What Did You do to your Journey Today

[5rebel9]

WELL..... I can't say it was TODAY, but I started doing repairs to my '13 2.4 FWD sxt this week. 

I changed out the upper rear camber arms with the adjustable Moog units...went easily on Tuesday. 

I then ordered from rockauto the lower toe links and adjuster bolts on Thursday, parts arrived Friday as shipping point was in Buffalo,NY{55 miles from my home}

Friday afternoon I went back to work on changing those NASTY parts. YES had to use a sawzall to cut the bolts, but with a Milwaukee brand  6" 10 tpi torch blade they cut through like a hot knife thru butter! AND there was NO marring to the subframe mounts! I could only get a 3 pack of those blades at $39 , but well worth the money.

TODAY I will put the tires back on and close things up for now as the wife wants her parking area back in the driveway!!!! I WAS going to do the rear brakes and rotors{front and Rear ordered with the toe arm parts}, but with her demands and not wanting to put the parts in and have the car sit for possibly some extended time again, I'm going to wait on that job.

IF I can get the wife's assistance later today I may tape measure for rear total toe to see if I'm closer to zero total toe than the 1/2" toe out it had before starting!

STAY TUNED... The SAGA will continue!!!!

Edited September 20, 2025 by 5rebel9

[2late4u]

I have had thoes adj links installed on my 2014  around 5-6 yrs now after ruining some tires before I caught the OEM part went bad, I had installed an after market hitch and used a carrier for my wife's 3 wheel medical scooter and I believe maybe that is what caused the OEM arm to get out of adj, I never had this happen with my 2011 journey but I used to lift the scooter and put it in the rear hatch back area back then,,,LOL I  had to go to the carrier as it was a real Hassle getting it into the rear hatch space.... KIND of weird that dodge would use an arm that was non-adjustable for an alinement part

[5rebel9]

7 minutes ago, 2late4u said:

I have had thoes adj links installed on my 2014  around 5-6 yrs now after ruining some tires before I caught the OEM part went bad, I had installed an after market hitch and used a carrier for my wife's 3 wheel medical scooter and I believe maybe that is what caused the OEM arm to get out of adj, I never had this happen with my 2011 journey but I used to lift the scooter and put it in the rear hatch back area back then,,,LOL I  had to go to the carrier as it was a real Hassle getting it into the rear hatch space.... KIND of weird that dodge would use an arm that was non-adjustable for an alinement part

A Western, NY car for all it's life....LOTS of salt and cratered roads,. This is no "show car" by any means, but still solid. I'm going to keep it as a "backup" for the wife, she hates the wheelchair van and my Buick is too big for her parking skills! 

VERY COMMON for these parts to go bad up here, most shops do not like replacing the toe links. In fact my sister and brother in law were told they would NOT do them unless a new or good used subframe was installed.... BIG issue with the toe link mounts getting "butchered" by lack of good tools and patience when having to cut the bolts.

[Locosiete]

Today I finished redoing/upgrading the battery bank for the stereo. Instead of running 4 12v 100 AH lithium batteries i am running a 14.8v 120 AH cmax lithium bank. Since the alternator has external regulator and I didn't want to deal with diodes to trick the system i ran an external dc2dc converter. 

 

[5rebel9]

WELL>>>>>>>

  Today I go back underneath the rear of my project '13sxt and adjust the rear toe of the tires. Even though the bolts are in the OE. positions, it still has 1/2" toe out. I just want to get it close so I can put new tires on and get it to the alignment shop without scrubbing up new tires.

I spent 2 days during the week replacing the rear and then front brakes and rotors. Each corner had 1 seized caliper pin to "contend" with along with LOTS of wire brushing and filing pad slide surfaces of the brackets to get the NY RUST gone for smooth pad movement.

[5rebel9]

11:15am Sat. Just finished getting rear total to to 0, COLD morning so late start! Jacked up one side and made small adj to toe bolt{30* at eccentric} measured and had come down to 1/4" toe out. Repeated for the other side and did the same amount of adjand final came out good. I just can't tell if individual tires are each on spec as I had no reference as to where each tire was actually pointing. Both tires were equally BADLY worn into the steel belts on the inside edge. Should be good enough for the 25 mile drive to get it aligned when I put it on the road. 

Next task is a pair of 17" Mastercraft winter trex snows to match the like new fronts and a new sensor for the current right rear rim. The rear tires are so bad I would not run 10 miles on them!!!!!

[5rebel9]

NOT today...YET,but thru the past week got the 2 matching snows and mounted with new sensor . Pulled donor matching color drivers door and installed. Then went to work on the NASTY HFM/Bluetooth module. This job is turning into a nightmare, but one way or another TODAY I'll get it done. Seems I've lost the 3rd wire connector under the dash OR it just isn't there. I can only remember disconnecting 2 plugs on both the donor car and the project car. 

So far total $$$ invested including buying this car is $1,000.00 !!!!

Still to do is proper concentration water/ coolant change and new rad. fan resistor,oil and filter, new wiper blades, register it and off for 4 wheel alignment!!!!

[5rebel9]

Bluetooth/phone is working and I learned that the Base radio/4.3 screen voice command is for PHONE only and is a 2 connection unit NOT 3 

3 connections is for higher level audio usually found with the 8.4 screen and or Alpine system.

Once the wife got home today and paired her phone to the car everything clicked and even volume control....NO PHONE NO CONTROL.

Under dash all back together.

I also have to amend previous post.....$1200.00 so far ! the last tasks will go much easier physically and monetarily !

[5rebel9]

WELL....

Today I decided to take a closer look at the FRONT suspension in preparation for getting the needed 4 wheel alignment. GLAD I did, it needs camber bolts for the front struts (pass. side a bit neg. camber) and both outer tie rod ends. With shipping and tax it cost me $85.00 for the 4 parts thru rockauto (moog ends). I then went to work , and I mean WORK, to loosen up the strut bolts and drivers side tie rod end, those parts will change EASILY when they arrive. I worked just as hard on the pass. side strut bolts and they finally loosened up, but I decided to wait till Thurs. to tackle the tie rod end....I'm too sore from the job! Tie rod play is not excessive, BUT alignment techs hate ANY play so it's getting done and all nicely lubed for easy and smooth adjusting...to keep them happy.

ALL other work is complete from my previous posting which was done yesterday(Monday). 

I just have to wait until Sunday to see my sister and brother in law to give me a bill of sale to go get it registered next week.

 

Stay tuned!!!

 

[5rebel9]

Well....

  It's been a couple of busy weeks with getting firewood and taking care of my parents and life in general.

TODAY I had the front ball joints replaced and then played with getting front toe and steering wheel "centered up"  along with rotating the tires due to a left side tire pull.

YES today was the first 18 mile one way outing for it since getting the plates for it. Car drives quite nicely with future work of sway bar links and possible wheel bearing work. Hard to tell with bare roads and aggressive tread snow tires on it for road noise( but bearable).

The car goes in for 4 wheel align. TOMORROW at 10:30 am  at the alignment shop for "fine tuning"!

So far VERY HAPPY with the outcome and PRICE invested, a bit over $1,800. ALL expenses including plates, NYS inspection.

[5rebel9]

WELL....

Alignment was done on Thurs. and csr drives VERY NICELY on all aspects of what one would expect from a DJ. Quite HAPPY with it !!!!

 

Yes I need to do front sway bar end links, but the road noise IS from the aggressive tread of the snow tires on it not wheel bearing boise.

 

For a 4 banger it warmed the interior much quicker than my other 3.6 motored DJ's when I took it for a drive this am at 38^ f outside temp and rain.

[khnitz]

I will be completing a comprehensive rear suspension refresh this weekend on the 09 Journey.

 

A little over a week ago I finished installing new inner and outer tie rod ends and front sway bar end links.

 

[5rebel9]

NOT FAIR  !!!

Look at those NICE pic's , INDOORS out of the weather AND on a LIFT !!!!

My work was out in the weather on a hard dirt driveway( when it hadn't been raining) with a small 2 ton jack and jackstands.

The only work I "farmed out" was mounting/balance of the 2 tires(and one TPS), the ball joints and the alignment!!! About $350.00 in parts and labor of my total investment.

     Thanks for posting up and keep on coming with your updates!

[Locosiete]

18 hours ago, khnitz said:

I will be completing a comprehensive rear suspension refresh this weekend on the 09 Journey.

 

A little over a week ago I finished installing new inner and outer tie rod ends and front sway bar end links.

 

 

I'm confused how your strut has so much surface rust but the rest looks pretty clear. Not sure what brand those struts are but I'd stay away from them again 🤣🤣

[Ellison Brooks]

On 8/25/2025 at 8:10 PM, Locosiete said:

Well not sure i would say i did something to my DJ but definitely something with it. Did a small roadtrip. Split it up, drove up to meet with my brother to do some fishing and drove 

 

But did catch a small fish

 

 

Then flew home, left my car at my brother's in portland, flew home for 2 weeks. And now I am on the return trip. Currently about a quarter of the way home. Currently about a quarter of the way home. It’s been quite a journey, and I’m enjoying every mile of it. Once I’m back, I’ll definitely need some help from professional Castle Rock cleaning services to get everything at home back in order!

 

But as you can see it's only a couple miles left to go 🤣🤣

 

That sounds like an awesome trip! Nothing beats some quality time fishing and a good road adventure. Glad to hear you’re almost home — those last few miles always feel the longest but most rewarding!

[khnitz]

Well, having lived its entire life in the rust belt, it was bound to happen...

 

I started work on the right rear side. I've removed everything else and was working on the bolts for the rear trailing arm. I was able to get the inner bolt out, but the outer bolt snapped off near the head. So now I need to figure out how to get the rest of that bolt out and put a new one in. Any suggestions? 

 

Here's a picture of the old and new components, and another picture of the problem bolt area.  I should add that I used an inductive heater on the bolt for a while before attempting to remove it.  However, the bolt is so long, I don't think the heating had much effect at the captive nut in the unibody for the bolt.

 

Edited October 25, 2025 by khnitz

[Locosiete]

18 hours ago, Ellison Brooks said:

That sounds like an awesome trip! Nothing beats some quality time fishing and a good road adventure. Glad to hear you’re almost home — those last few miles always feel the longest but most rewarding!

 

For some reason the message you quoted added something about castlerock cleaning to my message. If you look at my original post I never wrote that.

The machines are becoming self aware

🤣🤣🤣

[khnitz]

On 10/25/2025 at 4:26 PM, khnitz said:

Well, having lived its entire life in the rust belt, it was bound to happen...

 

I started work on the right rear side. I've removed everything else and was working on the bolts for the rear trailing arm. I was able to get the inner bolt out, but the outer bolt snapped off near the head. So now I need to figure out how to get the rest of that bolt out and put a new one in.

I would call it about 4 hours of battling to get that broken trailing arm bolt removed.  After locating the area above the captive nut, I cut a hole in the interior floor to access it.  First I drilled out the remains of the bolt.

 

Then I drilled out what remained of the captive nut.

 

The new shock for that RR corner is assembled to the spring and mount, here's a view of the new vs. old shock.  The new shocks are Monroe OE Spectrum.

 

My evenings this week will focus on reassembling that corner and moving on to the LR corner.  I have a bushing press kit due to arrive on Wednesday, so that should help with replacing the 3 bushings on the knuckle.  I already pressed in the new trailing arm bushing yesterday.

[5rebel9]

Having to go to that "involvement" shows REAL LOVE of a car and DEDICATION to prove ones abilities!!!!

At least you have the " RIGHT STUFF" to to be able to pull it off with your "shop" equipment !

[khnitz]

35 minutes ago, 5rebel9 said:

Having to go to that "involvement" shows REAL LOVE of a car and DEDICATION to prove ones abilities!!!!

At least you have the " RIGHT STUFF" to to be able to pull it off with your "shop" equipment !

During the course of working on it this weekend, I gained a better understanding (maybe even sympathy) for why some vehicles that don't seem that bad off wind up being junked, and also why some shops will turn down or refuse working on older vehicles (especially here in the rust belt). 

 

I thought about how much it would have cost - at shop labor rates - to do this job.  Also, I'll need an alignment once this is all done.  If an alignment shop would have to tackle this vehicle before all this work is performed, there's just too much risk in not being able to loosen a bolt or snapping it off to make it worthwhile.

Edited October 27, 2025 by khnitz

[John/Horace]

Wow that’s going down the rabbit hole on a car repair. The kind of thing that takes vehicles older off the road some times. Unibody car design created some of these nightmare captured nut problems. Lighter weight and easier to mass assemble…but repair skills needed can be on a whole other level. Nice work!

[khnitz]

After attending SEMA last week in Vegas, I was able to get back to work on the Journey this past weekend.

 

I refreshed the suspension on the driver's side.  I was able to avoid snapping off the trailing-arm-to-body bolts by pre-drilling access to the captive nuts and using an induction heater to heat up the bolt and then melting crayon into the threads.

Once the post-repair alignment is complete, I'll cover the holes with butyl sound mat (like Roadkill or Dynamat) and re-install the interior pieces.

 

Here is the completed driver's side rear suspension.

 

I decided to buy the induction heater for this job and see if it lived up to the hype in the reels/ads that kept getting pushed into my newsfeeds.  In short - it works!  For the repairs I have to make, and being in the rust belt, this will help a lot.  I also melted crayon into the heated threads (my first time trying this, too) and that seemed to help get the bolts out easier.  One thing to note - even after heating the bolt or nut for 15-20s, it did not "glow hot" - but it certainly heated up enough to make it easier to remove them.

 

Here's a video of the induction heater in use:

https://rumble.com/v71hr3s-is-an-induction-heater-for-stuck-bolts-worth-it.html

[5rebel9]

WELL... I've been enjoying driving my 4 banger and checking it out for any further things to address on it. Going to get both front wheel bearings replaced and the new sway bar end links(all Moog parts thru rockauto) by my friend. The weather has changed for the season, so unless an EMERGENCY repair no more work out in my driveway! Parts arrive today.

So far, I'm liking the car even though not as much power or "upper end" acceleration....but that's fine with me!

[5rebel9]

WELL....

 The "change of season "hoodwinked" all of us yesterday(our first SNOW)! It rained most of Monday, changing to freezing(ice) and then snow overnight to wet snow of 4 -6 inches by 8:00am ! Roads were horrible, but wife in her RT awd and I in the 4 banger made the trek to my friends shop to leave the 4 banger to get the work done. 15 miles at no more than 40mph !!!

 He had said that it MAY NOT get done for Tues., but as it turned out the bad weather was in my favor. Other customers had canceled, and other jobs were delayed for late arrival of parts.

Since I was supplying the parts needed, he took my ride in and got the work done. NOW the car is driving the way it should and for 184k miles feels like(and sounds like) a new car!

 I will see, once I get my winter driving skills more woken up, on how well the fwd compares to the awd and will make a topic on MY observations....stay tuned!

[2late4u]

1 hour ago, 5rebel9 said:

WELL....

 The "change of season "hoodwinked" all of us yesterday(our first SNOW)! It rained most of Monday, changing to freezing(ice) and then snow overnight to wet snow of 4 -6 inches by 8:00am ! Roads were horrible, but wife in her RT awd and I in the 4 banger made the trek to my friends shop to leave the 4 banger to get the work done. 15 miles at no more than 40mph !!!

 He had said that it MAY NOT get done for Tues., but as it turned out the bad weather was in my favor. Other customers had canceled, and other jobs were delayed for late arrival of parts.

Since I was supplying the parts needed, he took my ride in and got the work done. NOW the car is driving the way it should and for 184k miles feels like(and sounds like) a new car!

 I will see, once I get my winter driving skills more woken up, on how well the fwd compares to the awd and will make a topic on MY observations....stay tuned!

I have not really driven an AWD in snow but I have never had any problems anywhere I wanted to go with my fwd vehicles in any amount of ice or snow