Front Suspension Help Needed

Miker

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Got everything but the rear Ford Racing lower control arms. They will be here tomorrow. Everything looks good. The Ford GT500 front LCAs are a thing of beauty. They are stout. And they do have the heat shield mounting points. I would like to give props to Blue Oval Industries. What a great transaction I had with them. Highly recommended.
I was surprised that the Konis all came individually with no packing just in the Koni boxes. Everything appears to be ok but the struts poked holes through both cartons. They should have been boxed a little better IMHO.
Now a waiting game as unless I try and tackle it tomorrow the weather is calling for rain the next 7 days.
Realistically it shouldn't take very long to do but I am doing it on my driveway. Motorcycles, sports, and life has taken a toll on my 65 year old body and working at ground level is going to suck.
 

DieHarder

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Got everything but the rear Ford Racing lower control arms. They will be here tomorrow. Everything looks good. The Ford GT500 front LCAs are a thing of beauty. They are stout. And they do have the heat shield mounting points. I would like to give props to Blue Oval Industries. What a great transaction I had with them. Highly recommended.
I was surprised that the Konis all came individually with no packing just in the Koni boxes. Everything appears to be ok but the struts poked holes through both cartons. They should have been boxed a little better IMHO.
Now a waiting game as unless I try and tackle it tomorrow the weather is calling for rain the next 7 days.
Realistically it shouldn't take very long to do but I am doing it on my driveway. Motorcycles, sports, and life has taken a toll on my 65 year old body and working at ground level is going to suck.

Welcome to old age.... regarding the LCA's. You're going to want to bolt on the shields before mounting them and install them so they shield the inner part of the rear hydro bearing/bushing. Get the bolts needed online. You need 6 of 'em. Funny, they're actually more expensive than the shields. All in all you'll probably spend about 4 - 6 hrs getting the old LCA's/Struts/Shocks out and the new one's in. If you have a long breaker bar with a tube (or friend) for leverage do so because the front LCA bolts are a bitch to break loose. Once you get them out however things will go pretty fast provided you have all of the tools necessary and not too much rust to deal with. I'd spray some penetrate oil on all of the nuts/bolts you need to remove after you get it up off of the ground. Plenty of YouTube vids to review first for pointers/short cuts. Good luck.
 

Samos3

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Very first thing to unbolt, once the wheels are off, are the sway bar endlinks. Those are usually give me trouble. They are not big or require high torque, but they corrode and just don't want to loosen.
 

Miker

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Welcome to old age.... regarding the LCA's. You're going to want to bolt on the shields before mounting them and install them so they shield the inner part of the rear hydro bearing/bushing. Get the bolts needed online. You need 6 of 'em. Funny, they're actually more expensive than the shields. All in all you'll probably spend about 4 - 6 hrs getting the old LCA's/Struts/Shocks out and the new one's in. If you have a long breaker bar with a tube (or friend) for leverage do so because the front LCA bolts are a bitch to break loose. Once you get them out however things will go pretty fast provided you have all of the tools necessary and not too much rust to deal with. I'd spray some penetrate oil on all of the nuts/bolts you need to remove after you get it up off of the ground. Plenty of YouTube vids to review first for pointers/short cuts. Good luck.

I'm hoping that the bolts will be good enough to reuse once I pull them and the shields off my current LCAs. I think I read that they are self tapping. Murphys law will probably snap them in two when I try to remove them.
 

JC SSP

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Speaking of sway bar end links which brand did you get?
 

DieHarder

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I'm hoping that the bolts will be good enough to reuse once I pull them and the shields off my current LCAs. I think I read that they are self tapping. Murphys law will probably snap them in two when I try to remove them.

The small bolts used on the shields are self-tapping. Shouldn't really be a problem getting them out and moving them over.

Regarding the front bolts for the LCAs - You should be able to reuse them. Other than acting as a pivot point for the front of the LCA I wouldn't worry about load carrying or staying tight. They're pretty stout. Just a bitch to break loose. If you have good air and a heavy duty air gun that should help. On my son's car (07) I actually took it to a dealer due to rust. They got them out but had to use a torch and replaced the bolts on both sides of course. Cost me enough but I don't have many of the tools that a dealer does when things decide to be difficult.

When I changed out the LCA bolts in my car (06) I used a long 1/2" breaker bar plus a tube that I slipped over the end for leverage. Took a couple of try's to get them to move but finally did. No rust to deal with on my car; they're just in there tight.
 

Miker

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Speaking of sway bar end links which brand did you get?
I got Moog inner and outer tie rods and Moog sway bar end links.
The small bolts used on the shields are self-tapping. Shouldn't really be a problem getting them out and moving them over.

Regarding the front bolts for the LCAs - You should be able to reuse them. Other than acting as a pivot point for the front of the LCA I wouldn't worry about load carrying or staying tight. They're pretty stout. Just a bitch to break loose. If you have good air and a heavy duty air gun that should help. On my son's car (07) I actually took it to a dealer due to rust. They got them out but had to use a torch and replaced the bolts on both sides of course. Cost me enough but I don't have many of the tools that a dealer does when things decide to be difficult.

When I changed out the LCA bolts in my car (06) I used a long 1/2" breaker bar plus a tube that I slipped over the end for leverage. Took a couple of try's to get them to move but finally did. No rust to deal with on my car; they're just in there tight.
I have a compressor and big impacts if needed. CA car so not any rust to speak of. Everything does look dry and foreboding though. This is the only website I visit that I cannot simply upload images from my computer or I would post picks of the rebuild. I am waiting for this storm to pass and hopefully temps in the 60s at least in the morning for some added flexibility!
 

Miker

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What is the issue with uploading?
There is no function I could find that let me load a pic right from my computer. It is asking for a URL. I assume I would need to use an image loading service online?
 

Samos3

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If you have been using the little 'photo' icon above the text box, I think I see the issue...
When you go to reply/post, look at the area below the text box. Select 'Upload a File'. On my phone it goes straight to my pics. It does not ask for a url.
 

Miker

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Can't believe how heavy the wheel and tire are. Everything went pretty smooth.
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Miker

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Ford GT500 LCAs came with new hardware. Had to use a ratchet strap to align the holes.
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Miker

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Ran into an unexpected issue. The E-brake cables acordian dust covers were rotted. While I was trying to figure out the best way to tackle it I noticed a tube that I had just changed out of a bicycle. I cut it to length with the cable in the loose position like a wrist band, put it over the cable, then folded it around it and tie wrapped it down.a16.jpg a13.jpg a12.jpg a14.jpg
 

Miker

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I used the top nut and shock bumpers from the stock shocks. I thought that they were a much better design as the hole for the top mount is quite a bit bigger than the shaft and even bigger than the raised edge of the bushing that Koni supplied. That would have let the shock migrate around it seemed and the stock setup really locked it into the center of the hole. When I tightened the top nut down I basically ran out of threads as the Konis bushing was thicker. However I believe the rubber bushings were compressed a sufficient amount with the nut bottomed out. That's the Koni bumper on the top and the stock one below.

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Miker

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I torqued the Sway bar links top bolts to 85 Ft lbs and they were about a 1/4 turn loose. I torqued the shock lower bolt to 85 Ft lbs and attempted to tighten the top nut to 10 lbs but the shock shaft just spins so torqueing it was a no go. I use a 15mm wrench and a 1/4 inch wrench on the top of the shock shaft that they engineered into the shaft for just that reason I am sure. I then jacked up the car at the pumkin, taking the weight off the jack stands thus loading the suspension and torqued the LCAs to 129 Ft lbs front and rear. I know that should be done with the car level but there really is no way to do that unless you were on a drive on lift. I'm hoping the tiny difference if there even is any won't be an issue. I understand the reason they want it sitting like it's going to on it's tires when your crank those bolts down. You are effectively clamping the steel sleeve into a set position so the ideal position would be where the car spends most it's time. If you torqued them down with the suspension unloaded they would be clamped in that position. Then when the car was sitting or even worse when the suspension was fully compressed that rubber bushing would be twisted a lot more and possibly past it's design limits.
I took it for a drive and the seat of the pants feel was very good. I could tell it was firmer and the metallic clunking was gone. However the crappy roads did seem a bit more crappy. One thing that really surprised me was changing lanes on the freeway. Before when the tires would hit the dig outs for the reflectors the car would lurch sideways. I had assumed that was from the front suspension. Well it doesn't do that anymore and I have not replaced anything up front yet.
 
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GriffX

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Your way to torque the bolts is fine. I used ramps and no problem since years. An other option to get the axle aligned is to use a hydraulic jack in parallel to the axle tube, lift it a bit near by the wheel and push the jack together with the axle to the front (can make some scratches on the floor).
 

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