Ordered some Steeda parts

This evening I ordered some Steeda parts to complement to BMR and Ford Racing suspension parts that I already have.

Here is what I ordered:

Steeda LCA bearings
Steeda Differential Bushing Inserts (Urethane)
Steeda Subframe Alignment kit

My decision to order them from Steeda came from wildcatgoal and other user reviews and really, if I'm being honest... price. The similar products from BMR would've cost me $330 and that's without the subframe alignment kit, which I added just for peace of mind. So really not much difference in price but enough that I decided to order from Steeda. And I think it's good for me to try products from different brands. They're all good.

Should go on next week and I plan to post a review of the difference they make.

I see a Steeda post and come to find out I get a call out in it... sweet.

Well, excellent choices. You're going to enjoy the back end of your car not feeling like an overcooked noodle. Will be different, handle different (better), but give yourself time to adjust... even with all my modifications, I did the LCA bearing last and it was still a notable difference that I had to feel out.

Regardless of who does it this work, I want you to make sure EVERYTHING is torqued back down properly. To install the LCA bearings, you must remove a lot of bolts, one or two of which get >200 ft. lbs. of torque and some of which require a little finessing to get to thread (not hard, just... finessing). Be slow, be careful, be meticulous. Create a checklist, organize your bolts (some look similar enough and will work in other places but they don't belong there -ask me how I know), check the torque on everybody twice. Then check again. This things hold up your car. Once it's all done, drive as you normally would but come back and recheck the torque on everyone after, say, 100 miles. Everything will likely be fine, but... remember... you removed a ton of bolts. Why not do a little check-a-roo before you go out and conquer mountain roads?

If you're doing this yourself on jack stands, get the 6-ton ones that go up real high or just jack the rear of the car up, which will give you more room to swing a big torque wrench. Chock the front wheels - both of them - of course. Also recommend getting some of that foam sheet you find at Home Depot to put under hardwood floor or at least a big cardboard box because laying on a concrete garage floor blows a bag of d's.

If you hit a snag - CALL Steeda. They've installed these before

Nice! You will not be disappointed. I have these parts as well and can speak from my personal experience, they are phenomenal. I have pulled the suspension off my last two cars so many times I can see each bolt in my head lol. I have used a few different brands but like my Steeda pieces better. Steeda tech support is great as well, give them a shout if you run into issues.

Oh my now you're scaring me a little bit. I figured the installation would not be hard just tedious. I don't have the equipment to install them myself so I'm having a local shop install them for me. I guess I will have to make sure to tell them to keep track of every bolt and make sure they know the proper torque spec for everything. Hopefully it will go OK.

wildcatgoal said:

Regardless of who does it this work, I want you to make sure EVERYTHING is torqued back down properly. To install the LCA bearings, you must remove a lot of bolts, one or two of which get >200 ft. lbs. of torque and some of which require a little finessing to get to thread (not hard, just... finessing). Be slow, be careful, be meticulous. Create a checklist, organize your bolts (some look similar enough and will work in other places but they don't belong there -ask me how I know), check the torque on everybody twice. Then check again.

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That right there boys and girls is some great advice.

Bluemustang said:

Oh my now you're scaring me a little bit. I figured the installation would not be hard just tedious. I don't have the equipment to install them myself so I'm having a local shop install them for me. I guess I will have to make sure to tell them to keep track of every bolt and make sure they know the proper torque spec for everything. Hopefully it will go OK.

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My man, if I pulled it off, you can do it. I did it on a 100 year old concrete floor in the parking garage of my building, finishing at 4AM. I started late the night prior. Gotta avoid HOA Nazi onlookers.

Just go slow. Be organized. Drink water. Do the chores your wife told you to do before you start so she doesn't come in and distract you. If you have a wife. I don't have a wife, but I suspect wives do this, considering this is exactly what my mother did and all women have a telepathic connection to make sure, right at the worst moment, we know we didn't do what they asked us to do. Really this should be in the instructions from Steeda. :tsk:

Really the only hard part is getting the LCA (H-arm) back in. Once you figure it out, you'll wonder why you didn't do it that way in the first place. It's not easy to describe how I did it - frankly, I can't remember - just remember taking a while on one side, then figuring out the sequence to slide it into the inner mounting points, then doing the other side of the car in so much less time. My build log may have some notes.

wildcatgoal said:

Really the only hard part is getting the LCA (H-arm) back in. Once you figure it out, you'll wonder why you didn't do it that way in the first place.

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Put the inner front H-arm bolt in first. Let the inner rear hang and then put the spring in. You'll have a lot more room to get the spring in that way. From there, button up the inner rear (easier if you have a jack under there to support the H-arm) and then start buttoning up the H-arm to knuckle bolts. Hard part done. Done this twice now and that's the easiest way I've found.

Thanks guys. I appreciate everyone's input. It was actually wildcatgoal's posts that convinced me that the LCA bearing could have a significant positive effect on the feel of the car. Even with all the other mods I have, the rear end still feels like a wet noodle on launches. I want that solid feel in the rear end so I am hoping that this will do the trick. It's funny - I hear about all these suspension mods and what they are supposed to improve, but once you do one upgrade, the problem seems to just move to another area. It seems that until you address the least common denominator you are just putting a bandaid on it rather than getting to the root of the problem which is the IRS.

When I hear about what the LCA bearing is supposed to do - namely eliminate toe changes under power and remove bind in the suspension allowing it to move freely, I wonder why Ford designed the car this way. I mean why make a car with 435 hp and 400 ft/lbs of torque when you can't get that power to the ground.

I'm now not convinced that springs and shocks upgrades on this car are even necessary in most cases. Maybe all that is needed is to address the shortcomings of the IRS and the differential, where the power is being transmitted to in the first place. I'll just have to see what difference these mods make to see if my theory is correct. Because if it does then I will know what the least common denominator is.

wildcatgoal said:

I see a Steeda post and come to find out I get a call out in it... sweet.


If you're doing this yourself on jack stands, get the 6-ton ones that go up real high or just jack the rear of the car up, which will give you more room to swing a big torque wrench. Chock the front wheels - both of them - of course. Also recommend getting some of that foam sheet you find at Home Depot to put under hardwood floor or at least a big cardboard box because laying on a concrete garage floor blows a bag of d's.

If you hit a snag - CALL Steeda. They've installed these before

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i use moving blankets from harbor freight :clap2:

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=moving+blanket

Alright I decided to join the party and ordered some Steeda LCA bearings. I hope it's as easy to do as you guys are making it out to be. Must. Stop. Hop.

Got my Steeda LCA bearing since last week...awaiting install, hopefully done by this Saturday.

Really excited to see what this part does, heard so many good reviews about how it walks on water!

Thanks to [MENTION=21494]wildcatgoal[/MENTION] and [MENTION=16770]MtnBiker[/MENTION] for the useful install tips.

Rustang said:

Alright I decided to join the party and ordered some Steeda LCA bearings. I hope it's as easy to do as you guys are making it out to be. Must. Stop. Hop.

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It's easier than paying for a new drive train because it hopped itself a part.

Yes that's exactly what I fear. I don't race or anything but like to randomly leave some tire snot on the pavement and the last thing I want is something to break when showing off. I had this same fun trying to kill wheelhop in my 03 Slobra. Alot of those exploded the pumpkin due to hop.

RLCA bearings and diff bushings go on today. I'm going with the black poly ones. Will report back tomorrow.

I ordered the wrong Steeda alignment kit. I needed the one that fits the CB005! Crap. But now that I think about it, I bet the CB005 does a pretty good job of centering the cradle anyway. So therefore I may not even need it. I just ordered it for the hell of it.

Well just throw the rear sleeves in. Will work great.