My daughter's Cat dropped a ball joint while in a parking lot (whew!). The car has 85+ k on it. I had the car towed home and have it in the driveway. I've looked at a lot of posts here and have decided to do the whole front end by myelf rather than shell out a pile of dollars just before I shell out another pile of dollars for her last semester in college. I have a few questions:
1. Rock Auto does not show LCA'a with ball joints under Mercury/Cougar. Tbird has them listed, however? Are they the same part?
2. UCA's are listed under Cougar at Rock Auto so I should get those? Brand?
3. Any recommendations on strut rod bushing replacements as a recent post has indicated the Moog bushings are suspect?
4. Any recommendation on stabilizer bar links? I assume Rock Auto's are OK?
5. I plan to change out the front shocks and springs. Can I buy shock/spring units already assembled? This way I wont have to reinstall the springs on new shocks.
6. Any recommendation on brand of shock mounting kits?
7. Am I missing anything else? I don't want to mess with the sway bar if I don't have to as the subframe has to be dropped.
a set of ratcheting metric box end wrenches will make life easy
at the minimum you need a 18mm ratchet box end for the firewall facing bolt on the upper control arm.
since your are going to redo the whole front
remove the caliper and hang it to the side - release the tie rod - upper ball joint - swaybar link - and lower ball joint. Then remove the whole spindle.
Kentwood: Nice pic. That's what I intend to do is just get the entire spindle out first to make room (Hell, it's half out already!). Where are you in Texas? I'm in the Houston area.
94 Daily Driven 4.6L: Where do you get PB Blaster solvent? O'Reilly's? Auto Zone? etc?
I am now ordering all the parts from Rock Auto. The LCA's from the Tbird drop menu have part #K 80053 & K 80055which are not Moog part numbers. Can anyone tell me what brand those are before I place the order (boy am I productive at the office today!)?
edit; Brand of shocks? Monroe, KYB, AC Delco? I suppose I should get new shock/LCA bolts and upper mounting kits.
Yup, the lower control arms listd under tbird will work.
I made the mistake of ordering from autopartsgaint.com because they were the only place I found(besides rockauto, too late) that had them. autopartsgaint is such a terrible store I would pay dealership prices first, sell the car second, and as a last and final option, buy from autopartsgaint.
Tony, just a thought....when you're ordering at RockAuto, use this discount code.
You give this discount code: 111426121670 to friends, neighbors, relatives, the guy at the corner garage--anyone you know who works on cars or trucks.
- When someone places an order at www.rockauto.com and enters your discount code in the "How did you hear about us" line of the shopping cart, he or she will receive an immediate 5% discount on that order.
- The discount code expires on August 24, 2004; so don't wait!
As you can see, you're good for a nice 5% discount. That way you don't have to feel guilty for your "productivity" at work...
Oh, Kentwood, can you enlighten me on the inner tie rod tool?? I just recently replaced 'em on both sides and a big open wrench seemed to work fine. Just curious what kinda tool that is...
Thanks, you just saved me $24.55!!! I ordered all the suspension parts (and the KYB shocks) except the tie rod ends (I'll check mine first) and the Moog strut rod bushing kit #8659 that is the subject to a new post here.
Now some PB Blaster, a hot summer weekend, a few new tools, a pony keg, some bandaids, and .................. (the kid will be back on the road). Need to get this done by mid-August when she heads back to college.
Thanks, you just saved me $24.55!!! I ordered all the suspension parts (and the KYB shocks) except the tie rod ends (I'll check mine first) and the Moog strut rod bushing kit #8659 that is the subject to a new post here.
Now some PB Blaster, a hot summer weekend, a few new tools, a pony keg, some bandaids, and .................. (the kid will be back on the road). Need to get this done by mid-August when she heads back to college.
Kentwood: Why are they horrible? A few reports I read said they are OK for a regular use car. This is a stock Cat and it's just going back and forth to college every day. As soon as my daughter graduates, she will be selling the Cat and replacing it with a Mustang GT Convertible (her dream car). By then, the car will have over 100 k on it.
If I should not buy the KYB shocks, what is an alternative? Monroe, AC Delco? I still can change the order with a phone call. Remember, this is not a performance machine!
Kentwood: Why are they horrible? A few reports I read said they are OK for a regular use car. This is a stock Cat and it's just going back and forth to college every day. As soon as my daughter graduates, she will be selling the Cat and replacing it with a Mustang GT Convertible (her dream car). By then, the car will have over 100 k on it.
If I should not buy the KYB shocks, what is an alternative? Monroe, AC Delco? I still can change the order with a phone call. Remember, this is not a performance machine!
Kentwood: I only found one post from a member that had a shock failure (rear). It gets mentioned in other posts, also. I did find some posts where members had put them on the front with new springs but did not mention quality or long term performance since they were new. I'm going to stick with the ones I ordered from Rock Auto. Thanks for your help and advice. I'll post back on my success with the job once I get the parts and carve out some time to get started.
In your guys opinions, whats better tokico shocks or monroe? Im really looking for some shocks. Ill probably end up getting eibach springs in the future what do you think?
Tom
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