2007 Nbs Upper And Lower Control Arms

[Paradigm49]

Was underneath the truck last night, and a week ago..did tire rotation and had noticed that the bushings for the upper and lower control arms from my judgement look dry rotted. I've been chasing a problem of the front end feeling wobbly and almost sloppy, took it to dealer---waste of time. Decided to check the torque on the bolts on both uppers and lowers last night, not a one of them was torqued properly---not even remotely close. Anyways to make a long story short, i see some gapping in between the bushings and the outer housings for the control arms, and also noticed that the upper ball joints seem to be rather dry. Any recommendations for replacement?...I was leaning towards Moog, but i've never changed control arms before and from what i can gather they are going to be a bear to do.

 

I have hellwig front and rear swaybars coming in tomorrow that will be installed, and new-ish bilsteins (5 months old) all the way around but i was pretty sure that the bushings being that way on the truck would cause a bit of slop and wobble if they were in that condition.

 

 

Any suggestions would be of great help.

 

 

Thanks!

[dlewis1111]

Was underneath the truck last night, and a week ago..did tire rotation and had noticed that the bushings for the upper and lower control arms from my judgement look dry rotted. I've been chasing a problem of the front end feeling wobbly and almost sloppy, took it to dealer---waste of time. Decided to check the torque on the bolts on both uppers and lowers last night, not a one of them was torqued properly---not even remotely close. Anyways to make a long story short, i see some gapping in between the bushings and the outer housings for the control arms, and also noticed that the upper ball joints seem to be rather dry. Any recommendations for replacement?...I was leaning towards Moog, but i've never changed control arms before and from what i can gather they are going to be a bear to do.

 

I have hellwig front and rear swaybars coming in tomorrow that will be installed, and new-ish bilsteins (5 months old) all the way around but i was pretty sure that the bushings being that way on the truck would cause a bit of slop and wobble if they were in that condition.

 

 

Any suggestions would be of great help.

 

 

Thanks!

 

MOOG is a good quality replacement that should come with the bushings installed. Once you pull the coilovers off the arms are really easy to change out. The balljoints in these trucks have been an issue. One is replaceable, and the other is not, lower I think is not. But again, new arms will come with them. Let us know.

[Paradigm49]

I had wondered if there were any recalls on the upper ball joints on those trucks, especially since they don't have any zerk fittings...i mean really...why would you make a truck with off road suspension and not put greasable balljoints on it?!...

 

As i said before i've never changed control arms, but i assume you were referring to taking the shock/spring assembly out and then changing the arms. Really with the way i looked at it last night, the only issue i think i would have would be the lower because it's bolted into it, but if i take the tension off of the lower by lifting up the truck, it shouldn't be that much of a pain, considering i did change out the shocks not too long ago and had the entire assembly out. Now my next question is, does anyone have the part numbers because all i can find is the upper control arms and not the lowers, or what other people call the A-arms.

 

I may just be over analyzing how difficult it would be to change them, because frankly besides the ball joints (which i've never done personally either) it just looks like alot of bolts to remove and put back in and most of a day spent doing it, but at the same time it seems it would be worth it than dealing with dry upper balljoints and dry-rotted bushings on the control arms.

[mhenshaw]

I have Moog upper a-arms in my closet haven't installed them yet because its too hot outside. They look like good quality and I cant wait to have grease fittings. I let you know how the install is.

[Paradigm49]

defintely let me know. I've been reluctant to do much of anything on my truck lately either---too damn hot in upstate NY too. The upper control arms and balljoints i'm not too worried about but it's the lowers i'm more concerned with as to how much of a pain in the a$$ they are going to be, so defintely let me know how it goes.

 

 

Thanks!

[AllBlkdOut07]

MOOG is quality for sure.

[sillyazz]

I have Moog upper a-arms in my closet haven't installed them yet because its too hot outside. They look like good quality and I cant wait to have grease fittings. I let you know how the install is.

So now the MOOG's have grease fittings in them? I thought there was talk on here that not even the MOOG 's had the grease fittings.

[dlewis1111]

I have Moog upper a-arms in my closet haven't installed them yet because its too hot outside. They look like good quality and I cant wait to have grease fittings. I let you know how the install is.

So now the MOOG's have grease fittings in them? I thought there was talk on here that not even the MOOG 's had the grease fittings.

 

 

No, the uppers have nongreasable joints that are not replaceable just like the factory ones. The lower joints are replaceable and have zerk fittings.

[Paradigm49]

Didn't know that little bit of info, but regardless---because of those choices of not having greaseable ball joints...i still have to replace the ones on mine. And to boot, the bushings on both lower and upper control arms are dryrotted...actually just went outside and took pictures of them...if the balljoints weren't dry i would just replace the bushings, but really...whats the point of just replacing the bushings if the ball joint is dry too...but hey thats just my $.02

[mhenshaw]

I have Moog upper a-arms in my closet haven't installed them yet because its too hot outside. They look like good quality and I cant wait to have grease fittings. I let you know how the install is.

So now the MOOG's have grease fittings in them? I thought there was talk on here that not even the MOOG 's had the grease fittings.

 

 

No, the uppers have nongreasable joints that are not replaceable just like the factory ones. The lower joints are replaceable and have zerk fittings.

 

 

 

The uppers are greaseable. They come with a hole in the top of the ball joint and you have to screw in the supplied grease fittings.

[toadman81]

i have an 07 sierra z71 which i bought used in april has always had a "knock" in the front end. it shows up every now and then when i turn in a driveway or make a sharp u-turn and sometimes just idling into a parking spot, but its never a persistent knock. sometimes it feels like it's on the passenger side and other times on the driver side. the dealer put it up on the rack just after i bought the truck (BTW it was a certified used truck) and they said they couldn't find anything wrong and they couldn't get it to replicate the "knock" i was describing. anyways, this seems similar to what I've read on this thread. you guys think I have ball joints goin out or dry rotted bushings on the A-arms? I'm scheduled to take the truck into another dealer monday morning.

 

thanks, i love this site!

[Caleb 6R]

toad, I'm getting the same knock with my 07 NBS, i hope it's nothing too serious. Waiting for it to get a little worse before taking it in!

[Paradigm49]

Well, i had that same noise or knock or clunk that your referring to. The other day after breaking a very old torque wrench decided to go out and buy a much heavier duty one and looked up all of the torque specs for the bolts for the upper and lower control arms for the truck on here. Every single bolt on both sides wasn't even remotely close to the proper torque specs, and i had also replaced the end links on the sway bar in the front. As of this point in time...i don't have the clunk or knock anymore. Although this evening i'm taking out the stock sway bar in the front and installing a hellwig and installing a rear sway bar, but the first thing i would do is defintely check the bolts and see if they are tight like they are supposed to be and check for gapping on the bushings for the control arms.

[rockcrusherrevived]

you could have saved your money on that torque wrench and just do what 2001Silverado364 does LOL he just uses 3/5ths of his body weight LOL

[[email protected]]

you could have saved your money on that torque wrench and just do what 2001Silverado364 does LOL he just uses 3/5ths of his body weight LOL

 

You've always had something against me haven't you? I've never broken anything that way, and nothing has ever came loose either. But, like I said, I would not use this method on cylinder heads. Good luck with trying to ruin the forum, by the way. You know you could try to give helpful advice now and then.