Which aftermarket brand of LCA to go with

BlakeS94

My '10 plate mondeo is suffering from inner shoulder tyre wear which I've narrowed down to the control arms, bushings and ball joint are worn on both sides. The front bushing is actually separated from the inner sleeve and is rattling about. Feels quite unsafe.

I can get 2 Febi arms for €180 delivered, or 2 TRW for €260 delivered.

I'm inclined to go with the TRW's as ball joints aren't something I want to cheap out on. Would be great if anyone knows who supply the OE parts for Ford's lower control arms and I'd just go with them.

mk7r

TRW will be a solid choice l, I wouldn't hesitate

BlakeS94

Thank you good sir, I'd consider €260 a very good price for both sides on the front, or is it too good to be true, ordering on Winparts.ie where I've ordered plenty

BlakeS94

I ended up going with Lemforder and got the parts for 170 quid for both sides on Amazon believe it or not. One arrived today straight from Germany, seems to be very good quality. Not looking forward to fitting the b@$tards though lol.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119878234#Comment_119878234

Very satisfying job though the car will be transformed.

BlakeS94

Hope so, I picked up one of those lever tools the big blue bars with the lever part screwed into the end. Changed drivers side strut top mount last night and bent a 15 foot pole trying to pop the ball joint loose so I don't know how good this tool will be.

On a side note that job was a nightmare in itself. Took way longer than it should have

Dirty Nails

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119885707#Comment_119885707

Regardless of what they sell that tool as Blake,it's not intended for cracking ball joints- it's only for pulling wishbones down.

Lock your wheel out & strike the hub (not on the ball joint) on the side of where the ball joint taper goes in. Guaranteed to work. Saw that video - that lad made so many mistakes - he really shouldn't be offering advice.

Just a tip for fitting. Extend the steering rack out & pull the strut & hub outwards. You'll get the wishbone to slide in horizontally instead of an angle. Bolts will align much easier.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119885707#Comment_119885707

Decent penetrating oil, not WD-40 will help a lot. Is it one of those screw type ball joint splitters you got? The fork shaped one you hit with a hammer are good too providing you can get a good belt at it.

BlakeS94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886199#Comment_119886199

I plan to just unbolt the Track rod end, CV and droplink again just to give myself the most wiggle room.

What I did when removing the ball joint last night was go over and back hitting the knuckle where the ball joint goes into (had to use a mini sledge) and levering the bar. Probably just whack it next time around untill it moves and then just lever it once, I suppose these are all things that come with experience, in Theory I know how to do many things on my car, in practice is a different story.

Hopefully it will remove easier because I'll have already done it by changing the top mounts, the wishbone work will be a re-visit.

BlakeS94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886228#Comment_119886228

This is the penetrant I use. Its both WD40 and penetrating fluid but I believe its good stuff.

This is the lever tool.

I have a short fork shaped splitter that I could use when I'm changing the arms it's not going to matter if I damage the ball joint boot then. Might come in handy.

CoBo55

Maybe the dedicated penetrating fluid is better than the standard stuff, 3in1 the oil people made a fantastic penetration fluid, I haven't seen it in years it was in an ordinary can like the oil but truly fantastic stuff. I always found shocks from hammer blows far more effective at splitting ball joint tapers rather than trying to lever them apart. Make sure to have the nyloc nut off in case the taper splits easily and you can't get the nut off the turning centre😡😡😡😡 very vexatious....

BlakeS94

I just finished a can of 3in1 penetrant it's in Halfrauds regularly.

I think there is a difference with regular wd40 and their penetrant, smells a bit different anyway.

Yeah I remove the nut completely, not taking any chances

BlakeS94

Completed the job tonight, in the wind and the rain, on my back.

Despite all that it went well, the old arm removed very easily, bit tricky getting a wrench on the rear bolt of the rear bushing, I removed the plastic wheel arch and was still tight for space, but I managed. I got a high torque Dewalt a while back and its saved me so much pain.

I removed the drop link at the top, the track rod end, and the CV joint. Then after removing the ball joint I jacked up on the spindle to bring it far and away from the control arm, old arm slid right out no bother.

The biggest thing is having the arm straight when its coming out and going in.

Pushed new arm into place while lifting up the anti roll bar and slid the back bushing bracket into place. Located the holes with a long punch, then put the bolts up easy enough, started the front bushing bolt.

I left everything threaded a few turns then used that lever tool above, which by the way is a great tool for a job like this.

Removed the jack and levered down on the arm while at the same time installing the CV back into the splines, went in no bother.

Tightened everything back up, then jacked on the ball joint to bring the arm level, went back around the wishbone bolts and Tightened them to spec, off the top of my head its 80Nm and 120 degree angle for front bush and 140Nm followed by 45 degree back bolts, ball joint 100Nm.

I did however snap the CV bolt, managed to grip the broken bolt with vice grips and unscrew it. Have to get new bolt tomorrow and then the job is complete.

By the way, got new wishbone bolts from Ford and they used a green threadlocker on the bolts? I thought the standard was blue, or even red in some specific areas. Never seen green used on a car.

All in all I'd rate it 4/10 in terms of difficulty.

Again most important thing is having the 2 bushes go in straight, worry about ball joint after, highly recommend that lever tool.

Thanks all for the advice

BlakeS94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119885351#Comment_119885351

You weren't wrong there, only done the drivers side wishbone and the car feels much "tighter" . The biggest difference in ride quality out of any job I've done to date.

Almost looking forward to doing the passenger side now.

It's still knocking over bumps though, next port of call is inner/outer tie rods, can't really get them to move much with my hand pulling but can feel a little play rocking wheel at 9 and 3.

After that if it doesn't fix it, will have to get a garage to do front sway bar bushes as I'm not equipped to be dropping the subframe.

Then I'm done. If it knocks it knocks. At that stage it will be in much better shape than most 12 year old Mondeos on the road.

Drives me mad though.

To recap what's been done is both front droplinks, strut mounts and bearings, wishbone(s), both rear trailing arm bushes.

CoBo55

Did you get much hardship? I'd say it's a track rod end if you're getting a knock at 9 and 3 on the road wheel, usually the passenger side one would be the culprit.

BlakeS94

Not at all, wishbone went surprisingly well, taking the time to do things like removing the wheel arch liner and the other components around the knuckle.

I have another post up about the knocking, so it's knocking if I push off the top of the tyre with wheels on the ground, but with car in the air there's no play at 12 and 6 since the wishbone went in, but there is a bit of play at 9 and 3 as I've said.

Definitely sounds like it's only coming from drivers side, and it does sound closer to the rear of the wheel well when I check for play. And in that area is the tie rod, sway bar bushes, and steering rack control valve. Hoping its not the latter.

Going to install both front complete steering linkages inner and outer maybe in the new year as I have to bring the missus around to letting me spend more money on the car lol.

Anyway I'm well proud of myself for changing out the wishbone and the strut mounts. Biggest suspension jobs I've done to date in my driveway car repair career. (Don't want to say mechanic, moreso Parts changer)

BlakeS94

I've attached a video of the sound. I'm almost certain it's coming from drivers side wheel well also the area where steering rack and inner tie rod is. Think I'll rule out sway bar bushes as car is straight and on the ground so don't think they would knock if just pushing on the wheel.

So hopefully it's inner or outer tie rod as they both have ball joints that can knock/pop.

Please any expert ears if you could spare a minute to have a listen it would be greatly appreciated.

https://youtube.com/shorts/OSq6aG41i_Y?feature=share