Upper rear control arms

I took my bird in for a 4 wheel alignment after I had it lowered.

I hope I get this right......I have 2 degrees of negative camber on the drivers rear and 1½ degrees of negative camber on the passenger side (the tires are tilted in at the top).

I have looked at some of the fixes here for this problem and all of them require some grinding and / or welding of some sort.....

The alignment mechanic had a suggestion that involved straightening the control arm, thus increasing the distance between the bolt holes somewhat to achieve the correct alignment.

When I got back and talked to my mechanic, he asked me why I couldn't fab up a straight adjustable control arm like you see in Summit and Jegs......

Can the t-birds use a straight rear upper control arm, or is it shaped that way for reason?

I own a fab shop, so making one is fairly easy for me to do.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

I believe it was done for clearance issues and I don't think there is enough clearance from upper arm to body to have a straight arm. You can pull off a rear tire and look in there to see for yourself.

Does your car have the adjusters on the inboard position of the upper and lower arms? Some cars didn't have them in the upper from the factory, IIRC. Most of the time you can get the alignment where you need it with those two adjustment points.

You can get new upper arms from Ford that come with the eccentric bushings, F2SZ 5500 A.

If you already have those, and can't get it within spec., consider simply slotting the mounting holes on the upper arms where the knuckles attach. That way you can pull the top of the knuckles out a bit, to get the camber more positive. We had to do this on one side of my 95 after it was lowered.


cheers
Ed N.

I'll pull the wheels and take a look to see if it is a clearance issue.

While the car was on the rack I looked and there is no adjustment on the upper control arm.....

I'll check on the part numbers.....

Thanks for the help.

The adjuster is hard to see from the outside. The bolt has sort of a diamond shaped shaft and fits into an eccentric bushing on the arm. You can test it by loosening the nut on it and turning it with a wrench. You should see the arm move in and out. (Be sure and mark the bolt head so you can get back to where you started!)

fast Ed said:

You can get new upper arms from Ford that come with the eccentric bushings, F2SZ 5500 A.

Click to expand...

I just checked with the dealership here and they want $100.00 each

Napa

NAPA has a listing for just the bushing (NCP2674119) if you are interested in the work involved in changing them out. It's not really that bad. The bushing alone is ~$50 each though and may take a week or more to come in. Be sure you don't have an adjustable one in there already. My alignment guy claimed there was not an adjustrment until I showed him how to adjust it... It is pretty much invisible without disassembly.

Anthony

I just took a look at the control arm set up....

They are bent that way for chassis clearance.....

I don't think I have the adjustable bolt, but I will take a look before I do anything else......

I could run a straight control arm, but I would only have about ½" of chassis clearance......

I could notch the chassis to get around this problem, but that is just too involved......

Another option is to get some spare arms, cut, and weld some adjusments to achieve the correct the camber.......

I want to save the slotting as a last resort....

wtf, loosen the nut and try turning the bolt with the wheel in the air, if it doesnt work slot the control arms, if that doesnt work and your car is dropped like 5"s have a welder extend the control arms, I've also put the upper arms in a vice and slightly flattened them out and braced them( put two straps from one side to the other on the open end evenly spaced out)

This may help.

http://members.tccoa.com/393bird/camber.htm

AsScLoWn said:

I've also put the upper arms in a vice and slightly flattened them out and braced them( put two straps from one side to the other on the open end evenly spaced out)

Click to expand...

That was one of my options, as well....

I can bend them to get the correct distance between the bolt holes.....

But I would like to have some that can be "fine tuned"....

Make sure this bushing is installed in the upper control arm. If not Moog sells new bushings part K8562 . Press the old ones out and press the new ones in.

Thanks Rich.....

I'll see if I already have these installed...

I just took a look at the rear upper control arms, and YES they do have the adjustable bushings installed......

I can't wait to take it to the alignment shop that said that it was not possible to align.....

..... SMRT