Minion

I am in the middle of replacing my stock LCA's to ones that I ordered from UMI. I torqued it to 129 ft lbs and then went back and reread the instructions where it said to torque it to 72 ft lbs. I had seen 129 several times on the forums and got that number in my head.
Now that I am rereading through the forums (while the car is still up on jacks).. I am concerned that I have damaged the bushings. Do I torque it back to 72 or do I leave it at 129? I am worried that I have stretched the bolts and it will not work properly anymore.

Need suggestions, recommendations and advise ASAP!!!!

Gary Ugarek

You have learned a very valuable lesson, as I discuss with my geek friend when building PC's, RTFM

I hope it works out for you. I am not a torque expert but I would think 50+ over is not a good thing.

808muscle

I would think the bushings are fine but you might have stretched the bolt. Those bolts are supposedly one time use bolts but most people dont buy new ones. You have two options:

Take the bolts off and inspect them..........if they look good just use some locktite and torque to spec. Or go to a ford dealership and buy the $60 bolts.

NJ3

In my experience with LCA's it's best to follow the instructions included with them, so loosen and re-torque the bolts to 72 ft lbs. I know it's not recommended (and I'm not suggesting it) but as far as hardware goes I've reused the bolts many times over.

tx_zstang

If you're re-using the stock bolts on the LCA's, the torque on those are 129 ft-lb's. 72 is way too low for the LCA bolts, if using the stock ford bolts.

Now, the smaller 2 bolts on an UCA bracket, those are 72.

The LCA bolts are not 1-time use. They have blue loctite on them new, hence they are one-time use bolts.
Work with any of the TTY bolts that stretch, and you will have to replace those; but the torque sequence is different.

If you are unsure or have any doubts, put the stockers in, torque to 129, and buy a new set.

moosestang

72 ft lbs? really? Are those the roto-joint lca's? That seems like a really low torque value for lca's. My spohn lca's said 116 ft lbs in the instructions and they use a similar joint.

The uca bracket bolts are 85 ft lbs for the two rear bolts.

Minion

I double checked the instructions. They are half poly and half roto-joint. I have my car on jack stands still until I can call UMI tomorrow. I have them at 129 ft pounds of torque as well. I don't want to back them off until I know for sure. it was a pain getting them that tight.

moosestang

Well the poly side should be fine, but the roto-joint might not be able to handle that much torque.

157dB

You dont mention if you used NEW hardware
or the old already torqued to yeild OEM bolts.

Old OEM bolts, yes throw them away.
New hardware that came with the LCAs, check the grade
on the head of the bolt. Grade 5, replace. Grade 8, its OK
to loosen and re-torque them.
I would get some new Grade 8s and properly torque them...

BTW, do not tighten the bolts until you have the vehicle at ride height.

Minion

the UMI LCA's didn't come with new hardware. it told me to reuse the old hardware. I called the place that sold them to me and they said the 129 ft pounds should be fine.

I do have another question....I torqued the bolts while the car was up on jack stands. will that add noise? I know road noise is possible but this sounds like a brake pad just barley touching a rotor. I know thats not the case....just describing the sound. Now I'm wondering if I should lower the car, take out the bolts, add more locktite, re-torque etc etc. or if that sound is "normal"