Bushings help to isolate road noise and catch it before it works to the chassis, but they have two problems: they go bad, and they're a pain to get out of the control arm and back in. In fact, some DIY mechanics have even gone so far as to replace the entire control arm -- at about $250 -- rather than to go through the aggravation of removing and replacing the bushings. To be sure, bushing replacement in the Dakota or any other vehicle isn't for the faint of heart, but it's quite doable even without a specialized hydraulic press.
Place your new bushings in a deep freezer set on the lowest-possible temperature the night before your replacement. Chock your truck's rear wheels, break the lugnuts loose, raise and support the front of the truck with jackstands and remove the front wheel. Remove the brake caliper slide bolts, and hang the caliper off of the frame with a length of metal wire. Remove the nut that connects the stabilizer bar to the lower ball joint, and pull the end link off of the lower control arm.
Remove the cotter pin and nut from the ball joint on the affected arm, or on both if you're replacing the entire bushing set. Run a chain through your coilspring, and through the truck's frame, and connect it in a loop with a bolt. This safety measure will help to prevent injury from the pressurized coil spring. Slide your jack under the lower control arm and lift the suspension to ride height in order to unload the rebound bumper. Use a ball joint separator to pry the ball joint or joints apart from the steering knuckle.
Unbolt the shock absorber from the control arm. Lift the upper arm out of the steering knuckle, and then carefully lower the jack to unload the suspension. At this point, the spring should unload fully, and the knuckle should be hanging off of the lower ball joint and steering end-link. Pull the knuckle up and off of the lower control arm, and hang it from the chassis with wire, or remove the steering link and pull the knuckle out completely. Pull the coil spring out. Remove the nut from the large pivot shaft on the affected control arm, and pull the control arm off.
Drill through the rubber bushing material in as many locations as you can. Perforating the rubber in this way may give you the latitude you need to remove the metal bushing sleeve with a cold chisel and a hammer. If the bushing wont come out, fit a long, thin, metal-cutting blade to your recipricating saw or jigsaw, and push the blade through the shaft hole in the bushing. Cut downward thrrough the rubber, and very carefully cut the bushing's metal sleeve without cutting into the control arm. Do this at four to five locations, and drive the metal sleeve and remaining bushing material out with a chisel.
Clean the inside of the control arm's bushing bore with 220-grit sandpaper to get it as smooth as possible. Now, set your torch on low heat -- a yellow-orange, smoky flame if you're using oxyacetylene. Hold the torch so that the flame just touches the control arm, and work it around the bushing bore and slightly down the arm. Your goal here is to get the control arm hot, but not so hot that it glows even slightly. About 350 degrees is appropriate. This is enough that the bushing bore will expand to accept the bushing, but not so much that you'll re-temper the metal.
Pull your cold bushing out of the freezer. Freezing the bushings causes them to contract. With the bushing contracted and the control arm expanded, the bushing may well just drop in without any force whatsoever. If it doesn't, a little persuasion with a mallet should do the trick. You may wish to hit the control arm with the torch one more time just before sliding the bushing through, just so that it's fully up to temperature. Repeat with the other bushing on that control arm, and the other two bushings on the other control arm, if you wish.
Grease the pivot pin and the inside of the bushing sleeves before re-installation. This will help to prevent squeaks and rattles as the assembly establishes a wear pattern. Install in the reverse order of removal. Install the pivot pin or pins, and torque the pivot pin nuts to 155 foot-pounds on the upper arm, and the lower-front and lower rear nuts to 130 and 80 foot-pounds, respectively. Install the coil spring and shock absorber, and torque the lower shock bolts to 19 foot-pounds. Drop the steering knuckle onto the lower ball joint, and then use your jack to lift the suspension until the knuckle goes onto the upper ball joint.
Install the castle nuts on the ball joints, and tighten to 60 foot-pounds. Continue to tighten the nuts until you can work the cotter pin through. Bend the cotter pins back on themselves to lock the nuts in place. Reinstall the stabilizer bar link, and torque the fastener to 35 foot-pounds. Reinstall the brake caliper slider bolts -- after greasing the slider shaft -- and torque the bolts to 22 foot-pounds. Reinstall the wheel, and repeat on the other side of the truck.
