Neontail97
Registered
This forum seems lonely so thought I'd post something. Last weekend I replaced my left side upper control arm. Thanks to Ray Urso's and others past instructions,the job was easy and took about 1.25 hours. I spent 5 minutes trying to figure out a way to do it without unbolting the master cylinder before just doing it. I can see why the right side is simpler. Just to summarize again for others: Left side:
-Raise car and support allowing suspension to "hang"
-Remove wheel
-Remove pinch bolt for ball joint. Drive a wedge device such as a chisel into the gap to "slightly" spread pinch clamp. Do not go overboard, It only takes a little. Tap or pry ball joint out of the clamp.
-Remove 18mm (wrench size) nut on front-most bolt from the inner fender well (under hood). Bolt has a lock tab on inside which eliminates need to put backup wrench on end next to strut
-Remove bolts that secure master cylinder. Watch not to lose small washers behind nuts.
-Carefully pull master cylinder out of booster and move towards engine using care not to damage brake lines. This allows access to rear control arm nut. I couldn't get a ratchet in so used an open/box wrench with many short strokes
-Remove screws for dust cover on top of strut. Remove 3 nuts that secure strut top to car.
-Push strut down far enough to allow clearance to remove front control arm bolt. You should not have to deflate strut bag. During reinstallation, you may need to use a jack to raise suspension while guiding strut studs back up into mounting holes.
-Remove control arm and install new one in reverse of above.
Typically one new bolt and nut is supplied with the new control arm. This is for the pinch bolt for ball joint. Re-use bolts for control arm bushings.
I purchased my control arm from NAPA for $66 plus tax.
-Raise car and support allowing suspension to "hang"
-Remove wheel
-Remove pinch bolt for ball joint. Drive a wedge device such as a chisel into the gap to "slightly" spread pinch clamp. Do not go overboard, It only takes a little. Tap or pry ball joint out of the clamp.
-Remove 18mm (wrench size) nut on front-most bolt from the inner fender well (under hood). Bolt has a lock tab on inside which eliminates need to put backup wrench on end next to strut
-Remove bolts that secure master cylinder. Watch not to lose small washers behind nuts.
-Carefully pull master cylinder out of booster and move towards engine using care not to damage brake lines. This allows access to rear control arm nut. I couldn't get a ratchet in so used an open/box wrench with many short strokes
-Remove screws for dust cover on top of strut. Remove 3 nuts that secure strut top to car.
-Push strut down far enough to allow clearance to remove front control arm bolt. You should not have to deflate strut bag. During reinstallation, you may need to use a jack to raise suspension while guiding strut studs back up into mounting holes.
-Remove control arm and install new one in reverse of above.
Typically one new bolt and nut is supplied with the new control arm. This is for the pinch bolt for ball joint. Re-use bolts for control arm bushings.
I purchased my control arm from NAPA for $66 plus tax.