What's involved in installing a set of LCA's?

[Imyourzero]

I want to get a set of lower control arms...and possibly a set of uppers too.

What exactly has to come off of the car to be able to install them? How long of a process is it? Any special tools required?

The reason I'm asking is because I've got a set of Bullitt shocks & struts waiting to be installed, as well as a set of H&R Sport springs coming in the mail...I had planned on installing that stuff first, but would it be best to just wait until I have the LCA's and install everything at once? Or do LCA's just require removal of the rear wheels?

 

[Numbles]

I just spent sunday night lowering a friends 96 gt. He's gobabyvroommm in the 4.6 forums. Do everything with a jack under the control arms. Remember there are certain parts that hold the control are from dropping to the ground. The struts are one of them for the front. But do it like we did and put a hydraulic jack under the side you are doing and start taking everything apart. You shouldn't have a problem. The first time you do a front or rear it takes forever. But the other side is a breeze.

If you have a friend with an impact gun, beg them to let you use it. The LCA bolts dont like to come off and I broke a hardened 18mm impact socket trying to get that bolt off so lube everything up before hand and you shouldn't have a problem.

I wish we would have had new LCA's to put in at the time because doing the rear again to put those suckers in is going to be a pain to do again. Save up and do it all at once.

 

[95stocker]

I did my control arms this past thursday.
What you'll need:
2 jack stands
1 hydraulic jack
1 come-along
1 can of PB blaster or liquid wrench
some beer muscles to get the old bolts off
1 grease gun for greasing the new control arms
1 ball peen hammer
1 punch
socket set (1/2" drive)
18 mm and 19 mm deepwell and standard well sockets
18 mm and 19 mm hand wrenches


What you need to take off:
disconnect shocks and quads
lower axle and remove springs
remove e-brake bracket from lca's
remove brake calipers, disks, and dusk guards

What you need to do to line up new lca's:
support u joint at front of differential(otherwise axle will rotate and lca's won't bolt up)
use come-along to align lca holes with holes in axle tubing brackets (trust me, doing it by hand is not worth it)

UCA's:
same thing

I probably missed something, but I think that's it.

 

[Imyourzero]

Wow, more involved than I thought. Thanks for the info guys! I'll definitely wait until I have the LCA's before I install the shocks/struts/springs so I don't have to take them off again later to do the LCA's.

 

[DougNuts]

I would also buy new bolts for the axle to control arm connection. Mine were pretty rusted up and had worn away a bit. They're only a couple dollars from Ford.

 

[swingline]

I plan on installing my Bullitt kit soon. I hope I can do it by myself....

 

[Numbles]

So wait 95stocker. You lowered the whole axle with the control arms attached. If it worked that way, that a great idea. You dont even want to know how we did it.

BTw, did you get my PM's.

 

[AznStanger3v]

man, a lot of those steps were unneccessary. i did both of my control arms by myself in about an hour. all you need is a hydraulic jack so the spring doesnt shoot the lca off. two bolt to take off and thats it. grease new ones, pop it in, call it a day. breaker bars work faster than Pb blaster, though i LOVE my pb!

 

[95stocker]

So wait 95stocker. You lowered the whole axle with the control arms attached. If it worked that way, that a great idea. You dont even want to know how we did it.

BTw, did you get my PM's.

Yea, I put the jack under the diff. and lowered the whole thing, took the lowers off, then the uppers, put the new uppers on, jacked the axle back up, put the lowers on and greased/bolted everything back up.

And yep, I got your PM's, you should have a couple I just sent back to you.

 

[95stocker]

man, a lot of those steps were unneccessary. i did both of my control arms by myself in about an hour. all you need is a hydraulic jack so the spring doesnt shoot the lca off. two bolt to take off and thats it. grease new ones, pop it in, call it a day. breaker bars work faster than Pb blaster, though i LOVE my pb!

Yea, alot of those steps were unneccessary, I forgot to add that I was putting in new shocks, quads, springs, and sway bar as well when I did this.

 

[Stangfreak95]

I did everything alone in my driveway with 2 floorjacks. Click on the se links and it will tell you everything on the removal/install.

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2000/03/controlarms/index.shtml

http://www.corral.net/projects/subzero/szlowers.html

 

[Imyourzero]

Thanks for those links!

 

[yellow1995Cobra]

The worst part about swapping them is getting the stock bolts out of the lower control arms. The ones that bolt the LCA to the axle are a PITA to get out. It took us hours to get those bolts out, because they were seized in.

 

[DougNuts]

The worst part about swapping them is getting the stock bolts out of the lower control arms. The ones that bolt the LCA to the axle are a PITA to get out. It took us hours to get those bolts out, because they were seized in.

Same here, that's why I (and I believe the haynes manual) recommend buying those bolts new from Ford before you do the swap. Took me and my dad like 5 hours to get the bolts out.