Two piece upper control arm?

[Firstimeford]

I'm about to replace upper and lower ball joints on my 2001 ST 4X4. I've been searching around on the Forum and have read that the right side, two piece upper control arm can be replaced by a one piece control arm. I have seen sets for sale on ebay that include upper ball joint/control arm and lower ball joints. Some have the two piece and some have the one piece control arm for the right side. If I want to go to a one piece control arm, is there a "special" one that replaces the two piece, or will any one piece for the right side work?
Thanks,
Chris

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Don't buy those cheap sets off ebay. Go to rockauto.com and get either the moog, raybestos pro grade (not the service grade). Their cheap on there. As far as the two piece arm goes, if the control arm bushings are still good on the upper piece then go with the two piece control arm, you'll only need to buy the lower piece with the ball joint on it. If the bushings are bad then get the one piece control arm. The only difference between the two is the two piece allows for more adjustment.

I install all four ball joints/ control arms on both my '03 ST XLT 4wd and my wife's '97 AWD V8 Mountaineer with Raybestos Pro Grade parts, their pretty easy to install.

On a side note, when you buy the ball joints also get the Moog Caster/ Camber Adjustment kits for each side, this allows for better, more adjustment for alignment.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Check out this link for more info... There's also a thread in the stock 95-01 Explorers about the Moog CC adjustment kits.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194453

 

[Firstimeford]

Thanks Rebel. I'm not sure if my right side control arm bushings are bad or not but since I'm replacing the left side control arm, that comes with new bushings, I might as well do the right side too. Thanks for the tip on the Moog camber adjustment kit. After researching a little more, it looks like I will need the adjustment kit anyway if I'm going to change to a one piece control arm. BTW: The parts I'm getting on eBay all have the Moog part numbers.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

oh ok. cool.

 

[BWheetley]

I just finished replacing my upper (used the one piece) and lower ball joints and my inner and outer tie rod ends. Also installed a camber adj kit. Took in to get an alignment. So the first place I went said the toe was just slightly off. They adjusted it and sent me on my way. I was skeptical because I could clearly see my camber was off on the passenger side. I took it elsewhere where they confirmed the camber was off. They fixed the camber and gave me a before and after printout of the readings. They are all in specifications. I think I still have a problem as it seems to pull to the right. I've spent $150 on alignments and don't want to keep doing this until someone gets it right. Does anyone think there's something else wrong that I should look at first?

 

[MidnightRebel07]

The second place you took it to gave you a print out, they should have a warranty on their alignment. I know GoodYear does a year warranty on their alignments, I could take it back every week for the full year if I wanted or needed to free of charge.