Installed Steeda LCA Bearing and FRPP Toe Link Bearing

Last night I finished up the installation of new lower control arms equipped with the Steeda LCA bearing and I also upgraded the toe link bushing to the FRPP toe link bearing. I won't get into how much I hate universal ball joint presses (for the toe link bearing), but I hate universal ball joint presses!

Steeda acquired the LCAs for me and installed their bearing in Valdosta, saving me the frustration of having to find someone local to do it for me. I paid reasonable shop labor and of course for the parts, but this allowed me to take off the old LCA and put the new LCA on without leaving my car on jack stands in my HOA-controlled parking garage (which wouldn't have gone over well). I just wouldn't have the time to take the LCAs off, get the bearings pressed, and put them back on all in one day (or even the same week...). Plus I know it was done right. HUGE thanks to Steeda for this!

I'm sorry, I don't have great pictures. I'm not Bill from CJ Pony Parts!






Installation Notes:
In order to do this job, I leveraged mostly BMR's instructions for installing their LCA bearing. Steeda's instructions were more detailed and immensely helpful, but seemed to suggest lowering the IRS, which makes dealing with the LCAs easier, I figure, but isn't necessary if you have a 24mm swivel socket. Why? Some dipshit at Ford put the front, inner LCA bushing bolt facing backwards into a very tight spot. If they just made it face the other way, you could take it off from the wheel well in a jiffy. Instead, with a combination of a long 1/2" extension and a 24mm swivel socket, I got it off by fishing that assembly just under the inner half shaft joint (that goes into the differential) and over the IRS cradle. Ultimately this made the swivel almost perfectly straight, just a smidgen of "bend". I couldn't do it without the swivel, a straight socket wouldn't stay on the bolt.

The work was actually pretty fun, but time consuming. The only really frustrating part was getting the new LCAs into the inner brackets. The most efficient way for me was to get the inner mounting points close to their brackets, then push in the front inner bearing in past the bolt hole some, which lined up the rear bearing in its bracket enough. I used my rubber persuader to knock the two bearings into their home a little while feeding the bolts in (rear first), but mostly once you get them into where they have to go, you can manipulate the LCA fairly easily (just have to have the knuckle jacked up so it's not interfering).

So obviously the rear springs come out doing this. But I was able to put them back in and seat them just fine by installing the inner bolts first, putting the spring in and getting it set up, then jacking up the LCA and lowering the knuckle assembly into where it bolts to the LCA. After that bolt was torqued down (to like a billion torques...) I was able to reinstall the shock, the lower sway bar end link, toe arm, end links, and whatever else that's down there no problem. I am frankly amazed I was able to articulate my 900' 1/2" torque wrench under the car on jack stands (just two rear jack stands, I needed the car at the downward angle to have enough space).

I did have to remove my exhaust because it was getting in the way.

The Wonderful Results:
Honestly I was half expecting the addition of two spherical bearings to create noise. I have no additional NVH - just different and frankly more desirable NVH. I guess the only difference is that everything is MUCH MUCH tighter in the back, so the rear suspension feels stiffer which results in "stuff" in my car moving around a bit more. Going over bumps is a little more abrupt feeling, but it's actually preferable.

I get less "thud" and "jerk forward" when I put the car in gear. I have no idea why... but that's nice. Driving, the rear of the car now feels composed, every input of power is so much more immediate. I don't know why, but my car also doesn't seem to understeer at all anymore, as well. I cannot get a wheel to hop for the life of me and the inner wheel in a sharp turn will not skip if I gun it. The car also feels more stable, like side to side. It also appears to be the case that I have "more wheel travel downward" now. Even when jacked up the wheels will hang a bit lower. I went into a McDonalds parking lot that usually will tripod my car and it didn't tripod. The LCA bearing apparently keeps the suspension from binding, so I figure that's the reason why. And since day one my car rocked back and forth after it stopped. This has all but gone away now.

I'm really happy with the results and I think everyone should do this mod.

Good stuff. What are these Steeda LCAs? They look OE, no?

Edit - duh, you bought new OE arms and sent them to Steeda for bearing install.

I'm not surprised by the results as the OE LCA rubber bushings are soft in the fore/aft direction and stiff in the vertical direction. But I am concerned about feeling the bumps more abruptly. I'm interested in your feedback after a week or two of driving the car.

No Steeda got me the arms from their source (I assume like a local dealer or something) and installed the bearing. I had to ask that this get done by PM'ing [MENTION=25806]SteedaTech[/MENTION]. It's not like you can order LCAs from their website. But it was very quick and a really huge help! I'm very grateful.

wildcatgoal said:

Last night I finished up the installation of new lower control arms equipped with the Steeda LCA bearing and I also upgraded the toe link bushing to the FRPP toe link bearing. I won't get into how much I hate universal ball joint presses (for the toe link bearing), but I hate universal ball joint presses!

Steeda acquired the LCAs for me and installed their bearing in Valdosta, saving me the frustration of having to find someone local to do it for me. I paid reasonable shop labor and of course for the parts, but this allowed me to take off the old LCA and put the new LCA on without leaving my car on jack stands in my HOA-controlled parking garage (which wouldn't have gone over well). I just wouldn't have the time to take the LCAs off, get the bearings pressed, and put them back on all in one day (or even the same week...). Plus I know it was done right. HUGE thanks to Steeda for this!

I'm sorry, I don't have great pictures. I'm not Bill from CJ Pony Parts!

Installation Notes:
In order to do this job, I leveraged mostly BMR's instructions for installing their LCA bearing. Steeda's instructions were more detailed and immensely helpful, but seemed to suggest lowering the IRS, which makes dealing with the LCAs easier, I figure, but isn't necessary if you have a 24mm swivel socket. Why? Some dipshit at Ford put the front, inner LCA bushing bolt facing backwards into a very tight spot. If they just made it face the other way, you could take it off from the wheel well in a jiffy. Instead, with a combination of a long 1/2" extension and a 24mm swivel socket, I got it off by fishing that assembly just under the inner half shaft joint (that goes into the differential) and over the IRS cradle. Ultimately this made the swivel almost perfectly straight, just a smidgen of "bend". I couldn't do it without the swivel, a straight socket wouldn't stay on the bolt.

The work was actually pretty fun, but time consuming. The only really frustrating part was getting the new LCAs into the inner brackets. The most efficient way for me was to get the inner mounting points close to their brackets, then push in the front inner bearing in past the bolt hole some, which lined up the rear bearing in its bracket enough. I used my rubber persuader to knock the two bearings into their home a little while feeding the bolts in (rear first), but mostly once you get them into where they have to go, you can manipulate the LCA fairly easily (just have to have the knuckle jacked up so it's not interfering).

So obviously the rear springs come out doing this. But I was able to put them back in and seat them just fine by installing the inner bolts first, putting the spring in and getting it set up, then jacking up the LCA and lowering the knuckle assembly into where it bolts to the LCA. After that bolt was torqued down (to like a billion torques...) I was able to reinstall the shock, the lower sway bar end link, toe arm, end links, and whatever else that's down there no problem. I am frankly amazed I was able to articulate my 900' 1/2" torque wrench under the car on jack stands (just two rear jack stands, I needed the car at the downward angle to have enough space).

I did have to remove my exhaust because it was getting in the way.

The Wonderful Results:
Honestly I was half expecting the addition of two spherical bearings to create noise. I have no additional NVH - just different and frankly more desirable NVH. I guess the only difference is that everything is MUCH MUCH tighter in the back, so the rear suspension feels stiffer which results in "stuff" in my car moving around a bit more. Going over bumps is a little more abrupt feeling, but it's actually preferable.

I get less "thud" and "jerk forward" when I put the car in gear. I have no idea why... but that's nice. Driving, the rear of the car now feels composed, every input of power is so much more immediate. I don't know why, but my car also doesn't seem to understeer at all anymore, as well. I cannot get a wheel to hop for the life of me and the inner wheel in a sharp turn will not skip if I gun it. The car also feels more stable, like side to side. It also appears to be the case that I have "more wheel travel downward" now. Even when jacked up the wheels will hang a bit lower. I went into a McDonalds parking lot that usually will tripod my car and it didn't tripod. The LCA bearing apparently keeps the suspension from binding, so I figure that's the reason why.

I'm really happy with the results and I think everyone should do this mod.

Click to expand...

We really appreciate the feedback & support - truly appreciated!

Best Regards,

TJ

Honestly it's transformed the car to a more significant degree than other work I've done and I wish I did it a long time ago!

Are these doing the same as the BMR BK055 kit?

Reason I ask is here in UK I can get the Steeda:
http://www.steeda.co.uk/steeda-s550-mustang-rear-lower-control-arm-spherical-bearings-c2x21448117

Locally, so though I normally go BMR, for ease of purchase I could get the Steeda part.

Now its being a few months can you confirm the car still has no NVH or squeaking/creaking type noises?

I had bad wheel hop at the strip this weekend and I am thinking the Steeda LCA bush could help with that?

Yes, they are the same thing fundamentally and serve the same purpose. Steeda and BMR took different approaches to the bearing assembly itself but I'd have either one. Steeda made it easy for me to have theirs and the quality is obvious, so I went that route.

Steeda Bearing Features:
- Made by Steeda itself, including the spacers
- Press fit into the race on the LCA using a press like any other bearing/bushing would be
- Spacers are machined to bridge the gap between the bearing itself and the point where the LCA/bearing mount on the frame of the vehicle. These spacers are very beefy and machined to perfectly fit into the bearing with no play. This is the greatest quality of the Steeda bearing (other than it looks like a work of art, but I'll never see it so... not a huge selling point I guess).
- Agreeable price point for a very high quality bearing
- Minor feature: it almost looks stock (it's not obvious its there because it just sort of blends in, not painted black) which I personally like to keep prying dealership eyes away from bothering me about blaming suspension parts for XYZ unrelated issue, which they have already done twice to me (i.e., my squeaky seat is apparently caused by my lowering springs, yet it was there well before I did anything to the car and you can make it squeak just sitting down in it... that kind of crap).

BMR Bearing Features:
- Press fit into the race on the LCA but has a lip to aid in centering the bearing. It bottoms out when it's centered, basically. This is especially advantageous to a DIY'er as centering a bearing is sometimes difficult because using the necessary cups to press the bearing you might not be able to see if a bearing you're pressing is centered. In the case of the Steeda bearing, it's width is effectively the same as the race so it's easy enough to center for anyone that's used a press before, but BMR's bearing case is wider to accommodate C-clips so the bottom out lip is crucial and purposeful. This is not a bearing I'd use a universal ball joint press for but if I had to go that route, I'd opt for the BMR bearing just to avoid any mistakes. (Disclaimer: I didn't install my Steeda bearing, but... speaking from experience with other bearing/bushing installations of this size and the fact you have to take the LCA off anyway so might as well use a press.)
- Has C-clips on the opposing side from what I keep referring to as the bottom out lip. I assume this is to prevent the bearing from ever walking out in one direction or the other. I'm not sure why this is necessary but it at least serves as peace of mind. I'm personally not worried about the bearing walking out, but I do like BMR's design for this and the aforementioned bullet point.
- Judging from the spacers included with my BMR vertical links, it looks like BMR uses a similar spacer (the flat black pieces) for its bearing. I'm comparing spacers on vertical links to spacers on an LCA bearing, which could be apples to oranges, but I like the heft of Steeda's spacers more and the seem to fit more smoothly into the LCA bearing than the BMR spacers fit into my vertical links as if the machining tolerance was just a tad better. This is probably a negligible difference, but I am happier with Steeda's design here.
- Notably more expensive than Steeda's bearing (even with a recent price drop) but you also get the aforementioned features, which may be something you feel you want/need.

Again, either of these bearing solutions will have the same effect - a must do mod, IMHO. I swear to jeebus this car is totally different now.

wildcatgoal said:

Yes, they are the same thing fundamentally and serve the same purpose. Steeda and BMR took different approaches to the bearing assembly itself but I'd have either one. Steeda made it easy for me to have theirs, so I went that route.

Steeda Bearing Features:
- Made by Steeda itself, including the spacers
- Press fit into the race on the LCA like any other bearing/bushing would
- Spacers are machined to bridge the gap between the bearing itself and the point where the LCA/bearing mount on the frame of the vehicle. These spacers are very beefy and machined to perfectly fit into the bearing with no play.

BMR Bearing Features
- Press fit into the race on the LCA but has a lip to aid in centering the bearing. It bottoms out when it's centered, basically. This is especially advantageous to a DIY'er as centering a bearing is sometimes difficult because using the necessary cups to press the bearing you might not be able to see if a bearing you're pressing is centered. In the case of the Steeda bearing, it's width is the same as the race so it's easy to center, but BMR's bearing case is wider to accommodate C-clips so the bottom out lip is crucial and purposeful.
- Has C-clips on the opposing side form what I keep referring to as the bottom out lip. I assume this is to prevent the bearing from ever walking out in one direction or the other. I'm not sure why this is necessary but it at least serves as peace of mind. I'm personally not worried about the bearing walking out, but I do like BMR's design for this and the aforementioned bullet point.
- Judging from the spacers included with my BMR vertical links, it looks like BMR uses a similar spacer (the flat black pieces) for its bearing. I'm comparing spacers on vertical links to spacers on an LCA bearing, which could be apples to oranges, but I like the heft of Steeda's spacers more and the seem to fit more smoothly into the LCA bearing than the BMR spacers fit into my vertical links as if the machining tolerance was just a tad better. This is probably a negligible difference, but I am happier with Steeda's design here.

Again, either of these bearing solutions will have the same effect - a must do mod, IMHO. I swear to jeebus this car is totally different now.

Click to expand...

Will probably get Steeda as Steeda UK have them, so easier and cheaper for me to buy.

Is all still quiet back there, no NVH after months of use on your car buddy?

Gibbo205 said:

Now its being a few months can you confirm the car still has no NVH or squeaking/creaking type noises?

I had bad wheel hop at the strip this weekend and I am thinking the Steeda LCA bush could help with that?

Click to expand...

It hasn't been a few months since I've installed this, only just shy of a week. I'll report back a while from now but I'm not expecting any noises.

The LCA bearing I think is something people should do before doing any other IRS modifications. It changed the car entirely. Laying power down feels so much different - like there is a direct connection from the transmission to the road - it's hard to explain. And more noticeably it handles differently - it's as if you can tell that what is responsible for controlling the wheels is your shocks and springs, not soft bushings flexing around. Everything just feels more... direct.

Gibbo205 said:

Will probably get Steeda as Steeda UK have them, so easier and cheaper for me to buy.

Is all still quiet back there, no NVH after months of use on your car buddy?

Click to expand...

I'm 100% with you on the NVH front. I do not want any if I can help it. Starting over with a new car I changed things up to hopefully rid myself of the NVH I was experiencing.

The parts I had installed on my 15'

BMR bearing/delrin vertical link
BMR Cradle lock out
BMR LCA Bearings
BMR Adj Toe Links
FFRP knuckle Bearings
FFRP 1/2 shafts
Steeda subframe centering sleeves (rear holes)
DSS CF DS (switched back to stock due to NVH)

I had noticble gear whine transferred into the car and also felt clunking when shifting but this may have been more due to the RXT clutch w/ CF DS. I will say the difference in feeling with the addition of LCA bearings was incredible but for me this caused a noticeable increase in NVH.


The parts I have accumulated for my 17'

Steeda LCA Bearings
Steeda Subframe aluminum inserts
Steeda subframe centering sleeves (all 4)
Steeda subframe braces
Boomba vertical links
FFRP 1/2 shafts
FFRP knuckle bearings
DSS CF DS (for auto)
Will use stock toe links

I was going to use stock vertical links but after some research and advice from a few people I went with Boomba (poly bushings).

I'm in a position that allows me to not get crazy with my car and need to completely destroy ride quality for traction. I simply enjoy my car on trips and cruises and do not track or drag it so I'm trying to make it as good as it can be without adding NVH and I think the parts I have lined up for the new car are going to work well for me.

Anyway, good luck with your build and keep us posted as I would love to hear what you decided to go with and how it turned out for you.

Jaime

Stock toe links are totally fine. I PM'd you on another point.

After the bearings, I don't have any additional whine or differential noises. I have notably less clunking than before (such that when it does clunk it that NVH seems to die off as a brief thud vs. reverberate across the whole damn car).

Where I got any NVH increase was installing differential bushing inserts... that allowed the noisy Torsen to send its annoyances into the cabin. I've gotten used to it.

[MENTION=7398]Todd15Fastback[/MENTION] can chime in on any NVH related to the LCA bearing, he has largely the same suspension as me and the LCA bearing, too. And has had it for half a year or so I think.

wildcatgoal said:

Stock toe links are totally fine. I PM'd you on another point.

After the bearings, I don't have any additional whine or differential noises. I have notably less clunking than before (such that when it does clunk it that NVH seems to die off as a brief thud vs. reverberate across the whole damn car).

Where I got any NVH increase was installing differential bushing inserts... that allowed the noisy Torsen to send its annoyances into the cabin. I've gotten used to it.

Click to expand...

Yeah the red differential bushing inserts added ever so slight NVH into the cabin I found at 1000-1200rpm, but after one day of them being installed I stopped noticing it, thats how minor it was.

I am tempted to put the black inserts in to help further with wheel hop at drag strip. I am hoping black inserts, Steeda LCA will help further with wheel hop at the strip. I know the biggest issue is tyre, but my car is a daily so moving to drag/slick tyres is not an option.

I'm highly sensitive to nvh, I have zero nvh from my Bmr LCA bearings. My ds gave me the nvh. Zero nvh from toe rods, lca bearing and lock out. I have not installed the differential inserts yet and I may not because I hate NVH

Steeda LCA on its way to me.