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Part Details
Our control arms are designed to be direct replacements for the original factory parts. They are 100% brand new and require no modifications for installation. No special tools are required because all of the bushings come pre-installed.
Our steering and suspension components are pre-greased and sealed for long life and do not require the extra maintenance typically required by greaseable versions.
Item Condition:
New
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WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including Chromium (Hexavalent Compounds), which is known to the State of California to cause cancer, and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
Lifetime Warranty
This item is backed by our limited lifetime warranty. In the event that this item should fail due to manufacturing defects during intended use, we will replace the part free of charge. This warranty covers the cost of the part only.
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Tools used
Brought to you by 1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet.
Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.
In this video, we're going to show you how to replace an upper control arm on this 2002 Chevy Suburban. We show you on the passenger side, but the driver side has the same procedure. The items you'll need are a new upper control arm from 1AAuto.com, a 10mm, 21mm, and 22mm socket and ratchet, 18mm and 21mm wrench, a marker, a torque wrench, jack and jack stands, a grease gun, a hammer, and an air hammer depending on the condition of your vehicle. After completing this procedure you will need to get a professional alignment done.
Start out by removing the hubcap. You want to remove the lug nuts. If you don't have air powered tools, you'll want to do it while the vehicle is on the ground. Loosen them preliminarily, raise the vehicle, and remove the lug nuts the rest of the way. On these brackets, you'll see a tab coming through from the upper control arm. Mark where that tab is. Remove these two 10mm bolts. Next, remove this 18mm nut, and you can see Mike uses an 18mm wrench and another wrench for some extra leverage to break it free and then removes it the rest of the way with the 18mm wrench. Hit the wheel knuckle and control arm to break them free. Then remove the 21mm nuts on either side.
Jack up your wheel, and you want to do this underneath the wheel knuckle. Remove the upper control arm nut and then remove these bolts and the bracket that's on them. Our first one pulled out no problem, this one's a bit more difficult. We tried using a hammer, that doesn't work. We tried using a wrench to help break it free, but it's in there really good. If you have this same problem, we put a nut back on it and use an air hammer to knock it out. Now that those bolts are out, you want to remove the control arm up and down while pulling out and it'll pull free.
Take your new upper control arm and push it back into place. Then push the bolts in to hold it into place. You want to make sure that you have those brackets on either side and that they're lined up. Now, angle the control arm down into the wheel knuckle. Once it's pressed down into place replace that 18mm nut. We'll fast forward as Mike tightens all of those up. Replace and tighten up those two 10mm bolts. Using a grease gun put it into place on the end of your control arm and fill it up. Put the wheel back into place and then replace each wheel lug nut and tighten them up. You want to tighten them preliminarily, lower the vehicle, and then tighten them the rest of the way. Torque each lug nut in a crossing pattern to 100 foot-pounds. Replace the hubcap and tighten up those lug nut caps.
We hope this video helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.
Tools used
So before you do this job, you wanna keep in mind that after you're done, you're gonna have to go to an alignment shop and have the vehicle aligned so you don't burn out your tires and have premature tire wear. Now, I'm gonna remove the wheel. Use a 22-millimeter socket. Take off the lug nuts. Take the wheel off.
Now, I wanna get this wheel speed sensor wire out of the way. I'm gonna use a trim tool to remove the hold downs, this one right there and right here. And then disconnect the connector up top. I just wanna move it out of the way. Now, I'm gonna remove this bracket for the brake hose. I'm gonna use a 10-millimeter socket to take this bolt out. Oh. And sometimes they'll break. That's okay. Just set it aside.
Now, I'm gonna loosen up this nut. I'm not gonna completely take it off. I just wanna loosen it using an 18-millimeter wrench. All right. So I'll leave a couple of threads on there. That's good. Now, I'm gonna break the ball joint free from the knuckle. I'm gonna use a pickle fork. You could try tapping the knuckle, but you wanna be careful. You don't wanna break it. Just watch out for the brake hose. Make sure you're not hitting the brake hose on the other side. There we go.
Now, I'm gonna support the lower control arm with a jack stand. I wanna take the load off the upper control arm. Just lower it onto that. You could always use a floor jack. All right. Now, I'm gonna take a pry bar and just pry down on the control arm and then I can take the nut off of the ball joint. And if the stud starts spinning, just pry down on the pry bar a little bit more and then take that nut off.
You can slide the knuckle out. I could leave it right there for now. I'm gonna take these bolts out next. So that you don't break the axle, you wanna make sure that you keep the knuckle pulled in towards the vehicle so it doesn't pull out too far. So you can always use a strap like this and just tie this down so it doesn't fall out. Right now, I'm gonna use a 21-millimeter wrench on the bolt here and either a 13/16 or a 20-millimeter wrench on this side. Loosen the nut up. I might need a breaker bar. Yep.
Or you can use a 21-millimeter socket as well. Break it free. Loosen up the nut. And then take that nut off. You can take this cam off. This is like a washer that's adjustable. You can use some type of pry tool. And just slide that out. I'm gonna use an air hammer with a hammerhead and just push this bolt out. To get this bolt out, if this bracket is in your way, you can just tip up the control arm. Use a 13-millimeter socket to take this bolt out. Just slide the bracket out of your way. Just be careful not to bend the brake line. Now, just take a punch and a hammer and just tap it out the rest of the way. And you can do the same on the other side. And when you're taking that other side out, you don't have to take the shock out. You just have to rotate the cam so that it goes behind the shock.
Now, I'll just grab the upper control arm, and work it back and forth, then you can slide it up. And take the new arm. Just slide it in position and then take the bolts with the inside cam. There we go. All right. So on the outside of these cams, these have these little nylon or plastic spacers right here. That's going to make it so the alignment's close to where it should be. It's not gonna be exact. You still need to get an alignment done after you're done. So when you put these on and you put that tab through that hole, if you still have these on the vehicle, then it's gonna be close. That'll get you somewhat close to where it should be. Install the nuts. There we go.
All right. So when I go to torque these 2 bolts down, what I wanna use is my 13-millimeter, 13/16 wrench. And I want this upper control arm to be as close to ride height as possible. Ideally, you put this all back together and put the weight of the vehicle on it, and then retorque that. But that's not that easy to get to. So try to get the upper control arm as close to ride height as possible. Sometimes you take a 12-millimeter socket, just stick it under here, and that's pretty close.
And then you wanna torque this to 140 foot pounds, both this one and the other one. And once those are all torqued, you can take the socket out. Now, I can take this strap out of the way, and take the brake hose, line this back up. Put the bolt in and snug it up. Now, I'll get the ball joint lined up. You might have to use a pry bar. Get the nut started. Now, I'm gonna pry down on the control arm and then tighten that nut. Use a 19-millimeter ratchet wrench. Then if you have the ability to torque this nut, you're gonna wanna torque that to 37 foot pounds or do the best you can.
That's good. Now, I'll take this bracket for the brake hose and take a bolt. Put the bolt back in and snug it up. Take the ABS wire or the wheel speed sensor harness, and reposition this. And plug the connector back in. That's good. All right. Now you can take the grease fitting and put that in the ball joint. Get that started. And use a 7-millimeter wrench and just snug it up and give it a couple pumps. You can watch the boot of the ball joint, and then once you see it move, then it should be good enough. That's good. Now, I'm gonna raise the vehicle and reinstall the wheel. And put the lug nuts on. Now, I'm gonna torque these lug nuts to 140 foot pounds in a cross pattern to tighten the wheel down evenly. I'll just go around again and double-check.
