I found the best way to get to the UCA was to loosen up the exhaust pipe and let it hang on the axle. Then you can get right up in there with a air tool and universal.
As far as lowering the gas tank is concerned, I put my pony up on 4 jack stands after running it down to less than 1/4 a tank of fuel. I then used blocks of wood and placed under each ballast on either side of the drive shaft. Then undid the torx bolts and pulled the tank down onto the wood. The top couple of sheets were strips of plywood (see image). I wasn't sure how heavy the tank would be so I lowered it onto them, and then pulled em out one by one until the back of the tank was such that I could get the UCA and mount out. Going back together, I wedged the plywood back in a bit at time until the bolts would just catch in the holes. Tank was light enough that I could push up while screwing in the bolts to make it easier. All well and good until trying to tighten them down.
Lucky for me I have two friends willing to help and offest my incompetence. We are going to use two jacks under the tank with a 2X4 ready to support the tank when we remove the screws.
Lucky for me I have two friends willing to help and offest my incompetence. We are going to use two jacks under the tank with a 2X4 ready to support the tank when we remove the screws.
That should do I would expect. I planned on doing the same, but ran out of jack stands (the remaining two I had were too tall), so I opted for the blocks of wood. I found I had to actually pull the tank down as it didn't "drop" on its own, but once it was down, it rested on the blocks. Had I had the right bit for putting the screws back in, would have been a piece of cake.
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Mineralite on a mission. Ponies To The People.
2005 Mineral Grey GT Prem (Kaylee), mostly stock.
I installed the Steeda adjustable third link this past weekend. I used the following article to help me along. I did not lower or touch the gas tank at all. I didn't read this whole thread but I stayed with the factory bracket for the control arm. Also a tip that will help. I torqued the control arm to the bracket before bolting the bracket back in place. I learned this the hard way. I torqued all other bolts the first time. When I got to the bolt for the Arm-to-brace I couldn't get a torque wrench on it any longer.
I had a tough time using the OEM flag bolt. Couldn't hold the flag end well enough to put 129 ft-lbs on it. We ended up using the regular hex bolt from the original mount to bushing connection with the nylock OEM nut to tighten it down. Not sure how I feel about this, but at least we could torque it to the correct spec.
I found the best way to get to the UCA was to loosen up the exhaust pipe and let it hang on the axle. Then you can get right up in there with a air tool and universal.
+1
That proved to be the best way to get the UCA torqued down to spec on the axle end. I tried a couple different ways of getting at that darn thing (with no success) and remembered this post... pulled out the passenger exhaust and torqued her down. Wish I'd thought of that before hand, would have saved an hour.
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Mineralite on a mission. Ponies To The People.
2005 Mineral Grey GT Prem (Kaylee), mostly stock.
Where can you order the required LCA nuts and bolts that need to be replaced w/o going to the dealer. Traffic sucks now and I'm lazy
LOWER CONTROL ARMQuantityPart NumberPart Description2W704886-S439Lower control arm front bolt2W710089-S440Lower control arm front nut2W704888-S900Lower control arm rear bolt2W704991-S900Lower control arm rear nut
LOWER CONTROL ARMQuantityPart NumberPart Description2W704886-S439Lower control arm front bolt2W710089-S440Lower control arm front nut2W704888-S900Lower control arm rear bolt2W704991-S900Lower control arm rear nut
Actually I am just an idiot, I tried to cut and paste from an Excel sheet. Obviously the formating didn't work
W704886-S439 Lower control arm front bolt W710089-S440 Lower control arm front nut W704888-S900 Lower control arm rear bolt W704991-S900 Lower control arm rear nut
If you use the full number it should work. Don't worry about the fact that the description doesn't match on the website, Those numbers are correct. Except the first one, which is think has changed to a different number, but the parts search on the website cross references to the updated part number
Actually I am just an idiot, I tried to cut and paste from an Excel sheet. Obviously the formating didn't work
W704886-S439 Lower control arm front bolt W710089-S440 Lower control arm front nut W704888-S900 Lower control arm rear bolt W704991-S900 Lower control arm rear nut
If you use the full number it should work. Don't worry about the fact that the description doesn't match on the website, Those numbers are correct. Except the first one, which is think has changed to a different number, but the parts search on the website cross references to the updated part number
Damn, I struck out w/ this too … put in the part # and got "sorry" 
