Stangatic

Hey guys,
I am in the process of replacing my lower control arms and I am having difficulties removing the rear bolt. I have the jack under the rear bolt supporting the old lower control arms and can get the bolt out about 1/4 of the way and then it freezes up. Any suggestions on how to get this out?

timeformiller44

heatttt and a lot of lube.... but chances are heat

pete1665

a looot of heat from a torch. I hated my life for the two days that i spent replacing those damn control arms.

Actually, now that I think about it... I ended up using a sawzall(sp?) to cut those bolts out. then just replaced them with new ones from ford. What happened was the bushing was siezed onto the bolt, so when i was trying to turn the bolt, it also turned the bushing.No amont of penetrating lube and heat would loosen it.

bigmoose15

yeah, heat will do it. I had to almost burn the bushing out to get the bolt out.

Stangatic

Thanks guys! Well.... I learned that installing new rear lower control arms (LCA)is easier said then done. I spent 3 hours yesterday trying to take out the rear bolt on the driver side lca and found that when the threaded side of the bolt was knocked through the mounting, the lca would twist slightly from the pressure of the spring, and would bind the bolt. fortunately a crow bar wedged between the jack and the LCA solved that problem. However today was a different story. I ended up having to cut the LCA bolt to get it out. I am not sure what the heck was going on inside the bushing but what ever it was ruined my weekend. The bolt would slide a 1/4 of an inch in and would bind. After trying whatI did with the driver side, I decided to just cut the boltafter 5 hours of trying to bang it out. when i got the LCA out, the cut bolt still would not come out of the LCA. Anyways, I had to run to the hardware store to find a replacement for the cut bolt and they did not have the right size.

Does anyone know where I can get the bolts for the rear lower control arms? I bought roush arms off ebay and they came with everything but those bolts .

Anyways, thanks for the responses!

LynnBob Mustang

I'm getting a set CHE LCA's and they come with the new bolts, so your saying I'm better off just cutting the bolts off to start with if after having a couple minutes of hassle of trying to get them out?

Lynn

Stangatic

Well... Honestly, if you have air powered tools and have a cutting wheel. Cut the springs first or remove them with a spring decompresser. I ended up having to cut one of my springs off to release the tension off the LCA. It makes a big difference when the spring is not putting the pressure on the LCA. I know it sounds stupid but that’s what I did. I used a car lift to lift the car completely off the ground so that the rear was hanging as low as it could (thus leaving minimal pressure on the spring) andI cut the spring with a air powered cutting wheel. The spring snapped and compressed itself and didn't go shootingacross my garage. It made things a lot easier.

And yes! make sure it comeswith new nuts and bolts for the installation. Mine were so junked up, terrible looking, and damaged.

P.S. get a hayes shop manual too.

Tim99GT

So what your saying is that when i finally change my LCAs, i should just bite my tongue and pay a shop to insall them, and save myself the headache

pete1665

exactly. you will not regret it. i did the fronts (over two and a half days). then started on the back, ran into the same problem with stuck bolts, and then said eff this and took it to a shop. got it back a day later and couldn't be happier.

LynnBob Mustang

Did you disconnect the bottom of the shock off the LCA? That should have also releaved a lot of tension.

Lynn