Lower Control Arms

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

I just got my SHO about a month ago, it's my first car(5.0 Mustangs aren't practical for me right now), bought for $1975 (we wanted him to do emissions, it had an exaust leak at the time...but he didn't want to, so we went with #25 off the agreed price)

There are several concerns (now that the exhaust leak has been fixed) that I will approach one at a time... I just hope I'm not neglecting something very important.

Well, when the engine torques the front wheels, there is a chirping noise. Now at open throttle the noise disappears... I can go over some rough road, as long as I'm giving it gas the thing won't chirp. But if I wind it up a bit in second to 45 int he right hand turn lane, and then lift on the accel., she'll chirp as the car lightly rocks.

With a lug wrench and the discovery that torqing (is that right) a lug nut tighter will induce the chirp, me and my dad sat down there for a couple hours, me under the car, figuring out what's wrong.

But feeling for vibration with the chirp, I've concluded it's the lower control arms, or at least the bushing. First mistake was to spray WD-40 on it (petroleum products are supposed to destroy those bushings).

I got two quesitons now:
1. Can I get only the bushings from Ford or anyone else?
2. Are the lower control arms the same on the SHO and any other Tauri?
3. Could I have misdiagnosed the problem, when i feel vibration with the chirp out of the control arm...and haven't felt it anywhere else around the jungle of rods and stuff inside the drivers side wheel well?

 

[SolidState]

I just had my lower control arms replaced on mine and they were only 125cdn each...

 

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

Only?!? Think for a moment fromt he view point of a teenager who makes $6.86 and hour and brings home about $130 (US) a week...that's a good portion of a weeks pay.

Think I could find them used in any conidion?

Could I take them off of a non-SHO Taurus?

 

[luigisho]

With all respect for your income level this is not the car for you. The purchase price for an older used sho may be the cheapest part of ownership. I love these cars but the maintenance price for parts will eat you alive. These are maintenance monsters. Some will chime in on how reliable they are to be sure, but the 60k service could be almost $500 US for parts alone without labor or markup. Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

 

[projectSHO89]

LCAs sell for around 80-80 bucks US.

Don't whine about what you make as a 17 year-old. I don't listen to my own teenager when he whines, either. I just tell him to study harder, get a better education, shut his mouth and open his eyes and ears and he will learn much.

If car repairs are too expensive, use a bike and quit whining.

Steve
89 with an 18-year old son (about to become a pedestrian!)

 

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

I was by no means whining about how little I make. I got over that a year ago, but the fact still remains. Repairs are costly, but the initial cost of the car was less than that of anything else I'd consider (in any condition). I figure if i save enough money on gas and insurance (in comparison to the other V8s my buddies all tell me I SHOULD'VE gotten), a big repair hit won't matter as much.

As far as this not being the car for me, I don't see why not. Repairs are costly (I got about $4000 worth of reciepts from the last 5 years with it), things may break, but does it all matter as long as I enjoy the car and have the money to keep it fairly good running order? I was well aware that this was NOT a cheap car to maintain the second I looked at it's maintenance records...and it still doesn't have everything it needs.

I don't mind paying $100+ for the control arms if I need to, but I certainly don't want to.

I think my SHO is a great car and is in many ways better than any of my friends' 5.0 Mustangs or IROC Camaros...they'll learn that too when mom and dad no longer pay Insurance or gas...

 

[SHONUT91]

Jason you should be able to get the bushings themselves from ford.Have you tried removing them and using say a lithium lubricant on them.You may also want to check your radius arm cups,do a search on this topic lots of posts on what to check and how to fix.Don't be bothered by the costs of parts,I personally would much rather see a young man spend his money on his car than say drugs.I am also with you on wanting to make sure that I really have a problem instead of blowing hard earned money on something that did not need replacing. thumbs_u

 

[Todds93SHO]

I replaced the bushings on my '93 last year. They are a PITA and if I had to do it over again I'd replace the whole arm. The bushing at the frame end is in a metal sleeve and needed to be pressed out and the new one pressed into the same location, it's not a case where the sleeve botttoms out on something so you have to measure before you remove the old one and push the new one into the same spot.
The bushing that connects to the radius arm is a PITA to remove because it's one piece and there is a rib that runs around the middle of it so I had to cut it out. The new one goes in pretty easy and when you bolt it back in, the bushing is held in place.

I got the bushings cheap from Ford, they're less than $10 a piece. That's why I just replaced them myself instead of getting new control arms.

But hindsight being 20/20 I wouldn't do this again. Just buy new or remanned arms with the bushings already in.

Good Luck.
Todd

 

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

Todd, I would just get control arms, but if I CAN get the bushings from Ford for that much cheaper, wouldn't it be reasonable to just get those and see what a local Independent Shop would want to replace them?

Seeing as you have experience with the process and how tedious it can be, would it be ok to trust a local independent shop to do the job? I currently live in a fairly blue-collar suburb and there's independent shops all over.

And before i buy bushings and/or take the car into to a shop where I can get hassled, can anyone give me an estimate on hwo much they'd want? This SHOULD be no parts and just putting the bushings in the old control arms.

BTW, I'll try taking them off an putting on a lithium lubricant... that is unless they look severly worn, badly cracked or damaged in any way.

Unfortunately my current residence is some "luxury apartment complex" (that's just a selling thing, these are really built cheap as **** with some pretty paint and carpet). I've had people complain about me working on my car in the parking space in front of the building. Not like it's in primer, dripping grease all over, and up on jack-stands over night. Since we are between homes, jack-stands and a good jack aren't easy to get access to. Maybe my buddy Jake will let me work on it at his house.

 

[AutoXSHO]

The bushings are usually not the first part to wear out on those LCAs. Besides, the easiest way to replace the bushings is to remove the arm, and you are going to wreck the ball joint boot removing it. So ..

I got my control arms from NAPA, they were $75 each for the greasable ones. Not too hard to replace, just a pain in the ass - it took a while.

I somewhat agree about the cost of ownership of a car... but I remember being in your situation too! It sounds like you want to work on it yourself. That's a great way to save money and learn a bunch about cars and patience. More power to you.

Good luck,

John V

 

[pete c]

A seventeen year old who listens to the who??!!!! Maybe there is hope for the younger generation.

As for what you should do, I'm stilltrying to decipher your initial post. One thing I am fairly sure of is if the options are buy the whole thing and do it yerself or buy the bushings and pay someone to do it, do the former. I would think you could get the arms remaned from autozone cheap. They have some dude in mexico rebuilding about 500 of them a day for about 10 bucks. You can't hire anybody that cheap. Another good thing about buying the whole thing is that it is guaranteed for life, not that you'll ever use that guarantee, but, it's nice to have.

 

[jthomas68]

What i was 16,i made $4.25/hr eek!
If you do get the whole arm,like was said,get the greasable ones.They are made by Moog.

 

[Hubes]

hey i am 23 and listen to the who. anyways i got my control arm for 75$ last saturday. i had so much play in it so it is replaced. i think my passenger has a little play in it too but i'll chekc on that one soon

 

[Todds93SHO]

I hear what you say about getting the bushings cheaper than the arm, and having them installed could be cheaper. I'd have to say with my experience of changing just the bushings, you would spend more money on labor than actually replacing the whole arm.
Getting the arm on and off the car is the easy part, if you have a new one ready to install, you're set.
I work for an OEM that makes suspension componenets so I had all the equipment at work to handle the bushing job. I did it myself as a learning experience as well as the fact that I don't trust anybody working on my car.
If you figure the price of the bushing would be $10-$20 an arm, and labor to change just the bushings out would be another $20 and arm, you're already 2/3 the way to buying a whole new assembly.
Go with the remanned arms, save yourself alot of trouble.

BTW, I did the bushings as an after thought because I was already in there changing the struts, springs and outer tie rod ends.
This a job you would prefer to have access to a garage for, otherwise a long day in the driveway.

 

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

While we're on the topic, I've had this happen a couple of times and wanted to know if it's related to the control arms issue..and if it's not, what the cause would be.

Well, it's another noise...only i can feel this one too. If I go around a left turn hard and fairly fast (like I'm trying to get myself out of dodge before the light turns red...and more importantly before the next train of cars comes through the intersection.) I'll feel the car bank a little bit, just part of turning....but then outta nowhere I'll get a loud "CLUNK!" and it'll feel like something just hit the other side of my firewall pretty hard...like the floor under me will get a jolt. The first time it happened it scared the **** outta me...I still don't like it and make a point of going easy around turns.

Could this just mean I really DO need those control arms...or is this job getting even bigger?

It'd be nice to get all front end issues ironed out while I'm at it.

And yeah, there is hope for this generation... I'm friends with part of it and part of it myself, i like to think . The Who, The Stones, CCR, Zeppelin, Sabbath, and my FAVORITE...The Doors thumbs_u

<small>[ July 23, 2002, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: ThePOWERtoRULE ]</small>

 

[Todds93SHO]

Jason,
About that clunking noise, I'd check the front sway bar end links, I know i need to change mine. They're cheap too, $23 a piece I believe, which isn't too bad for SHO parts, but like I said I still need to change mine so I haven't got the money together yet either.

While you're in the area though, I'd inspect the subframe bushings. One of them is bolted right below your feet. When any of these bushings wear they not only make more noise, they move more and allow the suspension to shift a little against the body of the car, possibly creating a clunking or knocking sound.

IMO, the subframe on the SHO is not very good compared with newer suspensions. The subframe mounts are not very stiff laterally and allow alot of movement. This is why you hear alot of people putting solid aluminum SFB's in their cars. It's a solution for stiffness but it makes for a much harsher ride and alot more noise.

 

[AutoXSHO]

What i was 16,i made $4.25/hr

... Same here, and I thought that was good money at the time, even if I could only work 20h/week.

My next job paid $8.00/hr and I could work 50hr/week during the summer.

What I would give to get summer vacation again..

John V

 

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

Update:

So far I've been to 3 stores...none had them. The one store up north that's part of that whole Kragen group (there's Kragen and two other stores that work together, I forget what one this was) actually tried to sell me the lower control arms for a Taurus G/GL/LX... I asked if they would fit an SHO...and he looked at me like I was spekaign a differnt language. It took me backing my car up to the curb and pointing at the "SHO" on the rear valence to get the idea. He finally said "Oh, i don't know...they should...it's a Taurus."

But I didn't take that, after that display of ignorance I wasn't going to buy from this place or especially this guy. If the computer in two other stores said there's nothing for the SHO, then there isn't. And I think I recall hearing from somebody i talked to in the exhaust shop about somebody selling G/GL/LX control arms to a SHO owner and having them not fit.

Today before I goto work I'm going to try the AutoZone near my high school and the Napa a little ways west of there.

And if I can't find them there...well, there's O'Meara Ford...but they've screwed up 3 of my 5 orders since i got the car .

Just a side question...is there any like "premier" auto parts store for the SHO? Like...if all else fails, they got it?

 

[ThePOWERtoRULE]

Got them ordered from Napa...gonna pick them up tomorrow.

$98 each...it felt both good and bad at the same time as I layed down the money.

I'm a bit nervous because he said he'd order them as Ball Joint Assemblies or something of the sort...I figured I'd go for, worse comes to worse I get a refund.

Advance tried selling me a "kit"... for like $6. They said it was just bushings and everything else. I felt better paying alot more for the whole time.

I think I'm going to have to ask my dad to pick them up for me...I have to be at work in 45 minutes (he could get them this afternoon...) and I work from 10AM-6PM tomorrow.

With any luck, I can get them installed on my next day off...sometime next week, I won't know until tonight when the schedule comes out.

 

[rangerj]

Jason,
The lower control arms are different for the SHO. The control arms for the Taurus/Sable are not as heavey duty. Compare the control arms you remove to the ones you bought, before installing the new ones. There are at least three aftermarket manufacturers, Moog, Dana, and TRW, that make replacement lower control arms with new ball joints and bushings.
Next, read up on changing the control arms. This forum is a good place to start. Then there is the SHO Times web site, and Ford's web site mentioned in an earlier response. You can also find service manuals at the local library reference section, such as Chilton's, Mitchel's, Motor's, and others.
Lastly, learn to work safely. Do NOT work under a car held up by a hydrolic jack without jack stands. Do not work under a car held up by the car jack without jack stands either.
This is not a difficult job, and if you are willing to learn, the folks on this forum are willing to share their experiences and teach you.
Good luck, rangerj