Passenger Side Ball Joint Adj. Bolt

[masterpete]

Well I replaced my passenger side control arm yesterday. I managed to snap off the adjustment bolt on the side of the control arm. Is this a special bolt? If not then whats the size of the bolt?

 

[koda2000]

yes that is a special bolt. you didn't have to touch it to remove the ball joint/outer CA as the part is slotted to slide right off of the bolt. dealer or salvage yard.

 

[masterpete]

Does anyone know where I can get this bolt from? Tried the part store and they looked at me like I was crazy. The ford dealer also looked at me like I was crazy because they don't sell the 2 piece control arm anymore.

 

[koda2000]

Does anyone know where I can get this bolt from? Tried the part store and they looked at me like I was crazy. The ford dealer also looked at me like I was crazy because they don't sell the 2 piece control arm anymore.

i already told you - the salvage yard. plenty of Explorers there.

 

[masterpete]

i already told you - the salvage yard. plenty of Explorers there.

Thats my last option. Itll probably snap off when I try and take it out though.

 

[koda2000]

Thats my last option. Itll probably snap off when I try and take it out though.

if you remove the 2 nuts holding the outside piece of the upper ca/bj and get it off the bolt, the bolt should come right out. bring a hammer and some penetrant if it does not turn easily. i suppose you could make a new bolt by welding a couple of washers in the right location using a standard bolt. all the bolt does is allow the outside part of the ca to be adjusted front-to-back and maybe provide some support so it doesn't move on its own once locked down. when i did my bj's my bolt was pretty much movable with my fingers and it took me a minute to understand why. it's not designed to be tightened. in a pinch you may not even need to have one.

 

[jremington59]

I broke mine on my 2000. I knew it didn't have to come off but I wanted it freed up. That didn't work. I just put the new outer on and used the broken bolt as a guide by holding it there to make sure the replacement was in the right position.

 

[SoNic67]

That's there to "mark" the angle adjustment and probably prevent some "sliding" of the adjustment in time.
Basically you can live without it, but it is there to maintain the angle.
Some replacements come with a bolt:

 

[koda2000]

That's there to "mark" the angle adjustment and probably prevent some "sliding" of the adjustment in time.
Basically you can live without it, but it is there to maintain the angle.
Some replacements come with a bolt:

i may be wrong, but isn't the bolt pictured the one for the knuckle to hold the bj in? i guess you could just use a std bolt with a nut though. it wouldn't help much with caster adjustment, but you could use it to lock it down once the correct angle is achieved.

 

[swshawaii]

Agree koda, that's a pinch bolt and nut shown above. Aren't the two caster slide adjustments studs, not bolts?

http://www.moogproblemsolver.com/_pdf_en2/DYK10_106_En.pdf

 

[koda2000]

Agree koda, that's a pinch bolt and nut shown above. Aren't the two caster adjustments studs, not bolts?

http://www.moogproblemsolver.com/_pdf_en2/DYK10_106_En.pdf

yes, pinch bolt... that's the term that was eluding me.

yes, there are 2 studs that the outside of the 2-piece ca/bj attaches to. there are slots that allow for the caster adjustment. the bolt the OP broke is the one that screws in from the front and has a built-in shoulder that allows it to push or pull the ca/bj piece forward or rearward (not visible in your diagram). i suppose that could be accomplished with a hammer, but not as accurately/easily. i further suppose the adjustment bolt prevents the part from moving to some extent.

they also sell a one piece uca for the passenger side, which eliminates the caster adjustment. as this design apparently works i don't see why Ford persisted with the 2-piece design. you'd think that if extra caster adjustment was necessary you'd need it on both sides... ?

 

[rb142]

OK, so I just went out and looked at mine. The threads are 10mm X 1.5, and at first it looks like a normal hex bolt. But it appears that the shank is turned down smaller under the head for some reason. (It's a tiny gap on mine and i'm not going to pull it out to look.) Not quite sure what's going on in there.

Is the broken bolt completely out? If so, look and see whether you can just put a regular bolt in there. If the broken end is still frozen in place, you can probably just use it as is.

 

[koda2000]

OK, so I just went out and looked at mine. The threads are 10mm X 1.5, and at first it looks like a normal hex bolt. But it appears that the shank is turned down smaller under the head for some reason. (It's a tiny gap on mine and i'm not going to pull it out to look.) Not quite sure what's going on in there.

Is the broken bolt completely out? If so, look and see whether you can just put a regular bolt in there. If the broken end is still frozen in place, you can probably just use it as is.

i suspect the OP twisted the head off, because unless you know you might think you need to remove that bolt to get the outer ca/bj off, when in reality you don't need to touch it. if you look at the photo supplies by SoNic67 you can see the piece is slotted at that location.