TCCoA Forums banner

Rebuilding 96 Cat front suspension...!

2K views 32 replies 10 participants last post by  281Sleeper 
#1 ·
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.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Tony:thumbsup:
 
See less See more
#4 ·
the moog sway bar links are greaseable, but the upper and lower ball joints are luck of the draw.


Moog can be found at carquest and o'reilly auto.

TRW can be had at discount auto

You will need an inner tie rod tool for the inner rods

I actually have a spare if you want to buy it cheap

it's basicly a HUGE deep socket
 
#6 ·
aja8888 said:
Thanks Kentwood:

Any idea about front shocks that come with the springs already installed on them?

Tony
no the shocks come without springs

They can be dones easily by hand with a proper hand compressor with shackles.

I've done several bird spring/shock swaps by hand
 
#7 ·
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.

makes life easy.

 
#8 ·
Another item that will help a lot is a can of BP Blaster. :D

Just give the nuts and bolts a good spray a few hours before working in them and those bolts should come right off. :thumbsup:
 
#9 · (Edited)
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.

Tony
 
#10 ·
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.
 
#11 ·
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...:D


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...:)

Ed....
 
#12 ·
Knightbird:

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.

:D
 
#13 ·
aja8888 said:
Knightbird:

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.

:D
KYB shocks are horrible!

been there done that

call dan newman and get some good shocks
 
#15 ·
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!

Thanks,

Tony
 
#16 ·
aja8888 said:
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!

Thanks,

Tony
#1 very hard - not good for your soft stock springs

#2 - they go out after about 20,000 miles if not sooner

Dan newman can hook you up with motorcraft shocks for not much more

trust me
 
#17 ·
Kentwood said:


no the shocks come without springs

They can be dones easily by hand with a proper hand compressor with shackles.

I've done several bird spring/shock swaps by hand
discount auto/advance sells a new shock/spring kit ready to bolt in.

joseph
 
#21 ·
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.

Tony
 
#23 ·
281Sleeper said:
I have KYB's all the way around the car is real bouncy, Im looking for an alternative for the discontinued billisteins any suggestions?

I did hear blown96bird got monroes "reflex" I talked to him earlier in the week, any suggestions?


Tom
I went with ford sport shocks in the front and monroe reflex in the rear


Thos with my h&r springs = frigging awesome - couldn't be happier.

I hated my KYB's.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top