Please help me out! Control arm sitting on the ground

[trplblacksnake]

My rear lower control arm is now sitting on the ground on my 98 GT. Im looking for the bolt that connects it to the frame not the axel. I called all the Ford dealers in my area and they are wanting to charge me 20 bucks for a set of four bolts to hold it in. What grade and size are these bolts. I was going to pull the other side out but changed my mind after thinking about all of the extra work of pulling out the spring.

 

[CY98Cobra]

Sounds to me like $20 and the time to do it would be well worth it. If one of mine broke I would most certainly replace all of them.

 

[97CasperCobra]

You can usually get good Grade 8 bolts and what not at Lowe's, but I'm not sure on the size. Call up the Ford Parts people and ask them the size...hopefully they can help you out. If not then if there's a junkyard around there always seems to be a Mustang around that you could pull the bolt off of.

 

[Yellow98SVT]

Napa Auto Parts has an ubelievable selection of grade 8 bolts/washers/everything. I was worried when I went looking for the hardware for the blower bracket...low and behold NAPA had almost every item I was looking for and it ran me about 12 bucks for everything. Lowe's and Home Depot only carry the grade 5 stuff as far as I saw. Make sure you get grade 8 tho. You should be able to fix that for like 4 bucks

 

[DOHC9-7]

You can remove the bolt from the other side without taking out the spring. Just place a jack under the control arm and put enough pressure on it to hold the spring, then proceed to remove the bolt. When putting it back in you might need a little help lining up the bolt hole but it should be simpler than removing the shock and the spring.

 

[freakshow12]

if your life is not worth the 20 bucks for a bolt, I dunno man.......................................................................................................................... :shrug:

 

[Quadcammer]

jesus christ this is sad.
20 bux is a lot for 4 bolts/nuts but god, if that really puts a hurtin on ya, you may want to reconsider a high performance car, especially since a tank of gas costs about 40 bux these days.

 

[green99_svt]

yeah some suspension bolts may be higher than grade 8 most are 10's

 

[Hensler Racing]

Guys that bolt is whats called a SHEAR PROOF bolt! Spend the $20!

 

[SKMCOBRA]

You can remove the bolt from the other side without taking out the spring. Just place a jack under the control arm and put enough pressure on it to hold the spring, then proceed to remove the bolt. When putting it back in you might need a little help lining up the bolt hole but it should be simpler than removing the shock and the spring.

You are going to have to put a jackstand under the axle. If not it will move about an inch back on you. Believe me I know from experience and it's a mother to get it lined back up by yourself! What happened to the bolt you took out? If you put jackstands under both sides of the axle it's a piece of cake to take out and remove the bolts.