Doing control arms and tie rods today

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sprocket

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Upper and lower control arms, inner and outer tie rods. SRBs look good, sway bar links are fairly new and look good.

So far I have the upper control arm off the driver's side. I had to take a break to take the kids school shopping. I had to order lower control arms and I am waiting for them to arrive. I though they were good because they are fairly new but they are junk.

I had no problem at all removing the upper control arm. Here's how I did it:

1) Removed the nut retaining the arm to the spindle.
2) Tapped out the bolt. I had already used PB blaster on these a few times over the last couple of weeks. It was still tight. I used a crescent wrench on the head of the bolt. You can't really turn it because it is against a flat, but it can be turned back and forth ever so slightly and that was enough to free it up.
3) used a fork and a hammer to get the control arm out of the spindle.
4) Took the easy nut off one end from under the hood using a ratcheting wrench.
5) One the hard end I removed the guard from the strut tower and removed the bracket holding solenoids from the strut tower and moved those aside. I loosened the bolt holding the main wiring harness, unplugged it and moved it aside. I removed the bolt holding the wiring harness connector bracket and moved it towards the fender. This gains an extra click on the wrench and makes it much easier to remove the nut. I had to put a wrench on the wrench to initially get the nut to turn. Piece of cake after that. The whole process to this point was maybe 20 minutes.
6) took out the bolt on the left end of the control arm from inside the fender.
7) The bolt on the right end was blocked from coming out by a coil on the spring. This car has a coil conversion. So I removed the through bolt on the bottom of the strut. This didn't gain enough movement so I loosened the nuts on the strut tower but did not remove them. This gave enough play to get the bolt out.
8) Tossed the upper control arm on the ground.

OK, break is over. Now I need to get the lower arm off so I can bring it along to be sure I get a match from the APS. I ordered Thunderbird lowers because they are cheaper. They are Dorman, all other parts are McQuay-Norris and look to be of excellent quality.
 
I got the first side done but it was too hot to do the other side, so I'll do it tomorrow. When I said the SRBs looked good, I meant on the frame end. Obviously I had to replace the ones in the lower control arm (Moog). I put it together in this order:

1) Install the lower control arm in the frame, then the strut rod, then the spindle. I left out the shock bolt and tightened everything else. It's important to tighten the nut at the frame and not the bolt. There's and obround washer attached to the head of the bolt and it fits in a bracket welded to the frame. The bracket was half broken off on that side and should be welded back on.

2) Install the top bolts in the upper control arm, inserting the easy one first, then the one where the spring is in the way. This is why I left the spring/shock loose.

3) Tighten the top nuts on the upper control arm. One is easy and the other is more difficult. Moving the wiring harness bracket aside is huge. This gives much more room to ratchet the wrench.

4) Insert the last control arm bolt and tighten, then tighten the top three strut tower nuts.

5) Insert a bottle jack under the lower control arm and raise the lower control arm. This raises the spindle so the upper control arms seats fully in the spindle and the bolt can be installed and tightened.

6) With the bottle jack still in place, re-tighten the strut rod nut.

7) Put everything back together under the hood, then put the tire back on.

I'll do the tie rods on both side tomorrow.
 
if you haven't already removed outer tie rod ends, measure or count revolutions while removing
 
I bought Moog lowers back in 4/11 and the passenger side already has cracks in the bushings not sure about the other side.And don't use Napa inner tie rod bellows! they were bought around the same time and the PS side is torn apart and the DS has a tear.Both failed at the other end.
 
make sure you center the steering wheel and dont let it move. if you start taking that stuff off and it gets moved it will be a pain to get it right again. No one warned me on that and it cost me loot and i think my steering rack is shot now.
 
I don't think anything I have done so far would be affected by the position of the steering wheel. In fact, it was turned all the way to the right. The alignment is now off though, after doing the upper and lower control arms and the arm end SRBs on just the driver's side. I did take it for a very short test drive. It already feels considerably better. The steering wheel is now off to the left maybe 20 degrees. My guess is it might come back close to center after doing the upper and lowers on the other side but BEFORE doing the tie rods.

I will be careful when doing the tie rods to not get the alignment drastically off. Then I will get an alignment. The shop that will do the alignment is only two blocks away.
 
when you get it aligned you can tell them to center the steering wheel, and that the rear upper control arm/knuckle union has an eccentric bushing used to align the.....camber? most shops don't know or care about that unless you tell em
 
dnsherrill said:
when you get it aligned you can tell them to center the steering wheel, and that the rear upper control arm/knuckle union has an eccentric bushing used to align the.....camber? most shops don't know or care about that unless you tell em
Click to expand...

Thanks. I am considering going to a person called the "alignment guy". He's supposed to be the best around but he is quite a distance away.

Four wheel alignment must be kind of expensive isn't it?

I'm also wondering if that broken bracket for the eccentric lower control arm washer is going to make alignment impossible? I'm guessing that it does, and that it will have to be welded back on, otherwise the eccentric washer has nothing to move against.
 
I got a late start today and didn't have time to do the tie rods. The alignment is already off enough to make the car undrivable. I guess that surprises me a little. I didn't think the lower control arms had enough adjustment to throw the alignment off that far. Or maybe it's just that with everything else so tight, there is a collateral effect on the tie rods.

I think I'm going to have to hope that the guy right by my house can do the alignment properly. I'm not going to pay to have it towed somewhere. Maybe if he doesn't do it right I won't have to pay him, but it will then be good enough to drive somewhere else.
 
I loosened up my cam adjusters with the tires off the ground and eye balled it back to center and was only off 1 degree on each side. My steering wheel pointed to 11 o'clock but drive-able to the alignment shop. Both cam adjusters are now set to "0", which they weren't before.
 
Spree said:
I loosened up my cam adjusters with the tires off the ground and eye balled it back to center and was only off 1 degree on each side. My steering wheel pointed to 11 o'clock but drive-able to the alignment shop. Both cam adjusters are now set to "0", which they weren't before.
Click to expand...

I don't really understand what you are telling me. If I'm looking at the lower control arm where it mounts to the frame, there is an eccentric washer attached to the head of the bolt and another washer that slides onto the nut end and is orientated by a flat on the bolt. The eccentric washers have lines marked on them and they fit in a U-bracket that is welded to the frame. On the driver's side the U-bracket on the head side of the bolt was broken loose from the weld cracking. I pried on it and it broke the rest of the way off. Now it needs welded back on.

It seems to me that at any position that the washer is rotated within that slot, there is still play where the control arm can move in and out. I can't see how any precise adjustment of the control arm can be achieved.
 
Yes, you will have to have that welded. I was just saying how I got my tires semi straight to drive 20 miles to the alignment shop. I replaced the lca's, fwrd and rear front srb's, cam adjuster's. With the cam adjuster's loose I was able to move the tire to a more straight position by eye, looking at both front tires till they looked straight. You can still do this with that broke "U" bracket that the cam washer fit's in. Then have the alignment shop weld the bracket back on before the alignment.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?88842-SRB-s-Spacer-s-and-LCA-s&highlight=srb
 
When I replaced my LCA's on my last Mark I used a Grease Pen to mark the cam adjusters. That way when I put it back together it would be close enough to drive.

Unfortunately it's to late now in your case.
 
it would be very time consuming, but you can use a string and level to try and get the alignment close enough to drive it, may be better off getting it towed
 
Spree said:
Yes, you will have to have that welded. I was just saying how I got my tires semi straight to drive 20 miles to the alignment shop. I replaced the lca's, fwrd and rear front srb's, cam adjuster's. With the cam adjuster's loose I was able to move the tire to a more straight position by eye, looking at both front tires till they looked straight. You can still do this with that broke "U" bracket that the cam washer fit's in. Then have the alignment shop weld the bracket back on before the alignment.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?88842-SRB-s-Spacer-s-and-LCA-s&highlight=srb
Click to expand...

OK, I'm not going to pretend I'm not ignorant here. When you use the term "cam adjuster" I assume you are talking about the bolt with the eccentric washer attached to it. If that's the case then why did you need to replace yours? It would seem to be a part that wouldn't wear out, but maybe I'm wrong. Should I be replacing these?

So basically camber is what I screwed up which means that the tires are no longer standing perpendicular to the ground. I would think there must be a fairly easy was to check this. I'm not sure if I trust my eyeball enough. Maybe on the garage floor, which should be fairly level, I can hold a square against the tire. But can an adjustment even be made with the tire on the car and the car on the ground? Or do I either have to remove the tire or raise the front end?

*edit* It just dawned on me that a square won't work because the tire is bulged out at the bottom when on the ground. A square against the tire would be meaningless.
 
dnsherrill said:
it would be very time consuming, but you can use a string and level to try and get the alignment close enough to drive it, may be better off getting it towed
Click to expand...

I've used a string method to adjust toe after changing tie rods. How would it work for adjusting camber?
 
use a level (aka plumb stick) for the camber. vertical adjustment....may need to cut a 2x4 to the right length so it's the same as rim diameter then put plumb stick against 2x4... you could adjust it on loaded suspension, just like you do to avoid bushing wind up...ramps or blocks
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or, your insurance may cover towing
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fwiw, when i was doing mine I messed up and knocked part of that camber bolt 'U" off the subframe..partially separated...no problems and it's been about 6 months or so...5k miles
 
if you haven't already done the inner tie rods, be sure to check if there's a pin/rivet/screw holding it to the rack
 
I've got one of these, it works great with my turntables and tilt lift:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-Steering+&+Suspension+Tools-_-9SIA1NW0F40328

If you don't want to buy a tool, just eyeball the camber so the wheels look vertical when pointed straight, Then, measure the distance between the front of the tires and compare it with the distance between the rear of the tires with a tape measure. Adjust a tie rod until they are equal. That should be fine to drive to the alignment shop.
 
OK, I'm learning. The cam adjuster on the pass. side is junk. The washers are about 70 degrees out of phase meaning that either the bolt is twisted or the pressed on washer on the head end has turned. I would now advise anyone to replace these every time. I checked the camber like this:

1) Laid a level on the ground to see if the ground was fairly level, It was.
2) cut a nice straight piece of wood to about 17" so it between the lips on the rim. I had to remove the center cap
3) put the level against the wood and move one end of the wood out until the bubble was centered.

This showed that that side was out close to 1" over the width of the rim! The other side was pretty close; less than 1/8". I will leave that cam adjuster alone and just bring an new one along to the alignment shop. I am now off to get the new cam adjusters. I have to drive about 20 miles but then I can have them right away. Thanks for all you guys' help.
 
when aligned within desired margins, the wheel should not be plumb top to bottom, but if both sides or all 4 wheels are the same, that's better, there's a lot of variables and trial/error doing it that way, also need to park in the same spot every time you check it....it's measured in degrees from something that's deemed the baseline, which we can never match with a level
 
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