What is the best way to remove the rear nuts and bolts for the rear on the front uca's? Andyone who has done this before have any advice?

chris, go inside the wheel well, remove the struts, then on the head of the uca bolt you will see a flag, take a flat head and pry them off and throw them away. then take a 15 mm socket and put it on the head of the bolt, slip an 18 mm wrench onto the nut in the engine bay, use a breaker bar and break the bolt loose using the 15 mm socket side, this is the fastest way for me and sure beats trying to loosen the 2 nuts on the back side of the strut towers. put back together the same way, use the wrench to hold the nut from turning, and tighten the bolts from the inside of the wheel well and then give the wrench one last tug after the bolt tightens using the ratchet.

Thanks for the help jamie. I am pretty sure I dont have an 18mm wrench. Guess Im going to sears and buying one.

Gear wrenches are man's best friend.

yeah thats the easy way cause the other way is a real pita lol.

yeah all the years of me toying with cars i didnt invest in ratcheting wrenches till 2 years ago, i have a few that have been replaced under warranty because i have worn the ratchet mechanism out lol. i absolutely love them

snap on's are the only ones that hold up to an impact very well

snap on's are the only ones that hold up to an impact very well

id buy them if i had your money lol.

yeah right!!!! my S.K do the job just fine.

I contemplated removing the tabs on my bolts but decided getting an 18mm ratcheting wrench would work better. I can swap my UCA's in no time with that wrench on the UCA nuts. :)

yeah well i'll smoke you doing it my way garaunteed. besides, the only reason the flag is on the bolt is so you can tighten the nut without the bolt spinning, so popping the flag off does no harm at all. it only makes life easier. i can change out a pair of upper in about 6 minutes.

I have had the thought of just a bolt that has a hole thru it to slide a pin clip thru it for the uca

I just use the ratcheting wrench method. Works well for me.

I have had the thought of just a bolt that has a hole thru it to slide a pin clip thru it for the uca

yeah great idea i'd love to see that! you'd wreck your car in a heartbeat. you cant leave the upper control arms loose, they have a bolt and nut for a reason.

The body has to be compressed around the Uca bushings. Don't go tryin to pin them in place.

yeah well i'll smoke you doing it my way garaunteed. besides, the only reason the flag is on the bolt is so you can tighten the nut without the bolt spinning, so popping the flag off does no harm at all. it only makes life easier. i can change out a pair of upper in about 6 minutes.
Yeah, your wife says you do lots of stuff faster then me. :p



I am sure your method is faster, chit you took apart way more of these fuggers then I will ever see! :lol: I am just saying, as an alternative to breaking off a chunk of something Ford thought was needed (not saying its needed, I really dont know) its really no big deal to just remove the nuts with the right wrench.
All I had to remove was the intake tube and the wires by the brake master (just unplugged and swung them out of the way) and it was all pretty easy.

Its not always a race Muffin. :)

I have to remove the whole fuse box assembly on the lh. The flag bolts are only there to keep the bolt from spinning while you tighten the nut. If you can hold it with a wrench then it doesn't matter. Like Jamie said.

bill everything with you is a turtle race. fat ass slow guy!!!!! i'm used to doing things fast, my time is worth money, so the faster i get it done, the more i feel like i make in the end, but its never that way though!

bill everything with you is a turtle race. fat ass slow guy!!!!! i'm used to doing things fast, my time is worth money, so the faster i get it done, the more i feel like i make in the end, but its never that way though!
Yeah, I need to shave my head so I am more aerodynamic like you. Plus with the short stature you have less frontal area. :p


IDK, I am stupid about certain things. Like I will swap out a brake system but wont swap to aftermarket headlights cause I want them to stay stock HIDs. :lol:
Or the fact that my moonroof works better then the OEM moonroofs but I still wish it was factory just cause they have the rubber trim on the headliner opening. I am just stupid about wanting to leave the locking tabs on there. Hell, on my 97 I actually searched for replacement bolts on the shocks and struts cause all mine had the tabs broken off. :lol:

you are touched.

you are touched.
Yeah, they made me point out where on one of them little dolls. :(

Jamie why does it take you 6 minutes to R&R an UCA?? You gettin old?

read it again, 6 minutes for a pair start to finish, with struts in the car still, dont get it twisted.

read it again, 6 minutes for a pair start to finish, with struts in the car still, dont get it twisted.
Are you Will Castro? :lol: