Replacing control arms?

Read my write up man....I put it in there that you'll have to cut off 1/4 of an inch of the metal sleeve. :confused-red:

I was getting a clunk when driving in reverse and tapping on the brakes. I had to remove 1/4 inch off of the strut rod to K member sleaves.

I read it. I am planning on using your advice. Thanks!
 
The 1st thing I did was clean the area around the Lower Control Arm eccentrics and stuck some tape on the frame. then I marked a line on the tape to line up the center line on the eccentric.

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I read this thread a few week's ago and thought I had it all straight in my head.

Cutting the sleeves. Was it just the front's? Was it just the rears? Was it ALL of them?

The info is in there, but it's not all on the same post by Cal LOD.

So I thought I'd give some cutting options with pix's.

Everyone likes pix's.:)

First I measured the sleeves and made a mark with a Sharpie marker of a 1/4in.
Next I wrapped some 3/4in tape around the sleeves. This helps you to get a straight line around the tube.


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The tape was then removed. If you cut the sleeve with the tape on it, it will melt the glue of the tape and will need to be cleaned with something like Laq thinner to get the glue off, so go ahead and remove the tape after the line is drawn.

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The 1st choice was to use the Die Grinder with a Wiz wheel in it.

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Then after I cut one of them I remembered another tool I have that I don't use very much.

Chop Saw.

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You could use a hacksaw. :( To slow! But the other thing is that you will need to clamp it in the vise and with a Hacksaw it will need to be pretty snug, which will deform the sleeve.

Then on to deburring the sleeves.

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I got the left front about done today. I say about, because I'm doing more than a suspension change.

The car is getting:

Upper control arms
Lower control arms
Front & Rear Strut Rod bushings
Sway Bar links
New hubs
New cross drilled Rotors [Power Stop]
New EBC Green Brake pads I have these on my '94 F-150. I'm very pleased. Better stopping over Semi Metallic and aprox 1/4 of the dust.
New Braided Flex hoses
And the calipers are getting painted Red

What I found Bad on the left side.

Upper Control arm bushings were sloppy - ball joint was OK
Lower Control arm Ball joint Bad - Bushings were OK
Sway bar link lower ball joint Bad - Upper was OK, but boot was shot.
Strut Rod bushings were weak at the front and shot at the Lower Control arm.

My helper "Jack". :)

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All the suspension parts are Moog. The sway bar links have zerk fittings in them. I with the Upper & Lower Ball joints had zerk fittings too.

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First off....I'm "J" :) CAL is some other guy that I owe a swift kick in the nuts.

Second...awesome post! :)

The 1st thing I did was clean the area around the Lower Control Arm eccentrics and stuck some tape on the frame. then I marked a line on the tape to line up the center line on the eccentric.

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As far as marking the alignment...its not really neccessary because after you're done, you're gonna need one anyways.
 
My sincere apology. I didn't even see the "J" in your screen name. I thought is was the lic.plate name.

As far as marking the alignment...its not really necessary because after you're done, you're gonna need one anyways.

True, but why not get it close anyway? It may save a little rubber on the way to the shop. :)

This is the start of installing the braided flex hoses.

The 1st pix shows the stock flex hose and bracket. You must still use part of the bracket, but the attachment point where the rubber hose is,get's cut off.

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Wiz wheel used to cut the bracket.

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The new hose brackets that come with the hoses are slightly small. I belive it's due to the plating on the bracket. I used the step drill bit to clean it up.

New bracket mounted beside the factory bracket.

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Some care should be made to flex the hose and tighten the connections,so the there is no hose rub. It takes a min or two to play with the hose and figure just how much you want to flex it and for it th stay that way.

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RF completed.

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1st mistake made today.

Don't take this bolt out of the rear caliper and remove the spring. I spent 2hrs today farting around with it to get the spring back on. :(

BONG!----BONG!----BONG! as it flies across the shop.

I ended up getting the spring flexed with the channel Locks and hit the spring with a hammer to get it in the hole. The Channel Lock's catch on that bung where the end of the cable housing sits and you can't get the spring flexed down into the hole.

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The front end is finished up and all the new brake stuff installed.

Left rear is finished. I spend more time waiting on paint to dry on these calipers.

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Routing of the new flex hoses. On the rears there is no cutting to do on the bracket. Just remove the factory hose and mount the bracket that comes with the brake line kit.

Still you need to pay attention as to how the lines lay and tighten them to keep from chafing.

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Just want to mention a point of clarification on the Moog Strut Rod Bushings. You should not need to trim the metal sleeves even though they are longer than the stock ones. The reason is that with the high durometer of the poly bushing you do not want a lot of crush on them as it will cause them to split after a while. The only reason the steel sleeves should be cut is if for some reson there is still a lot of movement in the strut rod/lower control arms.
 
The only reason the steel sleeves should be cut is if for some reson there is still a lot of movement in the strut rod/lower control arms.

I see your point. :) BUT! With most people not being able to down their car for days on end and having to rely on it all the time, they don't want to have to go into the front end again. :)

I had mine aligned this morning. As you can see I had it close with the marking of the eccentric's.
It only took him 30min to dial it in. I was right there the whole time.

Before:

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After:

The .3 deg of camber in the RF is to compensate for crowns in the road.

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Oh, I understand your point. But I have seen some posts in the past where the bushings ended up being split after being installed, and some folks were critical of the bushings. If you installed them and you checked for movement at time of install then that should suffice.
 
I had to take mine apart and cut down the MOOG sleeves.....I think thats his point, lol.

Everything was tight for about 3 days, then I got clunking when backing up and tapping the brakes. There really isn't a way to "test" the tightness of the strut rods without throwing it all back together.
 
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