How to replace the Lower Control Arm - Classic Mustang
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Check out my new website for car parts and merch that I am selling - krusebuilt.com/
Lower Control Arm - Scott Drake, part number C4DZ-3078-A, Amazon Link = amzn.to/3ssz8zP
The car is a 1966 Mustang Fastback with a 347 Stroker and T5 transmission.
Shot with GoPro Hero 9 with the Media Mod, edited on Davinci Resolve 17.
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Thank you so much Andy for your videos! They have helped me out and made it possible for me to tackle some jobs i wouldn't have tried. Your content is great, your video production is outstanding, and your thoughtfulness in what you show in the video is spot on! Keep up the great work!
Awesome, thanks for the support! It’s always great to hear someone is able to pull some value from my videos. 🙂
I did the same for my suspension overhaul, what I ended up doing was buying a different lower control arm all black and painted the arm like factory ! ... saved $$ in the process .... and I did the same for the upper control arm. good job there !
Yeah, it’s great how many options we have to upgrade our cars. 🙂
Quick, and simple. Good call on getting an alignment set up.. Those front ends are so easy to work on
Alignment done, ready to rip up the road! :)
Definitely going need to do an alignment. Expensive tools, but worth it. Sorry if someone already said this. Love this channel. Thank you so much Andy, I have learned so much from you.
Yep, alignment is done, we're ready to rip! :)
Andy, just finished installing new front springs, strut rod bushings, upper and lower controller arms. Took a long time and more than a few problems. Every little bit helps so thanks. All done except a professional alignment.
Nice work! I love the feeling of finally getting a large project like this out of the way. :)
For me it's like a Love / Hate relationship.
Nice video. Definitely a good upgrade if those lower control arms are worn out.
Yeah, it's nice to get these parts upgraded. :)
I was about to do the tie rods and strut bushings and realized after seeing your video that doing lower control arms at same time won't be very difficult. Love your videos!
Awesome! :)
Great video as always!! You keep giving me upgrade ideas for my '68 Mustang... Time to get working on the car again haha!
Go for it!
Hey Andy! I recommend picking up a cheap swivel impact extension from harbor freight (it’s branded Icon and is sold as a kit with 3/8 and 1/2). That chrome u joint one you were trying to use never worked well for me. The impact rated “cv” style from harbor freight works 10x better in my experience for tight bolts that have crud on the threads.
Yeah, there's a bunch of tools I need to get, but I keep using the old ones because I need the money for more car parts. :)
The other issue is when that chrome one breaks and becomes shrapnel
Love the videos bud!!! I am about to upgrade my front suspension on my 66 convertible soon. I been watching your videos getting educated!! 👍🏼
Right on! Hopefully there's enough good info here to help you decide the path you want to take and determine if this is something you're able to tackle yourself. :)
You have definitely giving me visual know how to feel comfortable enough to take it on myself!! Thanks!
Nice install, the good thing with Maier racing is everything is made in house.
Absolutely!
Always helpful with great tips, Andy. Thank you!
My pleasure!
Good idea on the replacement LCA bolts. I bought the hardware store specials ahead of time, so of course the OEM bolts came out smooth as butter. If I hadn't bought the new hardware, I guarantee both the stock bolts would have snapped off. But I used my new ones anyway, because why not?
Anyway, you're going to love your spherical-bearing LCAs when you get them. I installed mine last weekend (not Maier brand) and not only are they easier to install (you don't need to pre-load the suspension and squeeze under the car to torque them), but they're an absolute must if you're adding upgraded or adjustable strut rods. I worked them through the range of motion before reattaching the spindles, and it's easy to see why the stock bushing can bind or prematurely wear.
Yeah, there's some parts on these cars that are a major upgrade, but it's hard to make a big deal out of it when most people don't know or don't care. :)
@@AndyKruseChannel I think the real weak link is the strut rod, and that's why later Mustangs went to an adjustable design. You'd be amazed how much play your front wheels have with the OEM rubber bushings on the strut rods, especially if they're the original ones. There's a couple of GoPro videos of it on RUclips and it's nuts how much the LCAs shift during braking and acceleration.
Literally doing the same thing today, I've completely stripped the front end of my 65 and I'm replacing every single steering/suspension part.
That pivot bolt for the LCA, the reason it's blocked in by the crossmember is so if it ever came loose, it wouldn't come out and send you off into a canyon.
You shouldn't use a pickle fork for ball joints. You can get a puller at Harbor Freight for $19 that will separate them in 10 seconds with no damage done to either the boot or the surfaces of the spindle. Even if you're not keeping the old part, it's way less effort too.
Good luck! :)
Excellent clear video. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
5 star video Andy, Right now I am doing this exact operation. I am replacing the upper and lower controller arms. I am not sure how tight I should tighten the lower arm lower castle nuts. My concern is that have over tightened them. Good advice none then the less. Thanks Andy.
75-100 ft-lbs on that bolt that attaches the lower control arm to the frame.
Hey there Andy, not to beat a dead horse 🐎 here, though it is critical, that the car be on its own weight, the front suspension be at or nearest it's "at rest" ride height, then tighten lower control arm bolts. The elastomer(pored rubber) in those bolt "sleeves" will "rip", and be destroyed, in short order, if they tightened while at full bottom travel. The twisted rubber "preload" effect, can make the car ride higher, and feel "strange" and "floatie" as well.. Otherwise, love watching you brother.. Your living, our "best" life !!!!
Thanks for the heads up. :)
how do you reach them?
Doing this on a 69 Mustang. Having a hard time getting the LCA ball joint bold to line up. Think I'm going to have to rent a spring compressor. Tried some minor jacking up on the rotor, no go. It's just too far out of whack and it seems to be coming from the spring load. Rumor has it that the previous owner put big block springs on this car and that could just be what is making this such a challenge.
Yeah, some times there seemingly simple upgrades can turn into a four hour ordeal. :)
Thanks Mike
If I see him, I'll tell him you said thanks. :)
Awesome video. About to attempt this on my 67’. I was wondering if you had to support the springs in anyway or if you could just let the uppers hang.
In my scenario the upper control arm and coilover setup can just hang there since the shock body of the coilover is fully extended at that point. For someone with a stock spring/shock type setup, the upper control arm will hang down lower, but it will be fine when attaching the lower control arm to the bottom of the spindle. The lower control arms are much easier to swap out/service than the upper control arms. :)
Thanks for your informative video on your '66 mustang. I am curious though, it seems that there is no camber adjustment of the lower arm where it is attached to your frame. So how is the camber adjusted on your '66? My '67 has an eccentric adjustment for camber. The main problem is that I have been unable to separate the lower ball joint from the knuckle. I see you used a pickle fork, but that has not been successful in my case after pounding on it for about 30 minutes. I am going to try a ball joint press next. I put it all back together without changing the lower arm to get it temporarily out of my garage. I have subsequently received a '67 lower arm C70Z-3078-A from Holley (who owns Scott Drake). I will be getting back into the replacement later this week. Do you have any other suggestions to release the lower ball joint? Thanks. Charles
The camber adjustment for the 64-66 Mustang is in the upper control arm, using shims to push out the arm for less camber.
On the ball joint, you can try giving it a heavy coat of PB Blaster, or applying heat to it with a torch (can be purchased at Home Depot). You also might not be giving it enough force what hitting the pickle fork, sometimes those ball joint bolts are rusted to the steering knuckle extremely well. You can also use that ball joint press you mentioned, I have to use a similar tool when taking the Pitman arm off my steering box. :)
Great job 👍
Thank you! Cheers!
Are you going to put in a R&P? I'm tempted but in order to not have bump steer I watched a youtube where some sort of vertical extension was put on the strut in order to keep the tie rod level. Looked kinda funky.
No plans yet. If I did anything it was be power steering first, like an electric power steering. I might tackle that next year. :)
Curious why you didn’t put in some of the tumblar lowers like this they make for the single lower arms on the early Mustang II front ends? I would think they would flex less plus I think some come with poly bushings too.
I plan to do Mike Maier LCAs down the road, so this was a cheap replacement until then. :)
@@AndyKruseChannel I see thanks.
@@AndyKruseChannel I looked on his website and sure glad I asked you because I didn’t know a kit like this was made but hoping so. I’ll definitely be looking into one of these kits for my pro street car. Was going to put a regular tubular single arm on the lowers but was hoping someone made one with this strut bar and now I see they do. Has to be way better than the stock stamped one or tubular one without the strut bar.
@Ron_Masterjohn Yeah, I have his UCA on there now (and a video about the install), but like everyone else, I'm limited by funds, gotta save up for the LCAs. :)
Sorry if I am missing something. Why didn’t the spring push down the upper control arm when you removed the lower control arm?
It's because I have a coilover setup on the front. The springs have a higher spring rate, so they don't need to be as long, which is why the stock setup pushes the UCA down so far. :)
If those are Scott Drake lower control arm hopefully you have better luck than I did I had to replace the driverside after 15000 Miles because the ball joint went bad. Probably need to replace my passenger side also
Yeah, they’re cheap, but that’s ok, they won’t be on the car long enough to worry about it. 😉
Hey Andy, do you need to grease the joint with the rubber boot after installation?
At a minimum you should check to see if there’s an enough grease. This can be done before installation into your car, just to make it easier. 🙂
Thanks, good advice! And nice choice on your newest project, I will follow this build also, your videos are always helpful
Andy. Did you ever get the new Mike Maier lower control arms? I don’t see a video of them. This is an 8 month old video.
Where you going for the MOD Lower Control Arm & Strut Rod Assembly ones or just the plain much cheaper priced Mustang Stock Lower Control Arm? I just ordered Maier’s Upper MOD Tubular Upper A-Arms. Thinking about getting the Lower Arm with Strut Rod.
Not yet, it's still on my list of parts to get. :)
@@AndyKruseChannel Cool! I’m ordering them, but would love to see you do a video of them being installed. Mike says they will be ready in a couple of months.
@@AndyKruseChannel BTW, talked to Mike. They are currently fabricating the lower control arms/strut rods right now. But after these sell out, the next run will be until a year from now. So if you want them, you better preorder them asap…
Are there no torque specs for any of this?
Yeah, look up the bolt online, torque specs can be found by bolt size. :)
Hey Andy I know not part of the video but what serpentine belt conversion did you go with?
Still have the standard V-Belt, just the alternator and water pump are driven off the crank hub. :)
@@AndyKruseChannel you having any issue with belt burning and slipping off its mostly the alternator to water pully belt
Where di you buy your tie rod adjusting sleeves?
CJP, part number 6566SLK-V8. :)
7:38 $13 plus $15 for shipping. much easier and cheaper to go to the hardware store.
Yep.
Andy, make sure not to tighten your sway bar bolts until the car is back on the ground to prevent preloading/binding them.
The bushing that hold the bar to the frame are greased, allowing the bar to pivot when the car is sat down on the ground. We're good. :)
Great video... but.... Crazy people with no eye protection.
Safety third!
Never get bolts for suspension from hardware stores , they are not high impact automotive grade and will break
Ok