Front end questions

I’m changing parts on the front end and have a few questions:

1) Upper control arm: I need a source for the control arm to frame bolts; they are not available from Ford. I left the tabs on the 2 facing the front but had to remove them to get the bolts out facing the firewall. The head of the bolt will not allow me to tighten the one facing the firewall enough without the torque wrench slipping. Others suggestions for how to torque them with the original bolts would be appreciated.
2) Strut links and lower control arm ball joints: How do you tighten the bolts, the keep rotating with no way to hold them.

Thanks,


Duane

djgross said:

1) Upper control arm: I need a source for the control arm to frame bolts; they are not available from Ford. I left the tabs on the 2 facing the front but had to remove them to get the bolts out facing the firewall. The head of the bolt will not allow me to tighten the one facing the firewall enough without the torque wrench slipping. Others suggestions for how to torque them with the original bolts would be appreciated.

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Knock the tabs off.. just pry them back-n-forth a few times and then toss them. You don't need them. You can reuse the control arm to frame bolts and nuts on both side of the car (4 total). When you go to torque them, couple of notes:
1. be sure you lift the car with a jack under the lower control arm to where the car just starts to come off the jack stand.. then torque the frame bolts.. If you don't do this, the car won't sit right.. its called bushing wind-up. If you've already torqued them w/o doing this, loosen them up and try again.
2. You can reach behind the spring with an extension for the rear bolt.
3. On the pass side, to hold the rear nut in place, you can just slip a wrench over it from underneath the car.. you'll be amazed at how easy it is to get to that way.

djgross said:

2) Strut links and lower control arm ball joints: How do you tighten the bolts, the keep rotating with no way to hold them.

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Lets see.. to keep the stud from rotating, I think I tapped them into the spindle arm with a hammer until they were wedged tight enough for the nut to rotate. For the lower ball joint, just place a jack under the lower arm and lift a bit to seat it.

Another tip for the upper control arm bolts is to use an impact socket on the bolt after knocking off the tab. The impact socket is made to fit a little tighter and gives you a better hold on that funky bolt head.

My god

omg... theres no way in hell i can move that rear bolt... its a pain in the ****. i dont know what u guys were talking about when u say use a wrench w/ an extension where the spring is... thers no opening there... any help would be awsome

They probably mean:
Wrench = Socket wrench with appropriate Socket
Extension = Extension on the handle of the socket wrench to create additional leverage, i.e. breaker bar.

tbird9069 said:

omg... theres no way in hell i can move that rear bolt... its a pain in the ****. i dont know what u guys were talking about when u say use a wrench w/ an extension where the spring is... thers no opening there... any help would be awsome

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Hmmmm.. I used a regular 3/8" drive deep 6 point socket + 3/8"-1/2" drive adapter + 4-5" 1/2" drive extension + 1/2" drive ratchet + 2' cheater bar and reached behind the spring with the whole setup. The cheater bar is just a plain piece of 1" diameter steel conduit about 2' in length, but I'd imagine 2" diameter PVC might even work. You do need the leverage. To install, I just used the ratchet until tight and then substituted a regular torque wrench.
Here's a pic.

Upper control arm bolts

If your talking about removing the bolts, you need the open end of a 18mm wrench to remove the nut from the bolt that is located in the engine compartment. This applies to the rear nuts, the front ones can be removed with a socket. The tabs on the bolts will hold them in place.

When installing you have to remove the tabs on the rear bolts because it not possible to tighten the nuts from inside the engine compartment.

Duane

Duane, the bolts are still available from Ford. The catalogue illustration for 89 - 94 shows a number that is discontinued. But if you go to a 95 - 97 illustration, it shows a different number. The upper arms are all the same, so I'm sure they will work in any 89 - 97.

The Ford hardware number is N808177-S150, showing over 100 pieces available in the Memphis depot.


cheers,
Ed N.

Wow, another Duane on the board. I'm sure people won't confuse you with the nut case that I am.

Duane

control arm bolts

Plus...don't forget that a friend's assistance would be of some help too. I had my friend use a box wrench on the bolt part in the wheel well, while I used a "rachet wrench" on the bolt side inside the engine compartment. You can only turn that bolt maybe a 1/4 turn at a time.
And like everyone's already said, just break off the tabs and of coarse get the front end aligned.

Ive done the entire suspension in the front of my current SC and I did the upper control arms on my *sold* 89 SC...they're fun!

TbirdSCFan said:

Hmmmm.. I used a regular 3/8" drive deep 6 point socket + 3/8"-1/2" drive adapter + 4-5" 1/2" drive extension + 1/2" drive ratchet + 2' cheater bar and reached behind the spring with the whole setup. The cheater bar is just a plain piece of 1" diameter steel conduit about 2' in length, but I'd imagine 2" diameter PVC might even work.

Click to expand...

Don't use PVC for something like this. When it hits it's limits it doesn't bend, it shatters. This can spray fragments around.

You can go to your local hardware store and just get conduit for enclosing wiring cut to any length you want. When conduit hits it's limits it just bends.