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Ky_man
Dodge Dakota
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9/28/2006
20:26:12
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 Subject: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
Okay, so, I found out i need to lube up the control arm bushings
and other bushing related to the suspension to stop the
squeakyness. Could I use WD-40 for this? Just for a quick fix. It
get's really annoying when I don't have the radio on and the
window down.
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Josh
Dodge Dakota
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9/28/2006
22:00:49
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
Not WD-40. It contains petroleum distillates - not good for rubber or poly bushings.
Use a silicone-based lubricant. Syl-glyde from NAPA works good. Comes in a squeeze tube.
The squeaking is most likely the sway bar bushings, so do those first and see if that eliminates the noise. Control arm bushings are a whole nother story and a lot of work, especially if you have a 4x4. You really don't want to go there, unless you got all the right tools and don't mind getting a front end alignment after.
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Ky_man
Dodge Dakota
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9/29/2006
01:55:02
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
Ok, i know where the ball joints connect, but where exactly are the
sway bars? There's too many rods and things down there to
tell...lol. JK, im just new to lubricating the front end. And also,
how do I do it? Do I just squeeze it to the inside of the bushing as
much as possible?
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Kevin
Dodge Dakota
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9/29/2006
02:26:29
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
How you do it depends on if it's 4WD or 2WD. Different suspension geometries.
So which is it?
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Ky_man
Dodge Dakota
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9/29/2006
14:34:14
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
'97 2WD slt 5.2
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TexDakota6
Dodge Dakota
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9/29/2006
14:55:04
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
Do NOT use wd-40 on rubber bushings, they will ruin the bushing. It must be a silicone based lubricant. A quick spray for minor squeeking will get you by for a while, but it's best to get some silicon grease in there.
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mopar4u
Dodge Dakota
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9/29/2006
15:24:01
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
Do you have to take the bushings off to grease them? If so, what is the proper procedure for taking them off?
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Josh
Dodge Dakota
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9/30/2006
00:13:34
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
No. You don't have to remove them.
The ones you want to lube up are attached to the frame. These allow the sway bar to rotate on an axis parallel with the front "axle". Remove the bolts at each bracket. You don't have to remove the metal bracket from the bushing, but you can if you want. Slide the bushing to the side enough to let you clean up the contact area of the sway bar. Before you slide the bushing aside, put a thin coat of silicone lube on the bar right next to the bushing, so that when you do slide them, they'll be easy to move.
Apply fresh silicone lubricant to the sway bar at the contact points. Slide the bushing back into place and bolt the brackets back to the frame.
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OBIO3
Dodge Dakota
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9/30/2006
18:02:13
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
I got the idea to use WD40 on my hitch ball for 2 reasons. To lub the ball while pulling my boat and and protect against rust. After about the 4th or 5th lubing, that crap was like glue. I had to use solvent to remove it. I threw it away and went with Boat trailor wheel bearing grease. Just a very thin coat of it. good lub and also water resitant. Also comes off reasonably easy.
So many problems .... So little time
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.boB
Dodge Dakota
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10/01/2006
00:53:49
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
About 6-8 months after buying my new Dakota (in '01), the squeaking started. I eventually discovered it was the donut bushing on the outer end of the sway bar. I removed it, cleaned, lubed with NAPA Syl-Glide, and reassembled. Squeak gone.
But then it returned about 8 months after that. Over the next few years I had to clean and lube every 6-10 months, depending on the weather. If I drove through a lot of water and/or snow, it would need it sooner.
Over a year ago I used some Mobile 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease. Still quiet; and this has been the wettest year we've had since I bought the truck.
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mopar4u
Dodge Dakota
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10/02/2006
11:07:19
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
looks like there are 4 bushings on my front sway bar (02 quad cab). Do all 4 need to be lubricated? Can this be done without the truck being jacked up or anything?
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Josh
Dodge Dakota
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10/02/2006
14:40:29
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
The two center clamps/brackets require a 15mm socket for the bolt (the one you can see), and a 21mm deep socket for the nut (accessed through a hole in the front of a frame cross-member. Also in that same hole you'll see a flat piece of metal sticking out. That's the "handle" for the nut the bolt threads into. Remove the bolt first and then you can get its nut out of the way so you can then have a bit more room to attack that big 21mm nut in the frame.
I don't remember what size the control arm attaching bolts are - could be 13, 14 or 15mm.
You don't need to jack up the vehicle for this, but clearance is limited, depending on vehicle ground clearance. Actually you don't want to jack the the vehicle because it makes the brackets a bit harder to put back on with the bar angled down when the suspension is hanging down. Use good quality ramps if you got them, and it'll be much easier. Whichever way you choose, the front end must be raised evenly on both sides, or that sway bar will have some twist in it and it'll fight you coming out and going back in.
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mopar4u
Dodge Dakota
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10/12/2006
08:50:24
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
does molly lube grease have petrolium and or work for greasing rubber?
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boomer
Dodge Dakota
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10/15/2006
07:19:59
| RE: Bushing Lubricant
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Message:
I have a 2wd 98 SLT, when I replaced my balljoints with the greaseable ones I also replaced my swaybar endlinks and the 2 swaybar bushings that are in the center. The new ones I got from energy suspension have grease zurts on the clamps holding the bushings so you can just shoot a lil grease in em when they start to squeak. no problems so far, been about 1000 miles.
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