2007CalSpec

I just ordered some LCA's and UCA last night. I was wondering about the upper control arm mount and if it's worth it to change out the stock one? If it's worth it then I'll get one since I'll be under the car replacing the UCA and I'll replace the UCA mount in the process. Does the UCA mount make any difference that you can feel?

05 Ricky

Yea the upper mount will make a hudge differnce. The stocker is actually really flimsy. The stock mount is the weak link not the upper control arm. Most people change out the uppers to an adjustable one so they can easily correct their pinion angle if needed. But if you have it all apart I definetly would change it out, being it is kinda a pain to do a second time around. One of the biggest benefits of a upper mount is most aftermarket companys make the hole for the contol arm bolt the same size as the factory bolt which alows the upper control arm the be secure and not allow the bolt to move around in the mount(the upper control arm mount on the factory mount has alot larger hole in it which allows the upper control arm to move which can cause a nasty clunk especially with a more solid bushing upper control arm.

Ricky

2007CalSpec

^Thanks! I just ordered the UCA mount.

brunobluto

Thats funny.

jz

^+1. LOL. Nothing easy about chaning pinion angle via UCA.

6-Speed

Can pinion angle be adjusted via the UCA with the suspension loaded? It looks very tight in that region.

BruceH

I didn't change the mount. No issues. Adjustable uca is the only way to go. Lca's alone didn't eliminate my wheel hop. Adding the uca did. IMO control arms should be one of the first mods done to s197's because the wheel hop is horrendous with the stock units.

BruceH

Yes. It's not hard at all. At least not compared to some of the other things on this car.

2007CalSpec

Well...I got the UCA and the mount installed. I gotta say it's not something I'd be willing to do again. I started around 2-3pm and finished sometime after midnight. It was a pain in the azz! It seemed like every bolt I had to remove had red loctite on them. The tough ones to remove were the two UCA mount bolts. Each turn of those bolts required some force. It wasn't like where you can just break them free and then it's easy to turn from then on. You had to give each turn of the ratchet some force. The other problem was the stupid bolts for the fuel tank straps. Why did Ford use Torx Plus T50IP bolts for this?! Why couldn't they use standard bolts for God's sake! I had to do some searching on what bolts these were. At first I thought they were regular T50's. Anyway, I couldn't get torx plus T50IP locally so I got the regular torx T50 and was able to remove the driver's side bolt. It was also tight and wouldn't turn freely. Argh my aching hands! The passenger side bolt was a b*tch! I could only turn it half way out and gave up. Luckily, I was able to drop the fuel tank enough on the driver's side to wiggle the UCA mount out of its rear mounting hole. With the stock UCA and mount on the ground, I removed the nut and bolt that holds them together and used the same nut and bolt to connect the new UCA to the new UCA mount. After that, everything was pretty easy. When it was time to check my pinion angle, I had the rear axle on jack stands and the front on jack stands with the front wheels hanging. I made sure the car was level. I have the OEM driveshaft and the initial measurement was 6 for the driveshaft and 0 for the pinion itself. I then adjusted the UCA and still got 6 for the driveshaft but the pinion is now 3. Is this ok? This would give me a pinion angle of 3 or is it -3? I can't say that this mod made any noticeable change in the way the car feels. Maybe my shifting is smoother now? Hmmmm...