At wits end - A-Arm bolt will NOT budge :(

Topic: At wits end - A-Arm bolt will NOT budge :( (Read 5156 times) previous topic - next topic

At wits end - A-Arm bolt will NOT budge :(

Reply #30 – September 16, 2007, 01:57:46 PM

Quote from: Jim_Miller;176622

Sorry this info is to late for you, yours is done. But if anybody else does it...

Trust me - I read hundreds of posts on doing this with such a long spring. I read all about the MFE method on the corral and researched it here as well. Even with the a-arm hanging straight down the spring would not go into it. I tried jacking the arm up the way you describe with the strut mounted but it was a nightmare amount of spring pressure before the arms went into their slots, then I could not budge them to align them to save my life. I don't see how what you are doing would work with such long springs - please explain... did you guide the a-arm mounts into their mounting slots after bolting the strut up??? I tried every technique and decided this was the least likely to have the arm driven through my chest. Installing and removing the spring compressor with an air-wrench was relatively easy - easier than pry-barring the a-arm mounts in without the risk of the jack sliding out at me. The rental is free so there is no cost.

At wits end - A-Arm bolt will NOT budge :(

Reply #31 – September 16, 2007, 02:26:43 PM

Quote from: CougarSE;176616

The 11" brake upgrade is amazing. I did my 88 and was dumbfounded by the increase in braking power.

Do you not run a front sway bar??

I was dumbfounded too - it feels like I can easily lock the front rotors now - something that was just a wet dream when the 10" rotors were hot. These are drive your passengers head through the windshield brakes now!

I removed the sway bar for drag racing and haven't wanted to put it back on since.

At wits end - A-Arm bolt will NOT budge :(

Reply #32 – September 16, 2007, 04:23:36 PM

Quote from: Cougar5.0;176625

Even with the a-arm hanging straight down the spring would not go into it.

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What year is your car? Mine is an 88 5.0 and the stock springs, stock A-arm, the spring fit just like this uncompressed. I may have had to shove a bit but it was just by hand.

Quote from: Cougar5.0;176625

I tried jacking the arm up the way you describe with the strut mounted but it was a nightmare amount of spring pressure before the arms went into their slots, then I could not budge them to align them to save my life.

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This is what I’m thinking is the difference; Arms were already mounted. The only diff was my strut was sitting on the floor beside me, yours is shown hanging here. Mounted the A-Arm with the spring sitting behind me on the floor.. zero amount of pressure while aligning.

Quote from: Cougar5.0;176625

I don't see how what you are doing would work with such long springs - please explain... did you guide the a-arm mounts into their mounting slots after bolting the strut up???

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1) A-arm already attached to the cross member
2) Strut attached to the Spindle
3) Spindle attached to the A-arm (now the spindle and strut pivioting on the ball joint)
4) Spring shoved by hand into the upper perch then back edge of the lower perch
5) Push the top of the strut up into the tower (Strut pin wouldn’t reach the bolt hole in the tower…yet)
6) Scissor jack (stock one from out of the trunk) under the tip of the A-arm until the pin on the top of the strut went through the hole in the tower (had to guide it through as I jacked)
7) Attached the bolt to the top of the strut (made sure the whole bolt was on.. not just a thread or two)

Put a jack stand under the tip of the A-arm and lowered the weight of the car down to compress the spring the remainder of the way and tightened the top strut bolt down the rest of the way

Quote from: Cougar5.0;176625

I tried every technique and decided this was the least likely to have the arm driven through my chest. Installing and removing the spring compressor with an air-wrench was relatively easy - easier than pry-barring the a-arm mounts in without the risk of the jack sliding out at me. The rental is free so there is no cost.

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My chest was nowhere near the already mounted A-arm.
The last bolt I attached was the top strut bolt (yours is already attached, looks as if you never took it off)
The only real pressure build up was lowering the car down on the jack stand to fully compress the spring and get the top bolt of the strut tightened down the rest of the way. Since my Mustang struts are shorter than your t-bird struts I would think yours would have been even easier.

And yes… the thing stops on a dime… I have the disk all the way around,, Lincoln vented on the rear. I love to get into them the last 2 feet of a stop at a light at about 2-3 mph…its Instant stop, I think the new wife is going to slap the out of me if I don’t stop “showing her my new brakes!”

At wits end - A-Arm bolt will NOT budge :(

Reply #33 – September 16, 2007, 04:44:29 PM

OK, I see. The real difference is the spring on the opposite side with one coil cut off would just barely tuck into the pocket and I didn't need the spring compressor. On the original length side, there was no chance at all of getting the spring in without removing the a-arm bolts or compressing the spring quite a bit. Maybe the XR7 package that the 20th has makes for a longer spring?

At wits end - A-Arm bolt will NOT budge :(

Reply #34 – September 22, 2007, 03:54:24 AM

Quote from: Jim_Miller;176622

Not sure why you did it this way? I did my front end on my 88 a bit different. I didn’t use a spring compressor.
Instead attached the spindle and strut first with the strut disconnected at the top, (was changing to Mustang KYB gas struts)
then inserted the spring by hand (there was no pressure at this point) and
proceeded to jack the lower control arm up with a scissor jack guiding the top of the strut into place as I raised it.
It required very little spring pressure (was just barely loading) to get the upper end of the strut into place and attach the bolt.
Now with it all locked down (read safe)
Let the weight of the car down (this pushed the strut the rest of the way in and compressed the spring) bolted it all down tight.
I did it with stock T-bird springs and Mustang Struts. Was real easy.

Look at your second picture..

at that point of your process assume the strut is attached to the spindle and not the shock tower, assume the jack stand is a jack, shove it right in. simple!

Edit:
Sorry this info is to late for you, yours is done. But if anybody else does it...

beter you than me. i would have trusted nothing more than a trusted floor jack and at least some kind of restraint on that spring. as a just in case. most people dont relize that SOB can seriously hurt or kill you. that is a big spring and will come out at you so fast you wont see it