lower control arm how to get it off

I have a bad ball joint. to replace it the arm needs to be changed haveing had time any remarks wold be helpful thank you.

Remove the pinch bolt holding the ball joint stud to the steering knuckle. (That's the easy part) Next, remove the nut from the tension strut. (easier said than done) You'll need a LOT of rust penetrant and a really long breaker bar to get that nut off. You'll also need to prevent the strut from rotating, so you'll have to hold it with another wrench. Once that is off, remove the bolt that goes through the control arm bushing at the frame. Reverse the procedure to install. Oh, and write back to tell us how much fun you had doing it.

Question: Once you remove the pinch bolt, does the ball joint slide out or do you have to deal with a taper also?

(Sounds like I will fire up my 3/4" impact gun for this job, huh?)

Also, I guess a re-alignment is obviously necessary, right?

It depends, spread the pinch halves and a hammer tap on the end of the lower control arm at the bal joint should get it. I don't recall if there is a taper, but it shouldn't matter with this arrangement. Now others my diagree with me, but I haven't found it necessary to have an alignment done following this repair if no steering parts are involved and iit didn't need it to begin with. Just think, you have restored/returned the suspension to conditions that should be near or the same as when you last had it aligned, assuming nothing else is out of whack. So, it should be better than before, not worse. Here you didn't replace a tie rod end which you are blindly installing in relationship to the wheel and rack, which ten necessitates an alignment.

Sounds good as far as the pinch bolt goes.

As far as the alignment, I was thinking it might be needed due to variation in production tolerance stackups becuase this is an assembly.

The replacement of just a ball joint, i agree, doesn't not require a realignment if the previous alignment was done when the ball joint was good.

Is there a camber eccentric on the inner control arm bushing?

Oh, forgot the most important! Who has the cheapest ball joint control arms? Advance here is $80 each which is the cheapest I've seen. Rockauto has Spiker Pro for something in the 70's but with shipping it really doesn't matter much. Might save sales tax tho - I'll have to look at that.

First, I wanted to correct myself after consulting my manual, and then having an ohh yeah moment, that to remove the balljoint stud from the steering knuckle, you need to use a pry bar when the pinch bolt IS REMOVED, otherwise it ain't going anywhere!!!

TTBOMK, the control arm does not have an eccentric, I assume you mean to change the length of the control arm to change the camber. What I've seen doesn't. Yours, I don't know, but I expect it to be the same as mine if it a 95 --98. Ford did this on the 95 Taurus I have too. My memory is foggy on price, but I have AA and AZ and NAPA and between the first two,they sell, TRW, which is sometimes oe, and MOOG .
GL

Mine is a 2000, hopefully the same.

RockAuto w/shipping was something like $156 which will be cheaper than the $160 + 6% tax from AA. Spicer Professional is the manu. Spicer has an incredibly cheap "Red" part - usually 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of their Pro part.

Looks like I can save $10 w/RO so, so far, they have my vote.

Someone else on this forum was talking about another discount auto parts vendor that they used. I've done searches but can't find it. At the time, I was looking into inner tie rod replacement and changing the automatic transmission fluid.

I got trw's through AA here for about ~$80/ ea but i get them through commercial.

I would recommend a impact (hardened) 10mm for the front bolt b/c i broke my craftsman deep well socket. Also I had to replace the rear bolts b/c they were worn down.

Auto Zone on line lists for my area its LLT WRNTY Duralast for $103.

What RickMN said. I also want you to write back here and tell us how much fun you had. Ugh...

Dale

Although I would save over $10 getting both control arms from RockAuto, AA would get me a lifetime warranty.

I think for the $10, I'll get the lifetime warranty.

NOTE: Back in 1995, I rebuilt the brakes on my 1969 Chevy C20 truck with rear leaf springs. I got NAPA wheel cylinders and brakes which had lifetime warranties. Yes, that's right, wheel cylinders with a lifetime warranty!

Man that was sweet! and they sure don't do that any more. I wonder what they were thinking.

OK, job all done and not too bad if you have enough tools. Specifically a 1/4" air ratchet.

Here is how I decided to do it:

1) Jackstands under front crossmember remove wheels.

2) Remove rear inner Control Arm (CA) bolt.

3) Remove Pinch Bolt (PB).

4) Slide Ball Joint out. You can spread pinch slot with big screwdriver and hammer a little, but a nice 4' steel bar under frame and over CA does a good job.)

5) Remove front inner CA bolt.

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INSTALL:

1) Put front inner CA end in its "nest" and install rear inner CA bolt.

2) Slide Ball Joint into hole using a small bottle jack. Look through hole with light to see that you have centered the notch for the PB.

3) Install PB, torque to 50 lb-ft.

4) Jack up CA just inboard of the Ball Joint with a bottle jack to get the CA horizontal so the front inner end aligns properly. You will not get it all the way, all you need is to get it close.

5) Wiggle the inner front CA end so you can get the bolt started.

6) Using a 1/4" air ratchet, screw the bolt through the bushing. Use a screwdriver to wiggle the bushing so you get the point of the bolt started through the hold in the bracket front face. Once started, just keep on screwing with the air ratchet.

7) Tighten the inner bolts to 91 lb-ft.

DONE
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Now, should I get it re-aligned????