REMINGTON RAY

Guys,
I have searched and searched. Been to 6 different parts stores and no one has a single control arm bushing that I need. I have a 2000 V6 Mustang with the 7.5" axle. The axle needed to be rebuilt, so I did that. No problem there. However, to get the axle out I had to cut one of the lower control arm bolts. The specific one I cut was the axle housing to lower control arm bolt. The old bolt was seized to the inner steel sleeve of the bushing. The bushing was badly wore out. So I figured I could run to the parts store and get a bushing, press the old one out and new one in, get a new M14x2.00x110 grade 10.9 flange bolts and be done. Well, Autozone, Orielly's, Advance, Napa, and Bumper to bumper do not have any reference in any catalog stating this bushing as a serviceable item. Which means there are no parts numbers for it. No one carried an M14x2.00x110 grade 10.9 flange bolt either. The only place I found that had anything close to this was Fastenal and they had some hex bolts. But they want $21 for 2 of the darn suckers. Robbery.

Okay, surely I am not the first guy to have this problem. Where can I find this bushing and bolt?

REMINGTON RAY

Is everyone still asleep from all the turkey? Nobody has had this issue before?

pilatti1

Did you try Mustangs Unlimited ?

REMINGTON RAY

Never heard of them. I am new to mustangs. Anyways, this is what I did. I went to ISA Pick Pull Save off of Grade lane and Outerloop (for all you Louisville folks). ISA had three mustangs. 1999, and two from the previous body style, 1998 and earlier. Anyways, all three had the rear ends and control arms. I found that the 98 and earlier bolts are probably M12's and not M14's like the 99+ models. The one 99 they had I could not get the m14 bolts out. So I am guessing it a common problem that the steel inner bushing sleeves seize to the M14 bolt.

My solution. I yanked a control arm from one of the 99 and earlier models, compared it to the control arm on the 99+ model. Same. The ID of the bushing sleeve is smaller for the m12 bolts, so I grabbed a few of the M12 bolts. I should be able to get the "new" junkyard control arm to work on my 99+ body with the smaller bolts.

I hope this helps someone else that has this issue, I am sure I am not the only guy out there struggling with these damn M14 control arm bolts.

UPRSharad

It sounds like you forgot that the LCA holes in the axle housing are still 14MM, so that bolt is going to slide front & back when you load and unload the suspension.

petrock

I recently replaced the rear upper & lower control arm bushings on my wifey’s ’98 Mustang. The rubber bushings are glued into their outer metal shells at the factory, so you can’t easily press them out. The way I got them out was to turn the bushings into swiss cheese by drilling a bunch of holes around the bushing with a 1/4” drill bit. I then used a torch (I used Propane, but MAPP would have been quicker) to heat the bushing’s outer metal shell to the point that the rubber bushing started to melt and ooze out a little. At which point I was able to push the bushing out with a piece of pipe. I cleaned up the remaining rubber goo from the metal shell, after letting it cool for a couple hours, with a 1.5” wire wheel drill bit attachment I got from my local hardware store. Worked like a charm.

As for replacement bushings, I went with Polyurethane bushings from Energy Suspension (4.3115G (black) or 4.3115R (red)). ES’s kit doesn’t come with new metal outer sleeves, so you don’t want to damage them while trying to get the old bushings out.

I also videotaped my adventure and posted it up on YouTube. Hope it helps someone out:

REMINGTON RAY

I did think about that. For the holes in the body I still used the stock 14mm bolts on the 98 and earlier control arm. To make this work is simple. I drove out the inner bushing sleeve from my stock bushing and pressed it into the "new" pree-99 control arm I got from the JY. So that takes care of the "small bolt in a large hole" in the front bushing of the rear lower control arm. Now, for the rear bushing hole, I thought and thought and thought. Well, turns out it doesn't matter if I use a smaller bolt there. The inner sleeve of the bushing has teeth. The bolt simply squeezes the mounting ears on the axle into these teeth. As long as the bolt keeps pressure on the mount ears to keep those teeth "dug" into the mount ears the inner sleeve won't move. Therefore no "back and forth" wiggle as you say. I can always find a 14mm bolt later if I have any issue, and drill out the inner sleeve of the bushing to fit it. The inner sleeve is actually made for a 14mm bolt, but it has 3 dimples punched into it to close up the ID for a 12mm bolt. All I have to do id file or drill out those dimples and a 14mm bolt will slide right into a pre-99 lower control arm.

petrock

The ‘teeth’ in the inner sleeve won’t help you. The torque spec for these bolts is around 85 ft/lbs. That is not high enough for the ’teeth’ to bite into the mounting bracket metal with sufficient force to really hold the sleeve/bolt in place. Increasing the torque isn’t advisable because then the control arms won’t move/pivot as they are supposed to while your driving. The control arms are under some serious stress/force as your driving. If you don’t use the correct bolt it will slip. No doubt in my mind about it.

Good luck...

REMINGTON RAY

Increasing the torque will not hurt the function of the bushing. The bushing works the same no matter how much torque is applied to the bolt which pinches the mount ears against the inner bushing sleeve. I'll take pictures later for clarity.

You might be right about the inner sleeve moving with the 12mm bolts. We are talking about a difference of Ø2mm or Ø.078". The stock Ø14mm bolts have worn down to Ø12.77mm. So your talking about a whopping Ø.77mm difference between the worn stock Ø14mm bolts and a good Ø12mm bolt. Which amounts to Ø.030" of difference. Big whoopdie fricken doo ya know? lol. My guess is that it'll be fine. But I will go ahead and have some fresh Ø14mm bolts handy if I start hearing or feeling something weird.

edit: by the way thanks for the video. but I won't be doing anything high performance to this car, just keeping it going as a daily driver. it cost $16 for a control arm at the local pull a part with good bushings in it. I'll save the hassel and mess and just use good parts off another car.

REMINGTON RAY

Well, ggot her back on the road this morning and everything seems to be working flawlessly. Those 12mm bolts aren't moving any. The axle is running great. And the transmission shifts great. THe car is much quieter after getting good bearings and adjusting the back lash on the ring and pinion gears. If I end up with problems on the 12mm bolts I will let ya'll know.