94 Mark 8 - broken drivers side lower ball joint and the coming suspension rebuild

[MN12hybrid]

I looked up this info in search (before the flamethrowers get aimed at me), but I still was left with a couple of questions.

I am changing out my drivers side lower control arm on my 94 Mark 8 tomorrow morning.

I was hoping to share things about my car, and the quest I have started to restore many things on it already. I took care of several things in the interior (electrical problems) as the lack of power windows, and erratic door locks were driving me insane. I already have a bunch of leather I will be using to restore the interior and dash with, and I will make a post for that in the near future as well.

I just got the car on 5/11 and knew I had to work on the suspension, but I thought I had maybe a few months before I had to redo the front end. The car was handling horrible, pulling to the left, and jerking to the rid with the brakes, then jerking back when you let off the brakes. The car is a beast, but every time I get on the gas hard and let it wind up so I can enjoy the top end, I have to back off because the car gets so squirrely.

I pulled into a gas station the other day, and the ball joint yanked out of my lower control arm drivers side, and the wheel ended up inside the wheel well. As mad as I was, I was glad it broke there because I was about to get gas and get on the freeway.

This has happened with me in the past with my Thunderbirds, so I really should have known better. This is my first Mark 8 I have owned though, even though I have worked on these cars plenty in the past.

I am going to change out the control arm, and get the car safe to move again and then take it over to my girlfriends house so I can work on it in the driveway. I was hoping to be able to drive the car for a little while because I am not able to redo the entire front end for another month. The upper control arms need to be changed as well, along with the lower control arm on the passenger side but at least that one doesnt look like its going to break. The air shocks seem to look pretty good on this car, and they function fine. I did disable them the other day as they were about to tow the car for safety. As long as I can get through the rest of this month and part of July I will be happy since this beast is my daily driver now.

In mid July, I will be installing new upper control arms, rebuilding the lower pass side control arm, new end links, tie rod ends and steering bellows, and all the bushings get changed out, suspension line if needed and new dryer with new solenoid seals. I am going to rebuild the rear end the following month. That way at least I have the suspension out of the way and wont have to worry about that for a while.

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Some questions I have...

-- When I take apart the front end tomorrow (ill be doing this on the street), will I need to do anything to deflate the pressure on the air shock? I was thinking of pulling the solenoid which I figured it would definitely deflate all the way unless I am not correct on that. But since I dont want to change any solenoid seals (if I can avoid it), is there a better way to do this before I pull the bottom of the shock off the lower control arm?

-- Also, when I pull the nut off to release the broken ball joint from the spindle I am afraid I am going to be in for a real fight! I envision the ball joint spinning every time I try to loosen the stud nut from the spindle - If I am correct, is there anything I can do to keep that from happening? The fact that I am doing this in the street, my options are limited. If I was home I would cut it off if I needed to.

-- While I have the car apart, is there anything I can do to firm things up in the suspension other than getting expensive aftermarket bushings? I want to keep the stock air ride as long as I can, but I want to make it handle better since I will be throwing on some 18x9.5 cobra r's and 13" brakes.

I will have the control arm in my hands tomorrow at noon and the fun will begin then! I will be taking pics and I appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks!

 

[chris2523]

Some questions I have...

-- When I take apart the front end tomorrow (ill be doing this on the street), will I need to do anything to deflate the pressure on the air shock? I was thinking of pulling the solenoid which I figured it would definitely deflate all the way unless I am not correct on that. But since I dont want to change any solenoid seals (if I can avoid it), is there a better way to do this before I pull the bottom of the shock off the lower control arm?

they best way is to unhook the air supply line and apply 12 volts to the solenoid. that will vent the bag. you can pull the solenoid, but like you said, you'll probably need to replace the o-rings.

-- Also, when I pull the nut off to release the broken ball joint from the spindle I am afraid I am going to be in for a real fight! I envision the ball joint spinning every time I try to loosen the stud nut from the spindle - If I am correct, is there anything I can do to keep that from happening? The fact that I am doing this in the street, my options are limited. If I was home I would cut it off if I needed to.

it will be pretty stuck. i bet you have a lot more fun trying to get the ball joint loose from the spindle, than you do trying to get the nut loose. its usually wedged in there pretty good. bring a big hammer.

-- While I have the car apart, is there anything I can do to firm things up in the suspension other than getting expensive aftermarket bushings? I want to keep the stock air ride as long as I can, but I want to make it handle better since I will be throwing on some 18x9.5 cobra r's and 13" brakes.

all new front end suspension will help considerably. toe link compensators in the rear. your's are probably shot, they keep the rear end from swaying. my rear sway's pretty bad. i need some. some stiff shocks in the rear also help. after that, its expensive bushings, and bigger sway bars.

i do not think 9.5" wide wheels will work up front. 9" wheels do, but it starts getting awful tight up there.

9.5" are good in the back with the right offset though. which would be around 40mm or so. the 13" brakes are fun too. i like mine.

I will have the control arm in my hands tomorrow at noon and the fun will begin then! I will be taking pics and I appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks!

don't get under the car without jack-stands. don't want it falling on you. i usually put the tires under the car so if something happens the tires won't let the car squish you.

 

[NoLimit95]

don't get under the car without jack-stands. don't want it falling on you. i usually put the tires under the car so if something happens the tires won't let the car squish you.

You have that phobia too?

I have to have a jack, jack stand(s) and I might slide a tire under the edge too and I make sure a phone goes under the car with me. Ya never know about them freak accidents. You should have seen how I had the 94 jacked up when I changed transmissions lol. Jack, two 4 ton stands, two 2 ton stands and all 4 tires were on top of blocks. It wasn't gonna fall.

 

[MN12hybrid]

Well I ran into a problem - The previous owner used the OEM ford locking lugnuts on these aftermarket American Racing rims. Looks like its the same key my Tbirds had before ditching them years ago.

There is very very little room to work with in these rims though, so there may not be room for a lock nut extractor, which means I will have to cut the locks off and I may need to replace some studs if the threads get screwed up.

I got under the car, and it looks like the upper control arms are ok on each side - the boots for the upper ball joints look good. The passenger side was rebuilt already. The lower control arm (with aftermarket ball joints) and the sway bar end links (and the tie rod end as well) all had grease fittings on them. The control arm I got from Autozone does not have any grease fittings. While I am happy that I dont have to replace everything else (except for strut rod bushings), I am a little bothered to have only the passenger side with the grease fittings and none on the new parts on the driver side. I have built up many custom Tbird suspensions, so I am very familiar with the dynamics of this suspension system although its my first time working with air bags.

It looks like the car pumped up all the other air bags too much in an effort to compensate for the ride height (before I got to the trunk to turn off the air ride), and its still sitting like that right now, so I am a little nervous that it could have screwed up the air bags.. The air bags look like they may have been replaced in the last couple years as they are in great condition, work perfectly, and are very very clean.

When I got under the car, it was horribly messy - the oil pan is leaking, the power steering lines are leaking, and there is a small trans leak, so all the nasty goop built up from it is stuck to the bottom under the motor (the AC compressor is COVERED in it). I will be changing trans and PS lines as well as steam cleaning the hell out of the bottom of the motor and trans.

This goop I mentioned is also covering some of the bottom of the radiator, and the hoses which are very old and using oem spring clamps. The condenser is filthy along with the radiator as a lot of the fins have crap and mud stuck in them. So it looks like this is going to turn into a project, and I made a list of everything I am doing with this control arm repair.

1. Control arm, sway bar endlinks, tie rod end, sway bar bracket bushings, and strut rod bushings replacement. I have some of these bushings left over from my Tbirds.

2.Radiator hoses, thermostat, clamps, new crossover cap - All coolant flushed out and radiator and condenser cleaned

3. Belt tensioner, belt, and idler pulley

4. Trans lines, and all of the power steering lines - I might even install this extra external tranny cooler for my MN12 I have and bypass the oem one in the radiator. I will flush the power steering, but I will wait a few more weeks until I work on the trans before I flush that.


I figured if I take the car apart, I may as well take care of some other immediate issues.

Do you guys have any more suggestions? I will be adding pics of this excursion as well

Thanks!

 

[kaha]

You have that phobia too?

Good setup there, I don't think it's paranoid at all. What a lot of people describe as a "freak accident" isn't really that uncommon. And much as I love my 4,000 pound Mark, I have no desire to be crushed to death by it.

 

[MN12hybrid]

Good setup there, I don't think it's paranoid at all. What a lot of people describe as a "freak accident" isn't really that uncommon. And much as I love my 4,000 pound Mark, I have no desire to be crushed to death by it.

You look like you have the same rims I have.

Are those American Racing rims?

I actually tried twisting the fake tamper torx screws on the center cap the other day thinking the center cap was screwed on with those, lol. I found out real quick they were fake after screwing some of them up - I dont feel too bad though because you can tell these rims have been on my Mark for a long time, and they are "worn." I just wish they were at least 17" though, as I would be able to keep them and work with them. It looks like I am going the Cobra R route like I did with my MN12's so I can get some larger brakes on eventually.

 

[MN12hybrid]

Also, am I just being weird with my suspension?

I noticed the passenger side was rebuilt probably in the last year, and that control arm has a ball joint that has a grease fitting. Also the end link, and tie rod end has grease fittings as well. The upper arms look to be in good shape on both sides.

The drivers side has an original end link, and tie rod end with no grease fitting. The new control arm has no grease fitting either.

Should I just ignore this? I have noticed that these control arms dont seem to last any longer with the grease fitting equipped ball joints from my experience with the several Thunderchickens I have had had.

 

[chris2523]

different brands/styles/runs are different. i prefer sealed ones, as they seem to be of better quality and requiring extra maintenance.
but as long as you aren't using extremely cheap chinese crap it will be ok.
fwiw, my moog ball joints have grease fittings in them too.

 

[MN12hybrid]

Last night, I went ahead and got the wheel off finally. It was a real PIA.

I noticed the air shocks are all very full. All the other wheels are filled up to the point where the car is raised higher than normal.

Because the spindle and the LCA are separated, the LCA is kind of hanging even lower as a result. I can see the first item which looks like the ride height sensor, which part of it is attached to the UCA and it actually seems to create a bit of resistance that is felt when trying to lift the UCA (I need to disconnect the sway bar end link still). I noticed that the drivers side (on the broken LCA) has a MOOG sway bar end link with tiny grease fittings on the side so I guess that has been changed as well to my surprise, just like the passenger side already was. I figured that if I tried flipping the air ride switch in the trunk (turning it back on), the air shock I am working with would deflate since the ride height sensor is stretched a bit.

Well nothing happens to my surprise. The message popping up on the dash changes from "air ride switch off" to "check air ride" and nothing else. I dont even hear the compressor buzzing at all, and the other air shocks wont deflate at all (on the other wheels which are not taken apart). Since the sensor on the wheel I am working with may be giving a bad reading to the computer (for the ride height), could it be causing this?

I was going to pull the sensor off to give access to the solenoid - you mentioned that I should pull the air line off the solenoid and apply power to it.

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1. How do you get the air line off the solenoid without breaking it? It looks like the solenoid is able to come apart in the middle (like as if it twists to separate), but I have not done that yet.

2. If I get the air hose off, will it be good enough to stick the key in ignition, and flip the air ride switch back on? Or will I need to run power to the solenoid directly off the battery? If I have to take apart the solenoid, I am already prepared to change out the rubber seal as well.

3. I pulled the negative cable off the battery to cut power to the car last night, to let the car computer reset through the middle of the night. Are all the air shocks going to get screwed up because they seem to be inflated so much? I am afraid to pull the air shock off the LCA I am changing, because I am afraid the pressure built up in the air shock may cause something bad to happen if I abruptly unbolt it from the LCA (please correct me if I am wrong since I am still new to the air bags).

4. Is there anything else that can be causing my dash to tell me to "check the air ride" when I flip the switch on in the trunk? I am afraid that I could have unwittingly screwed something up possibly while I towed it or something else I dont realize I may have done. Once I get air out of the shock finally, and get everything put back together with the new LCA, will the cars compressor automatically fill the shock back up and adjust the pressure in the other air shocks as well or is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks for the help in advance! I cant wait to get this beast back on the road again. If I can find my memory card reader, I can finally get some decent pics up of what I am working with.

 

[MN12hybrid]

On a different note I went to the wrecking yard on Saturday and found a Mark 8 with only 104k miles. The front air shocks were from late 2006 and they are in incredible shape.

I am going back in the next few days to score them for $25

I also need to grab an AC compressor, power steering pump, belt tensioner and idler pulley, and possibly the fan since the fan on my Mark 8 will occasionally make a slight squeak here and there, reminiscent of a hamster wheel.

Since there are 6 Mark VIII's at this yard, I may create another posting just in case there are some small things that people here may want me to grab for them while I am there since not everyone has access to a wrecking yard with multiple Mark VIII parts cars.

 

[marked8]

Why are you worried about replacing the o-rings for the solenoid? They are available for about $2 and with a little dielectric grease won't leak.

 

[Spree]

I just did UCA's on both sides, twisted off solenoids and vented air, nothing happened to rubber seals everything went good, air compressor takes care of everything when put back together and started, you may have to start the car twice to get a complete fill.

 

[MN12hybrid]

Do I just twist at the solenoid body? I tried doing that, and can see the direction it needs to go to get it off, but it seems stuck on there good. Im going back out now to spray some wd40 where the solenoid fits into the black body and see how that works. I did get the air line off at least.

 

[LSC HUNTER]

Just power the solenoid with twelve volts and it is done. Two jumpers from the battery and ground is all it takes.

 

[MN12hybrid]

Looks like these strut rod bushings are shot so badly in both the arm and frame, they are cracking away. I have never seen the strut rod move so easily before, when you crank the nut loose for it.

I am about to pull the strut rod, and I feel kind of bad about using the same bushings. I guess I will see what I can find locally at Autozone.

 

[thaywood]

Do I just twist at the solenoid body? I tried doing that, and can see the direction it needs to go to get it off, but it seems stuck on there good. Im going back out now to spray some wd40 where the solenoid fits into the black body and see how that works. I did get the air line off at least.

You should be able to just pop the little metal clip off and twist, pull down, twist, and pull down again to get the solenoid out. It shouldn't be stuck that tight. Are they Arnott air shocks? If so, somebody may have used channel locks to crimp the solenoid housing around the solenoid since they have fittment issues (experience talkin' here). If you have the air line removed, just take the air shock off and work with it out of the car. Just be careful when you finally get the solenoid to pop out because if the spring still has pressure in it the solenoid will probably shoot out like a bullet.

 

[Spree]

You should be able to just pop the little metal clip off and twist, pull down, twist, and pull down again to get the solenoid out. It shouldn't be stuck that tight. Are they Arnott air shocks? If so, somebody may have used channel locks to crimp the solenoid housing around the solenoid since they have fittment issues (experience talkin' here). If you have the air line removed, just take the air shock off and work with it out of the car. Just be careful when you finally get the solenoid to pop out because if the spring still has pressure in it the solenoid will probably shoot out like a bullet.

I just did the same thing...take clip off, twist, then down, twist then down and out ((hold onto the solenoid)) all the air will vent at once....no more air in the bag, all seals were still good. Once everything is back together you'll have to start the car 2 times to fill the bags back up. The pump only runs for so long before shutting down (you will get check air ride system) or something like that after 1st start up. Start again and continue filling bags.

 

[thaywood]

I just did the same thing...take clip off, twist, then down, twist then down and out ((hold onto the solenoid)) all the air will vent at once....no more air in the bag, all seals were still good. Once everything is back together you'll have to start the car 2 times to fill the bags back up. The pump only runs for so long before shutting down (you will get check air ride system) or something like that after 1st start up. Start again and continue filling bags.

Something I've learned over the years: If you don't let the car slam to the ground after installing the shocks, it won't do that. The last time I changed out my front shocks I let the front end down until it was jut a hair under normal ride height. Started the engine and the springs pumped up with no problems. You don't want the weight of the whole front end on the air springs when the compressor kicks in to pump them up.

 

[NetKeym]

As far as all the precautions y'all take about jacking up a car, one of my best friends died under his Camaro because he had it jacked up with some firewood holding the car up. He was pulling out the transmission to install a transmission I SOLD HIM out of my recovered theft victim '70 Chevelle.

His girlfriend found him pinned under the car, called 911, myself & another friend, and was absolutely hysterical. I don't want to ever find another person like that - pulled out from under a car with his arms crossed over his chest like he was trying to save himself.

By all means, take all the precautions you want, don't let ppl talk you out of them, and don't take shortcuts! :thumbsup:

 

[MN12hybrid]

got some cheap autozone strut rod bushings - at least they were made in the USA.

I spent way too much time cleaning the bottom of the car. Its still pretty dirty and needs more work, but its a huge difference now. I doubt there will be as much trans fluid hitting the exhaust at least (nasty smell when I get on the gas pedal hard).

I got everything apart - bolts and nuts were stuck on just about everywhere and it was a real fight! I got the strut rod apart to do the bushings to match the new LCA, but I could not get the nut off on the frame side to change those bushings. I am going to try one more time, and then just put it back together how it is since I really need to drive the car. I am sure there is going to be a world of difference with what I have already done since the old bushings were shot badly (I will be posting pics soon once I find my memory card reader). In August I will take the front end back apart to do the UCA's, sway bar end-links, and sway bar bushings, and then focus on rebuilding the rear end of the car. I may drop the subframe completely to do those bushings, and also to possibly swap in some 3:73's in the rear pumpkin.


--- Do you guys have any suggestions on how to get the nut off on the frame side of the strut rod?

In order to make clearance for my impact gun, I will need to pull the fan and radiator, and it looks like I am putting off the radiator cleaning/flushing until next week when I get new radiator hoses and thermostat.

--- Where can I find a 180 degree thermostat? Autozone only seems to have them in the 190 range.

Thanks for all the support guys! I look forward to getting this beast back on the road as my daily flagship...

 

[DLF]

I may drop the subframe completely to do those bushings

The OEM sub-frame bushings are obsolete, and there are no aftermarket OEM style replacements available.

Do you guys have any suggestions on how to get the nut off on the frame side of the strut rod?

In order to make clearance for my impact gun, I will need to pull the fan and radiator, and it looks like I am putting off the radiator cleaning/flushing until next week when I get new radiator hoses and thermostat.

Heat the nuts a bit with a torch. I use a swivel joint near the socket with my impact. However, sometimes just a large breaker bar works quite well.

 

[Spree]

Something I've learned over the years: If you don't let the car slam to the ground after installing the shocks, it won't do that. The last time I changed out my front shocks I let the front end down until it was jut a hair under normal ride height. Started the engine and the springs pumped up with no problems. You don't want the weight of the whole front end on the air springs when the compressor kicks in to pump them up.

I never tried it that way before, I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I lift her (which will be soon) I still have to change my LCA's and SRB's also. Then everything will be new up their. But 1st some interior work is coming up.