Replacing Rear Control Arms. Any Tips?

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do a search on this site for install write ups. The topic has been covered about 1000 times.

Couple of tips
  • Get the MM upper control arm bushing tool.
  • Spray down all the bolts liberally a few days before with PB blaster.
  • Buy a set of new Control arm bolts as yours are most likely rusted.
  • You may need to drop the mufflers out of the way to gain access to the front lower control arm bolts.
  • Check your lower and uppser torque boxes for any signs of damage. Not to knock you, but those SVE arms are "house brand" arms that are no the best quality- check the welds carefully. They also have poly bushings on both ends that tend to cause binding of the rear end and tear up torque boxes.
  • Make note of the location of the pigtails on the rear springs, When you install them have them in the same location to maintain the same ride hide, but you may need to adjust them still as you are replacing 20+ year old parts.
  • Since you are using arms with poly bushings on both ends, do not torque down the bolts until you have the suspension preloaded and the car at ride height, or that will create a binding problem. You can either jack up the rear end and put the wheels back on once everything is assembled to ride height ( measure this woth the car on the ground before you start from the center of the fenderwell opening to the top of the tire) or with the car on the ground and the weight of the car on the suspension.

Speaking of springs and shocks, are you replacing them as well? Might as well do it all at once.
 
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I installed kyb adjustable shocks, springs, mm pinion snuber, kyb quad shocks last year. 89 vert 82k miles.

Ok can u help me understand more of what u mean by preloaded? Also how do I torque bolts if I can't get under it? Jack stands under the axle?

I know sve are a cheaper brand but they should be better than stock right?
 
  • I see now the upper bushing ur talking about I was unaware of it. it looks straight forward with the m&m tool from the video. Im sure mine are dry rotted.
  • Can u tell me more of how the car should be jacked when I torque?
 
If you cant crawl under the car to final torque the nuts, you can simply raise it evenly on ramps or if you are lucky enough to have access to a drive on lift.
 
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Preload occurs when you tighten the suspension points that have the rubber or urethane bushings with the wheels hanging down and not touching the ground. If you tighten the bolts then, the zero resting point for the suspension will always with the wheels hanging down, This will cause the bushings to have a twist in them when the car is setting with the wheels on the ground. The zero resting point is supposed to be when the wheels are positioned as if they are on the ground.

Put the jackstands under the rear axles housing and let the weight of the car rest on them. For the front of the car, the jackstands should be as close to the wheel as possible without causing interference with what you are working on.


If you intend to own and drive a modified Mustang, a good floor jack and 4 good jackstands are a must have item. That is a basic tool item along with quality American and metric size wrenches. You can very easily have more money in tools and shop supplies than in the car. Cars will come and go, but good tools are a lifetime investment Some of the Snap-On Tools that I have are 50 years old and still work better than any of the cheap Chinese junk you get now days. They have stuck around and been useful longer that my first wife, two kids and 10 different cars.

Harbor Freight jackstands are as good as any, and cheaper than most other places. I have some and am pleased with them.

I don't think that I would buy a floor jack from them unless I had several friends who had good experiences with their Harbor Freight floor jack. The floor jack I currently have came from Sam's, but I never crawl under the car without one of more jackstands in place.
 
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jrichker - I already have a jack and 4 jackstands and I have done plenty of work using them! I just needed some clearifcation for torque process and if I can put jackstands under the axle tubes then torque thats perfect!

Once again thanks everyone on this site is great! All of you have really made things alot easier!

Thanks