[shadash]

I finally figured out why my Durango pulls slightly to the left!

This has been driving me crazy for 5+ years. It just didn't make sense. My front wheels are slightly out of caster. (One wheel is further forward then the other) this annoyingly makes my Durango pull to the left. I've had it aligned multiple times and nobody could figure it out either.

Today I was installing new brake pads and looked up and it hit me.

Passenger side...

Drivers side...

BOTH upper control arms are screwy. The passenger side upper control arm is a cheap knockoff (Not OEM). The drivers side is OEM but it's a passenger side upper control arm.

What a weird thing to do. The passenger side upper control arm is a reproduction. And the drivers side upper control arm is OEM but it's installed on the wrong side.

I ordered a 68217809AB + will install on the driver's side also I'll take the 68217808AB currently installed on the drivers side and install it correctly on the passengers side.

 

[shadash]

Well, someone really borked that one up. Good catch but definitely a one-off problem.

I've never seen anything like it.

I understand being cheap and not buying OEM if one of the control arms need to be replaced. But why install the OEM one on the wrong side?

Was it installed incorrectly at the factory?

Was someone flipping things around to make cheap parts "fit". If yes this seems like double the work.

 

[shadash]

I've been thinking more about how the weird upper control arm situation could have happened.

My Durango is a 2014 and I bought it used with 15k in 2016. In 2020 someone hit us in the drivers door which was repaired. I didn't notice any suspension work done when the door was repaired. Also I'm at 185k and all original suspension or at least no changes that I'm aware of.

The three scenarios where it could have happened.

1. The previous owner did something and either had it repaired by a numbnut or repaired themselves.

2. When the drivers door was repaired the front suspension was also "repaired". I have a hard time with this one because only the driver door was affected. This doesn't explain the passenger upper control arm change.

3. Sometime when my car was at a shop someone sourced an upper control arm from my car and replaced it dorkaly. This is hard to believe because I had maxcare and always took it to dealships for repair and they only use oem parts.

A mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a bacon sandwich. Such a weird problem. I'm happy that I finally figured out the annoying steering issue. It just frustrates me that it took so long to identity. Now that I see it I can't believe I missed the issue for so long but who would have thought parts would be installed on so many levels of wrong.

 

[shadash]

Hurray! The mystery has been solved.

I looked closely at the paper sticker on the non oem upper control arm. It had a bar code and very faintly said my wife's name.

This means it wasn't the previous owner. Also because it's not OEM most likely it wasn't installed at the dealership.

This means when the door was repaired they must have done some suspension work (but never told me about it). I bet they bought one non oem upper control arm to replace a broken/bent one. Then found out the non OEM control arm and OEM control arms don't play nicely together. To make things work they flipped the OEM one which made things kind-of work. Or the guy installing/reinstalling parts was just dim.

 

[shadash]

Hmmm. You will see I deleted a post above. I had questions and missed the line about the control arm being installed on the wrong side and subsequently deleted it. Now you say they are both on the wrong side, which to me brings up more question. Please keep us posted. I’m curious how this turns out. Grab some pics of the bad control arm if you’re doing the work yourself. Thanks!

Bought a new OEM part off ebay. It will take a week to ship. Once I get it + have some time I'll install/correct everything.

There's a good chance that the passenger upper control arm that's currently installed on the driver's side is bent + needs to be replaced as well. But I'll find out when I start taking things appart.

 

[shadash]

New upper control arm just arrived.

Looking at this new control arm I'm fairly certain that the ball joint on the one that's currently installed on the wrong side is going to be shot and need replacing before fixing the passenger side.

 

[shadash]

2020 lines up with the timeframe you say the car started having pulling issues. Odds are there was something wonky with the OEM PS UCA, or the alignment, and the body shop replaced it with an LKQ part. It should be in the body shop paperwork, and it should say whether they replaced with an LKQ, Aftermarket, or new-OEM. Dollars to donuts it's an LKQ or AM part, and wherever they got it from shipped them a 2016+ arm instead of a 2011-2015 arm. That's what initially caused the pulling, IF the pulling issue started around the time of the accident repair.

Then, at some point, the dealer attempted to fix the issue (or maybe there was something like a torn boot on the DS UCA that was noticed and replaced under Maxcare without notice - which happens frequently and would be noted in service records for the vehicle). They ordered the part and either made a clerical error, or the wrong part was shipped in a mis-labeled bag. I've had the latter happen many many times with Stellantis (3 incorrect coil covers, and 2 incorrect Purge hoses). The label on the OEM arm says 12/07/2022 so it was replaced AFTER the body shop touched the car and isn't what caused the pulling issue.

If it were me, I would scrap BOTH control arms and replace them. That balljoint on the PS arm that's been run on the drivers side has been operating WAY out of normal conditions and I wouldn't trust it. A broken UCA ball joint at anything above parking-lot speed is a BAD time. I've had a ball joint fail before, and it's not pretty.

I also would NOT replace them with OEM UCA's, but rather swap to Mevotech TTX arms. They are cheaper than new OEM ($145 for the pair from RockAuto), and the quality of every TTX tier part I've ever used has been VASTLY superior to OEM.

I agree with you on everything stated.

Looking at the new OEM control arm that just showed up, 99% chance I'm going to need to replace the OEM one that's currently installed incorrectly.

Pretty sure the ball joint is dorked...

There might be better aftermarket but I prefer to install OEM. I've wasted time having to go back and redo things because aftermarket isn't quite right.

 

[shadash]

I’m still curious to see how this progresses.
If the right and left upper arms were swapped, one would think that both sides would be showing the same ball joint stud deflection, although maybe in opposite directions. Hoping your new arms correct the issue. Keep us posted.

The passenger side upper control arm is aftermarket. The aftermarket part might be universal meaning it could be installed on the left or right side.

What's currently installed on the driver's side is OEM but it's the one that's supposed to be installed on the passenger side.

The cheap way to fix would be to get another aftermarket control arm and replace the driver side OEM control arm. The problem with this is I don't know what aftermarket was installed on the passengers side also I don't know if the aftermarket one is universal (can be installed on either side). Another solution is to get 2 new aftermarket control arms and cross my fingers and hope everything works/fits.

I've been down this path before with aftermarket parts. It's worth it to spend a little more and just buy OEM and not have to worry about potentially doubling up on the work.

 

[shadash]

Ok got the the axle and strut out.

Anyone know the magic trick involved with getting the upper control arm bolts out? I've hit them with an impact trying to loosen from the wheelwell and nothing.

 

[shadash]

Here's the bolt I'm having difficulty getting out.

 

[shadash]

The more I'm looking at this the more it seems like I'm going to need to loosen bolts from the top and push the control arm bolt through to the wheelwell area from the top.

 

[shadash]

The more I'm looking at this the more it seems like I'm going to need to loosen bolts from the top and push the control arm bolt through to the wheelwell area from the top.

Figured it out.

You have to go through the top + the bolts in the wheelwell don't move. You have to undo the bolt on the top then the entire bolt will pull through to the wheelwell.

There's very little room to undo the bolts on the top. You'll likely need a ratchet wrench 19mm to get the bolt off.

 

[shadash]

Got everything put back together and drove it around a little. The pull to the left is gone but now I need to get it realigned because everything done previously to make things work has the steering wheel a little crooked and it's slightly pulling to the right now.

A little FYI for someone in the future that needs to just replace the upper control arm. If you unscrew the bolts from the engine bay above the wheelwell you can likely get them out without needing to remove the strut. I didn't know the internal bolt in the wheelwell didn't do anything. If I knew that I would have started at the top.

 

[shadash]

Make sure you torque the UCA mounting nuts with the wheels on and the vehicle on the ground, or the rubber bushings will get destroyed.

Yea, I noticed things were a little too tight.

Going to put it up on 4 ramps and loosen / tighten things later today so they're all perfect.

 

[shadash]

Got the wheels balanced and suspension aligned 96% better than before but still not perfect. Very slowly 6-7 seconds still drifts to the left.

The alignment guy showed me the chart with red and green. I should have taken a picture. They said thay they couldn't get Durangos any closer because caster is not adjustable.

Well I just happen to have 2 castor adjustment plates that can be added to the lower control arms. I'll call them on Monday and say that the alignment isn't good enough + they need to use the caster adjustment plates + make things perfect.

Getting closer...

 

[shadash]

I would swap right and left side tires, front and rear.

1. See if it helps
2. See if the drift follows and if it does, get new tires.

There is a slight chance your tires are the cause and it is worth a try before spending more money at the front end shop.

This is a possibility.

However I saw the alignment report and there was some red vs all green. When I asked about the red they said they couldn't get it any closer because Durangos don't have the ability to adjust caster.

The caster plates and bolts I have add the ability to adjust caster on a Durango.

After the caster plates and bolts are added + everything shows green on the alignment report I agree that new tires are the solution.

What's annoying me about all this is how cavalier mechanics are about not actually fixing issues. The alignment guy should have offered to check and see if aftermarket solutions for adjusting caster was available for durangos. If someone is having their car aligned they want it to drive straight. If you don't fix the problem they're just going to bring it back and get frustrated.

 

[shadash]

The conclusion to the saga...