Drivers Side Upper Control Arm Removal

[Vozar]

Im doing my upper ball joints and control arms and passenger side was easy but the driverside is a PITA!! I read several post about the fuel lines in the way. I tried getting them back but they wont move that much at all. THe bolt wont come out all the way because their blocking it. Any suggestions or tips you used when u got them out because right now their not coming out?
Also on a side note, what a crappy place to put fuel lines!!!!ANd they could have put the bolts in the other way and made it easier. Could i do that so it would be easier next time?

 

[Hartman]

I just ran into this problem yesterday when I swapped spindles. The fuel lines connect into little clips that keep them secure, and if you pop them out it will give you more room. From there, there's really no other day to do it other than just wiggle and wiggle until you can get them out.

 

[Vozar]

I poped them out of the clips already and still cant get room. Where did u move your lines?

 

[Hartman]

What you need to do is rotate the bolt so that the cam is pointing towards the engine. Then, take a chisel or something similar and pound then out with that. Sort of hard to explain, yes it is a ***** to get them out but they will come if you make them.

 

[boominXplorer]

do you have the other side out? Its easier with that one all the way out and then move the arm in a better angle to pull it out. Kinda hard to discribe but its more like pull the one side out as much as you can so you can get it between the shock tower and the lines

 

[Vozar]

On the right side it has all the fuel lines and on the left side it is hard also because it has some radiator line there. Ill try to get the left side out and do what u both said and rotate the cam to get the right side out. Let me go try a couple times and ill get back.

Matt

 

[etc]

Yeah, pretty much what they said. Taking them off the clips gives you a little room, and the angle moving should give you enough room.

 

[Vozar]

Ok, finially i got the drivers side control arm off
I feel like ive just played a game of bloody knuckles!!

I still have to do my inner tierod ends. If their doing an alignment do u think they could or would do the inner tie rod ends for free? Their already messing with the tie rods.

 

[yaman]

I just did it two weekends ago - what a PITA is right....it took 2 hours of beer, pounding and wiggling that bolt

 

[Hartman]

The alignment shop definately won't do inner tie rods for free. Usually they only mess with the outer tie rod when doing an alignment.

 

[Vozar]

I tried to do the inner tierod ends and i couldnt get them off. I just had a local place do them for $150. I just took it for an alignment today and im going to pick it up tomorrow. I hope my damn tires arent like / \ anymore after the alignment.

 

[JasonF]

The upper suspension arm cam bolts will come out without moving any lines. At least this was the case on my 96 4.0 4x4. As you slide them out, if you rotate them the cam will barely clear everything and they will slide all the way out. They actually did a really good job engineering it so that was possible, or I just got real lucky with my truck.

Jason

 

[jasonb]

you just got real lucky with your truck.


it took me as long to remove that bolt on the driver side as it did to do the actual upper and lower install on that side. i unclipped every line in there and had bungies and stuff holding lines back and prybars holding them back until i finally got it out. when i got it out, i cut off about an inch of the bolt so i wouldn't have that issue again. looked at gerald's at tellico and his bolt was in the opposite direction (nut toward the brake lines). lucky him.

 

[Vozar]

No offense but i think you just got really lucky too. They might be different of the 96's. I could get that washer around the fuel lines a little but ended up having to push them out of the way with some brute force.

Heres a little update, i got it aligned a couple days a go and now my angles are normal like | |. THe look a tad bit off but i think thats because my tires are all worn on the inside, i need to rotate them. Its rides a lot smoother and nicer now. One more thing, on the passenger side control arm there is a little bolt that looks like an adjuster or something. KNow what that is and where i shoud set it?. Its just tightned all the way right now.

 

[Harry5150]

The upper suspension arm cam bolts will come out without moving any lines ... or I just got real lucky with my truck.

Jason

Wow, I had to hack the control arm off with an angle grinder. The new arm went in a lot easier though.

 

[mustangdave]

After removing all the clamps, prying the fuel and brake lines and rotating the bolt for 5 hours, I still couldn't get that bolt out far enough to get the control arm out. I finally gave up and reinstalled everyting and took a dremmel with a cutoff wheel bit installed and cut off the end of the bolt that sticks out past the nut. After removing the nut and getting the bolt past the first set of brake lines that will move out of the way, the bolt slid out far enough to get easilly get the control arm out. From the time I started cutting the bolt to the time I got the new control arm in it was about 30 minutes. Good luck, I hope this helps someone else in the future. I installed the moog control arm with the removal ball joints, so this is the last time I have to mess with that GM engineered bolt.