Lower control arm removal; '98 Dodge Ram SS/T

Hey gang...
Hope everyone's doing ok and all had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays..

Situation: I'm about to replace the upper/lower control arm bushing and ball joints on my '98 Ram SS/T..

Question: Since there's a coil spring, can I:

1. put the truck on jack-stands with the weight of the truck on them
2. raise the lower control arm with a floor-jack and with the arm up, compressing the spring, separate the lower ball joint, and then lower the control arm slowly thus allowing the lower control arm to swing down far enough to release it from the coil spring.

OR: Do I HAVE to use a coil spring compresser?

I'm sure the upper control arm's removal is similar to my old b-bodies in that I just need to separate the upper ball joint from the spindle and then remove it from the frame eccentric locations. I'll be marking the position of the eccentric cams so I can repposition them in the same location..

I'm trying to do this all myself other than the press work required for the bushing and ball joint installation itself.

Thanks.

if the ram is similar to the dakotas then a spring compressor is not needed. A floor jack is the way I have done it many of times. Just be careful the spring is under a lot of compression force. Also removing the old ball joints is a pain in the butt, If you can find a shop to do it for a couple hundred then have them do it. You might also want to check your bushings, when my ball joints needed to be replaced so did my bushings.

Quote:

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if the ram is similar to the dakotas then a spring compressor is not needed. A floor jack is the way I have done it many of times. Just be careful the spring is under a lot of compression force. Also removing the old ball joints is a pain in the butt, If you can find a shop to do it for a couple hundred then have them do it. You might also want to check your bushings, when my ball joints needed to be replaced so did my bushings.

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As far as the components go, I'll be taking the upper and lower control arms once off to a shop to have the joints/bushings pressed out/in.. Not looking to tackle that without air tools(maybe next Christmas )

Are you referring to pain as the removal of the joints out of the control arm themselves? If so, I'll be doing what I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Thanks...