1997 Ford F150 Truck 4 Wheel Drive Front Driver & Passenger Side Upper 2 Piece Control Arm with Ball Joint Set TRQ PSA62149

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So when we start this project, we're going to go ahead and loosen the lug nuts here. We're going to use a breaker bar with a 19 millimeter socket. So next we're going to go ahead and raise and support your vehicle. You can use a jack and jack stand. In this case here, we're using a lift to make it a little bit easier. We can just go ahead and remove the lug nuts here, just by using that socket, cos we've already loosened those. With the lug nuts removed, we can now go ahead and remove the wheel and tire.

Removal of the brake caliper and rotor is not required while doing the upper control arm replacement. This task was done to take care of another job. So we're going to go ahead and straighten out this cotter pin. We want to remove the nut, this castle nut, off of the upper ball joint. All right, so before we go ahead and remove this nut off of the upper control arm ball joint, if you notice here we have a jack supporting the control arm. The reason for this here is that we're basically just trying to get some tension relieved off of the control arm. That way there, when it pops out, it's not at an extreme angle. This here brings the control arm up a little bit, and it'll make it easier for this to separate, and then we'll continue from there.

All right, so we're going to use a 22 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. If the nut starts to loosen up pretty good for you, you can go ahead and switch over to a ratchet wrench. Now what we're going to do here, you can actually see the threads starting to come through. This ball joint is tapered that goes into the upper knuckle here, so what we want to do is not completely remove this nut, but bring it down so that you can see some threads in there. What you can actually use here, you can use a pickle fork, or you can use the old hammer technique. We're going to go ahead and try that hammer first.

Any time you're striking anything like this here, metal with a hammer, you normally want to use safety glasses. Always protect your eyes. So with this suspended here, we're actually going to try the shock treatment with this here. Because the ball joint is tapered and goes into the knuckle, sometimes with two hammers, if you hit consecutively, right on each side, it shocks it so that it pops that tapered ball joint right out. In this case here, it worked like a charm. Now that we've removed the nut and we took off the initial pressure right here, we're going to go ahead and remove the jack.

We're going to let the suspension droop back down a little bit so we can go ahead and continue on. So on the top of the control arm, we have two bolts that come through. One here and one right on the other side. It's a nut and bolt application. These holes are actually slotted where these bolts go through. This is what you're going to have for your camber adjustment. Once you loosen these here, the control arm will be able to slide in and out. So after you replace this, you are going to want to get an alignment done. What we like to do is use maybe a paint marker or something like a nail head, or something to that effect, where we can actually do a circle right around the bolt, so you can actually see where the bolts came out and you can line them right back up as close as possible and then re tighten those afterwards. So we're going to go ahead and use two 21 millimeter sockets on both sides here. You can sometimes get a wrench in here on the other side, but it doesn't give you a clear shot. So we want to make sure we can get a nice, full seating on that socket in there, and then come on over here and just loosen those up. Okay, we're on the back bolt here. See if that comes lose, there we go. Should get to a point where you can just go ahead and remove that nut with your fingertips there and spin that right out. With those bolts removed, your control arm slides right out.

Here's the original equipment part. Here is our new replacement part from 1A Auto. It has an identical rubber boot, and it has the bushings already pressed in for the control arm. So here we have the control arm.

Go ahead and remove the castle nut that is supplied with the component. What you'll notice right here is a plastic protector cap. This protects the rubber boot in shipping. Make sure you remove this, you're going to have an issue if you don't. So you now go ahead, fit this into the frame. Should slide right into place. Then go ahead with the re installation. Slide the bolt in, install the washer. Just thread that on as far as you can by hand. Now before we tighten anything up tight, remember we have our camber adjustment option up here, ‘cause you should be able to move this back and forth.

So now's a good time to go ahead and line up this ball joint with that knuckle. Go ahead and get that lined up in here. You can press that through, and go ahead and start getting that nut threaded on. All right, so now we're going to go ahead and tighten the ball joint nut here or the control arm nut. The range for the torque spec is 57 to 76 foot-pounds. We're right in the middle. There we go. So since I went right in the middle of the torque range spec, we have to match up the hole in the ball joint to the notch in the castle nut. I'm off just a tiny bit, so I'm just going to go ahead and tighten this just a hair bit more.

All right, so we're going to go ahead and install the cotter pin. Ours was good, so we're just going to go ahead and install that. Just put that through, and just bend the tabs over on the back side. All right, so what we have set up right here is we have the jack underneath the lower control arm, and this is going to represent your floor jack.

Obviously, your jack stand will be underneath the frame of the vehicle. So what we have to do is we have to get the ride height of your vehicle set at this point here so that the weight of the vehicle is down. That way then when we tighten up the bolts here, the bushings are preloaded, everything is all set and in its neutral position. That way then when your suspension travels, it's not locked in this down position or in an up position, it's where your vehicle's going to be at its factory ride height. So now, we're going to go ahead and tighten up these bolts here. Don't forget, we had already marked those bolts with paint marker, so you're going to get your preliminary alignment set. I'm going to go ahead and use 21 millimeter sockets, and we're just going to snug this up. Not going to torque it yet, we just want to get both nuts and bolts lined up.

All right, so we want to go ahead and use the torque wrench and tighten these bolts up. The range is from 83 to 112 foot-pounds. We're going to go right in the middle. I'm just using this breaker bar and that other socket over in case the bolt decides to turn. At this point here you can now go ahead and lower the vehicle back onto your jack stand, and remove your jack. Removal of the brake caliper and rotor is not required while doing the upper control arm replacement.

I'm going to go ahead and reinstall the tire. I'm going to go ahead and reinstall the lug nuts here. You want to get a few threads caught on all of these here. These lug nuts are a 19 millimeter. So I'm just going to snug these bottom and out, bottom of the wheel out to the rotor. We're going to lower the vehicle down onto its own weight and then do a final torque. With the vehicle on the ground, we're going to do its final torque of the wheel, which is between 83 and 112 foot-pounds. We're going to do it in a star pattern. Just double check the first one. She's all set.

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