Replacing Lower Control Arm as a Unit ... Advice

[nole99]

Okay so I finally have bitten the bullet and decided that I will try and tackle my last remaing front end noise .... the lower control arm bushings

If fedex is on time I should have these bad boys today and I have set aside sat as the day for repair, just wanted to get some feedback on the steps I plan to follow ... I ordered the control arm as a whole unit (arm/bushings/ball joint) from Ford Parts Network (awesome customer service and a sponsor) along with new torsion bar insulators and backing plates

Remove Wheel
Relieve tension on Torsion bar
Remove Torsion Bar
Remove and Replace Torsion Bar Insulator
Remove Caliper/ Rotor / hang Caliper w/ zip tie
Remove Lower Ball Joint retaining nut
Remove Upper Ball Joint bolt
Remove Tie Rod from spindle
Remove Upper Control Arm/Ball joint from spindle
Remove Lower Control mounting bolts
Remove Spindle / CV shaft / Lower control arm as one assebly
Pry Lower Ball joint from Spindle
Mask off Areas prep spindle and paint a pretty color (Black :smoke: )

Assembly will be reverse followed by an alignment

I am sure I missed something or someone may have more ideas
I may take the new greasable moog's that were put on about 3k ago and press them in ... not sure though ...

I will take pictures along the way as well and post them when done as a sort of tutorial for anyone interested ...

 

[Hartman]

The only thing is, I would remove the spindle from the lower control arm with the lower control arm still installed. That way, if you have problems getting the spindle off, you can pound on the control arm to seperate the ball joint.