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Ball joints?

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Old 06-11-2012, 03:07 PM
  #11  
Derf00
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Originally Posted by S197GT07
One side went on mine, and I replaced them this weekend with the GT500 pieces.

Need to get an alignment to fix the wheel being off, but so far so good. Car feels might tighter in the steering department.
So how difficult were they to replace? Did you have to remove the Steering rack mounting bolts to allow you the room to pull the control arm bolts out?
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Old 06-11-2012, 03:10 PM
  #12  
S197GT07
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Originally Posted by Derf00
So how difficult were they to replace? Did you have to remove the Steering rack mounting bolts to allow you the room to pull the control arm bolts out?
Yea, that was the biggest PITA. Ford decided instead of putting the bolt head on the bottom, where its super easy to get too, they put it on the top. So you have to thread your ratchet through the K member and all this other junk to get at the bolt. You have like 25 degrees of movement while getting the bolt out.

It sucked

Other than that the install is pretty easy. Took me an hour with a buddy on a lift for the set.
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Old 06-14-2012, 02:51 PM
  #13  
Old Mustanger
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Originally Posted by S197GT07
Yea, that was the biggest PITA. Ford decided instead of putting the bolt head on the bottom, where its super easy to get too, they put it on the top. So you have to thread your ratchet through the K member and all this other junk to get at the bolt. You have like 25 degrees of movement while getting the bolt out.

It sucked

Other than that the install is pretty easy. Took me an hour with a buddy on a lift for the set.
+1 on this. I had to totally remove the rack & pinion steering unit to access the LCA bolts, that was the biggest PITA on the job. But I used this as an excuse to upgrade the rack mounting rubber bushings to Urethane.
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Old 06-17-2012, 07:08 PM
  #14  
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Thanks for the install tips. Nothing will be as frustrating as the longtube headers were. So if a bolt is hard to reach, no biggie. LOL
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Old 06-17-2012, 09:35 PM
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S197GT07
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Originally Posted by 808muscle
Thanks for the install tips. Nothing will be as frustrating as the longtube headers were. So if a bolt is hard to reach, no biggie. LOL
Same way I looked at it. They were a pain, but only 2 of them, not 8
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Old 06-19-2012, 09:36 AM
  #16  
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Mine were warm buttery toast at 44k so 30k is reasonable with worse driving conditions.
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Old 06-19-2012, 01:58 PM
  #17  
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I just checked mine and couldn't get any movement out of the tire when pulling and pushing from the top and bottom. Is there another way to check your ball joints?
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Old 06-19-2012, 02:45 PM
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S197GT07
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I push and pull from the sides too

None other that I know of.
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Old 06-19-2012, 02:53 PM
  #19  
Derf00
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Originally Posted by S197GT07
Yea, that was the biggest PITA. Ford decided instead of putting the bolt head on the bottom, where its super easy to get too, they put it on the top. So you have to thread your ratchet through the K member and all this other junk to get at the bolt. You have like 25 degrees of movement while getting the bolt out.

It sucked

Other than that the install is pretty easy. Took me an hour with a buddy on a lift for the set.
Ahhh, good to know. Looks like i'll get to try out some of my new ratcheting low profile tools!

I've heard you can put those bolts back in from the bottom like you described would be easier for just that reason. is that true?
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Old 06-19-2012, 05:06 PM
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moosestang
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Originally Posted by S197GT07
I push and pull from the sides too

None other that I know of.
I just googled it and you are supposed to push up and pull down on the lower control arm, with the weight off the tire obviously. I'll try that next.
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