The zip tie fix

L

LincolnMan

Registered
I would like to know just how common it is for the front air suspension sensor to come off it's little knob on the A arm and flop around while the front end raises to the maximum height. This happened to me on my way to Carlisle last year and never having seen this before I was lucky to find a Lincoln dealership mechanic who thought to zip tie the two pieces together. He said the only real way to fix it is replace the whole A arm because the little knob was worn down, but of course that is expensive and mostly pointless and recommended just replacing the zip ties as needed.
It has been about nine months now and the fix shows no sign of problems so it's going to stay.

Now, last weekend, my father's Mark gave the 'check air ride' message and pumped up the front end until the car looked like it was trying to stand up on its back tires. I'd seen that before and found the ride height sensor disconnected from the it's knob. Pressing it down lowered the car and a zip tie fixed it good as new, but I'm curious is this going to be a standard 100K mile repair all our cars will eventually need.

Who else has noticed this?

Jason Poirier
LOD-New England Chapter President
'94 Mark VIII Portofino Blue/Portofino Blue
http://www.markviii.org/~lincolnman/

http://www.markviii.org/~lincolnman/sigpic.jpg
 
RE: The zip tie fix

I've never had the problem.

Of course, my ball joints wore out before 100k so i have new control arms on there anyway.
 
RE: The zip tie fix

When I sensor lowered my '93, I found the ball joint connectors for the sensors more difficult to disconnect than I thought they would be. Didn't seem to be a source of concern or wear.
 
RE: The zip tie fix

Similar but not the same, I broke the lower ball retainer, and before I replaced it I used a cotter pin. Haven;t checked the upper ball retainers. I was messing around on all data at school and read a technical service bulletin from Ford about this though. They said there is a way to replace the ball retainer without replacing the a-arm. Give me a day or two and with a little luck I'll find the TSB and let you know. Sounds like the zip tie is working fine for you though. I'll check anyway and give a post.
1965 Mustang in primer
1995 Mark VIII
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/771000-771999/771311_5_full.jpg
 
RE: The zip tie fix

When I busted off the ball by overtorquing the nut, I did the zip tie fix. Worked fairly well, although I'm sure the the two struts were at different heights. Be careful not to overtorque that nut!

mark
 
RE: The zip tie fix

Also, the upper Ball is welded to the upper control arm, doubt there's a Ford fix for that if it breaks off.

mark
 
RE: The zip tie fix

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
Also, the upper Ball is welded to the upper control arm, doubt there's a Ford fix for that if it breaks off.mark
[/div]

Mike Donley
1994 Mark VIII
Champagne/Saddle
http://www.mustangmods.com/data/1487/94mkviii.jpg

I just put new Moog upper control arms on my Mark, and the ball was not peened over well so the ball just came off the arm. I have not tried it yet because of the weather here but I had some Mustang trunk lift ball studs in my hardware collection and they are the same size as the ball studs on the arms. Since they are threaded I am going to try to drill the hole in the arm bracket larger and stick the Mustang ball stud in and screw a nut on the back. I need a right angle drill though.

Here is a pic of the 2 ball studs.
http://www.mustangmods.com/data/1487/studs.jpg
 
RE: The zip tie fix

when i sensor lowered mine, one of them broke so i left the car at the shop and went to the ford dealer and had them get some overnight.
 
RE: The zip tie fix

WAHOOOOOOO!!!!!

So I'm not the only one to experience this.....

The keeper on my left front sensor was worn/broke, so it would "disconnect" itself from the ball on the a-arm. Left front of the car would go sky-high (and boy, did it look funny!)

So I put the sensor back on the ball, then ran a zip-tie through the keeper hole of the sensor and around the a-arm, snug enough to keep the sensor in place around the ball, but loose enough that it won't break with suspension travel. In the past year, I've only had the zip tie break once. I just keep a few extra ties on hand, just in case. No big deal.

So there ya go!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top