MOOG IDLER ARM INSTALLATION

The Moog brand idler arm is a direct replacement for the OEM style arm. They are of different designs. The Moog is built much stronger than the OEM version. It uses a much shorter shaft and the shaft itself rides on an metal bearing rather than a nylon bearing. It should hold up to offroad abuse much better than the OEM style. The Automotive Customizers idler arm brace is incompatible with the Moog arm due to design differences. The perfect time to do this install is either when the OEM arms' bearings have worn out or the shaft itself has bent due to trail abuse.
Difficulty = 2/10

• socket driver
• 10mm + 19mm sockets
• 19mm wrench (or 2nd 19mm socket & driver)
• idler arm or pitman arm puller
• needle nose pliers
• jack, wheel chocks, jack stands

1. Loosen front passenger wheel lug nuts but do not remove them.
2. Chock rear wheels and put jack under the jack point. Jack up the truck so that the tire is no longer in contact with the ground.
3. Place jackstands under frame and remove front passenger wheel.
4. Using the socket driver and the 10mm socket, remove the bolts surrounding the front skid plate and remove it.
5. Remove the rubberized wheel well liner on the front passenger side (you can just remove the front portion and bend it out of the way).
6. Using the needlenose pliers, remove the cotter pin from the bolt shown in purple in the picture below. Then using a 19mm
7. Using the socket driver and a 19mm socket along with the 19mm wrench, remove the idler arm bracket bolts (shown with green dots in the picture below). You will need to hold the nuts on the inside of the frame in place while you loosen the bolt (that is what the 19mm wrench is for).

8. Attach your pitman arm puller to the end of the idler arm shown in the next picture. The pitman arm puller is outlined in green dots.

9. Tighten the bolt at the bottom of the puller until the idler arm comes off. This may take some force to accomplish. If you have trouble keeping the idler arm level, just reinstall one of the bracket bolts loosely. This will prevent the idler arm from rotating downward.
10. Remove the whole idler arm assembly and set aside. It should now look like the picture below. Take this time to inspect the tapered centerlink bolt for any wear or bending (marked with a green dot in the picture).

11. The installation of the Moog idler arm is simply a reverse of the removal. Align bracket with the bracket hole in frame and re-install bolts. Fit the tapered centerlink bolt into the hole at the end of the idler arm. Re-install nut. Tighten nuts so they snug. It should now look like the following picture.

12. Re-install wheel, raise truck off jackstands and remove them. Lower truck to the ground.
13. With the wheels on the ground, now torque the idler arm bracket bolts (purple dots in above picture) to 75 ft-lbs and the other bolt (green dot in above picture) to 70 ft-lbs. Re-install new cotter pin through the hole in the tapered centerlink bolt.
14. Re-attach inner fender liner, re-install skid plate and torque lug nuts to 80 ft-lbs.
15. Test drive to make sure everything works properly.