Considering chickening out on steeda lca

[Semi]

American muscles website says it's not a diy job. I am going to be doing rear springs and cb005 lockout kit today am I a fool to not keep going.

Trouble I'm having is reading/watching 3 sets of instructions. Watched a video on the lockout, that looks pretty straight forward, and the springs themselves not too bad either.

I also read a post on this page that stated I'd need four ramps to seat some boots? That's got me a little concerned, I've only got jack stands, a low profile standard jack and a motorcycle jack

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[mikes2017gt]

Next weekend I'll be doing some of the same upgrades as you, and it will be my first time wrenching on a Mustang. I asked a question about "clocking the bearings."

Right out of the thread linked below, here is the explanation:

Many times, it is simply due to not loosening all of the suspension pivot point bolts, and re-torquing them to their specific TA values whent he car is sitting on all (4) wheels/tires - loaded.

The best way to perform this is get the car on a drive on lift, or blocks or drive on ramps. The car needs to be level and sitting on all 4.

Loosen all of the suspension pivot point bolts enough to where there is no load on the nuts.

After ALL of them are loose, go ahead and RE-torque them all to OEM specified values.

These pivot points are as follows:

FRONT: (anywhere there are rubber bushings)
Front Radius Control Arm - inner mount
Front Lower Control Arm - inner mount

REAR: (anywhere there are rubber bushings)
Upper Camber Link - inner and outer mounts
Toe Link Outer Knuckle Bushing
Rear Control Arm Front Inner Mount
Rear Control Arm to Knuckle Mounts

Here's the thread on the subject. I've not finished reading it all yet, but so far it's very informative. http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44129&highlight=clock&page=3

 

[SYK]

Easy solution to clocking bushing would be change all bushings to bearing but rather expensive

 

[Stripler]

This is a big project if you aren't comfortable working on your car. You don't need ramps to seat anything in the rear. You can put your jack under the RLCA or knuckle to push the suspension up to ride height to seat your spring boots and torque your suspension bolts to spec. Ramps or a lift make this easier, but you can do it with jack stands and a jack.

The RLCA is a pain in itself to remove. Without dropping the subframe, the inner front RLCA bolt is a major pain to get to even with the spring/shock removed. Then pressing out and replacing the bushing will be tricky. Try replacing your toe link to knuckle bushings (easy to access) to see how easy that is and if that's no big deal for you, then you might not have much trouble with the RLCA front inner bushing.

Also, getting the RLCA back in, all contact points lined up, and bolts torqued with the suspension loaded without a lift will be very tough. Even more so if you are doing this alone. I would not recommend this for anyone as a DIY.

 

[Semi]

Sadly I couldn't even install the rear springs. Their instructions were based off ford's suggestion and the videos I watched were totally different.

Soo, now I have one stripped out bottom rear strut bolt and the car is still on jack stands.

Here's the thing though, I'm 45 years old and never had an old man or older brother to help with this stuff. I'm going to learn it, next weekend I'll just do it one step at a time.

 

[GTPP]

This thread has a great guide for installing the rear LCAs:

http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74401

I wouldn't plan on being able to take off the LCAs, press in the new bearings, and put the arms back in on the same day. I think the whole job took me and a couple friends about 8 hours, and I had a spare set of arms with the bearings pressed in already.

Keep in mind that you will have to take the LCAs off which means taking the springs out and the shocks off. Don't bother doing the spring/shock install separately if you're going to do the LCA bearings. My biggest tip for this install is to drop the exhaust. Most tutorials tell you it is optional, but it makes getting to the inner LCA bolt 10x easier with the exhaust off.

 

[Jmart]

I've now removed and reinstalled my LCAs twice with the car on jackstands. It's doable. The first time was a major struggle to get the two inner LCA bolts out and back in due to limited access. The second time I followed Steeda's installation instructions and it made a HUGE difference.
To anyone considering this installation: first, I highly recommend dropping the exhaust. It wasn't something I wanted to do the first time, but it ended up being really easy and made a world of difference. A total of 6 bolts and I just left the mufflers to hang from the back end of the car. Second, remove the upper camber arm/knuckle bolt. Easy stuff.

With the upper camber arm decoupled from the knuckle and the exhaust out of the way, I was able to easily get the two inner bolts removed and also had plenty of access with my torque wrench when it came time to reinstall.

 

[Grimace427]

Doing this job right now for a forum member's car, just finished installing both lowers with the BMR bearing and am about to start on the toe link bearings on the knuckle here in a minute. Both guides were very helpful for the job. I used a combination of wobble extensions for the LCA front bolt while jacking up the unbolted knuckle with axle shaft to gain clearance. The extensions went through the subframe opening for the axle and was a fairly straight shot. It helps that I have a lift and pair of screw jacks at my disposal. I would definitely not do this job at home without a qualified extra pair of hands. I started about 9:30am and it's a bit after 3pm now minus about an hour for lunch and various interruptions.

I did not remove the exhaust.

The factory bushings were super tight! It took about 12 tons on my 20 ton press to get them out. The hand bushing tools we have didn't stand a chance. If you don't have a press I would definitely suggest buying complete control arms with the bearings installed.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Etqwna_ACqjlXTERkW4nMrJm2lbJ8plDO6iQ1viLjwQ/edit
http://www.bmrsuspension.com/siteart/install/BK055.pdf


edit: I know those are BMR instructions but you get the basic idea.

 

[Burkey]

I did the RLCA with a mate, using a hoist. Getting everything out isn't too difficult but getting it lined up to go back in is a pain. Can't imagine doing it on stands.
Because you're pulling so many bits off, it may be worthwhile doing several parts at once if you're thinking of doing them later.
In my case, I did BMR toe rods, FR toe/knuckle bearing and Steeda diff insets while we were at it. It made sense to do it that way. Ideally I'd have done the vert links at the same time but that's no huge loss.
I'd be strongly considering a hoist and a second pair of hands for this one.

 

[BmacIL]

Doing this job right now for a forum member's car, just finished installing both lowers with the BMR bearing and am about to start on the toe link bearings on the knuckle here in a minute. Both guides were very helpful for the job. I used a combination of wobble extensions for the LCA front bolt while jacking up the unbolted knuckle with axle shaft to gain clearance. The extensions went through the subframe opening for the axle and was a fairly straight shot. It helps that I have a lift and pair of screw jacks at my disposal. I would definitely not do this job at home without a qualified extra pair of hands. I started about 9:30am and it's a bit after 3pm now minus about an hour for lunch and various interruptions.

I did not remove the exhaust.

The factory bushings were super tight! It took about 12 tons on my 20 ton press to get them out. The hand bushing tools we have didn't stand a chance. If you don't have a press I would definitely suggest buying complete control arms with the bearings installed.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Etqwna_ACqjlXTERkW4nMrJm2lbJ8plDO6iQ1viLjwQ/edit
http://www.bmrsuspension.com/siteart/install/BK055.pdf


edit: I know those are BMR instructions but you get the basic idea.

My plan when I eventually do this.

 

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[tj@steeda]

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[Ecoboosted]

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TJ

On your website I sent a message that I bought Steeda’s LCA spherical bearings and wanted to know if you guys offered installation of the spherical bearings on a spare set of LCA’s then ship those to me. After I take my LCA’s off my car switch them with the one’s you sent me and I’ll ship the ones I took off my car back to you. Do you guys offer that?

 

[tj@steeda]

On your website I sent a message that I bought Steeda’s LCA spherical bearings and wanted to know if you guys offered installation of the spherical bearings on a spare set of LCA’s then ship those to me. After I take my LCA’s off my car switch them with the one’s you sent me and I’ll ship the ones I took off my car back to you. Do you guys offer that?

Send me your contact info - let me see what we can figure out.

TJ

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