must first remove the engine mount in order to remove the control arm - or can I just remove the engine mount bolts and use a block of wood and a floor jack on an oil pan and raise motor? Just high enough to remove the control arm bolt.


Any help would be appreciated.

[slls]

Here is what the Malibu SI says. If you can do it your way , go for it.

* If removing the left lower control arm, remove the side transmission mount. Refer to Transmission Mount Replacement - Side in Automatic Transaxle - 4T40-E/4T45-E.
* If removing the right lower control arm, remove the engine mount. Refer to Engine Mount Replacement in Engine Mechanical - 3.5L (LX9).

[Ed_Strong]

Hey slls... where did you get your Malibu SI Manual?

I'm interested in getting one for my 2005 Malibu, but I'm not sure if I should get the CD or the paper version or where to even get it from.

[rhandwor]

I remove the mount to replace a belt or when I put in a front seal on my wifes 1999. If unbolted you can pick it up with one hand its not heavy. I use an engine hoist to hold it when changing a belt. Four bolts with 18mm heads.
For the control arm have it on jack stands. Support the motor with wooden blocks use floor jack and remove tension on mount. You will want the floor jack handy when changing the control arm. You seemed to have read Chiltons.

[slls]

Originally Posted by Ed_Strong

Hey slls... where did you get your Malibu SI Manual?

I'm interested in getting one for my 2005 Malibu, but I'm not sure if I should get the CD or the paper version or where to even get it from.

Go here

http://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage.asp?r=

[inafogg]

or here the motorbook store.com
much less in cost & a good repair manual haynes/chilton

[Hark]

Thanks for your help. I was hoping that someone would have put one of these on before. I do not have an engine hoist to raise the motor so I was going to use floor jack and block of wood on oil pan to raise motor 2 or 3 inches, so I can remove lower control arm bolt. Is it okay to raise motor with jack or will it cause problems for oil pan? Is there going to be enough flexibility for everything. Since I haven't done this before, any comments helpful - hoping to try Saturday. Without an engine hoist - is this a one-man job - or is this a dealership/mechanic's shop job?

[inafogg]

you'll be find .use center of pan or a level area.never done the job but you'd only be bomping into ea. other if someone tried to help.
OF COURE YOU ALWAYS NEED SOME1 TO HAND YOU THE....beer.good luck

[Ed_Strong]

I would rather use a bottle jack and try to set it around the engine block or close to the engine mount bracket if possible and lift that way. This new cars now come with a die cast engine crank case that looks weak, even worse it will not bend or give you a sign of trouble/stress, it will just crack and break. Of course I could be wrong, but I wanted you to be aware of it.

[rhandwor]

Put a piece of plank 2x8 under the pan just pick it up enough to take the stress off the mount maybe 1 inch. If you don't have an impact use a long extension and a 1/2 inch drive. The bolts are tight. If rivets are used on the ball joint common on Chevy's I use an electric angle grinder and grind the head off the side on the ball joint. I then use a punch and drive out the rest of the rivet. Usually I grind a bit of the joint also as the heads taper from setting the rivet head. I usually just smack the metal beside the bolt end after the nut is removed and the other end of the joints drops out. Some people use a pickle fork which you can borrow from Auto Zone,Advaanced, or O'Riley's. I usually have the floor jack handy to support the control arm.

[slls]

Originally Posted by rhandwor

Put a piece of plank 2x8 under the pan just pick it up enough to take the stress off the mount maybe 1 inch. If you don't have an impact use a long extension and a 1/2 inch drive. The bolts are tight. If rivets are used on the ball joint common on Chevy's I use an electric angle grinder and grind the head off the side on the ball joint. I then use a punch and drive out the rest of the rivet. Usually I grind a bit of the joint also as the heads taper from setting the rivet head. I usually just smack the metal beside the bolt end after the nut is removed and the other end of the joints drops out. Some people use a pickle fork which you can borrow from Auto Zone,Advaanced, or O'Riley's. I usually have the floor jack handy to support the control arm.

No rivets on the Z body, aluminum lower control arm. The ball joint appears to be swagged.

[Hark]

Update on lower control arm removal - sorry for the late reply - took a while to get the right part. First and this is important, I wasn't able to get lower control arm from ANY parts store Autozone, Oreilly Napa etc - they all assured me it said 04 so it would be the new body style and ordered it - and when they came in they were wrong - all for 04 but old body style- I had to get the genuine GM part. None of the parts store had a listing # for the newer body style. Anyway removing and installing was fairly easy. I did have to remove motor mount bolts, but not the brackets. I took 3 ft pry bar on lower right side of engine support and slid motor over about 1 inch so I could remove one of the lower control arm bolts.
Thanks for all the help.