The other day when I was driving my Stang home, I turned onto my street and just as I was going around the corner I heard this terrible crunch followed by a scraping grinding kinda of noise. I stopped the car, got out and tried to determine what was going on. I couldn't figure out what It was in the dark so I decided to keep going to my driveway about 200 feet away. Halfway down the street, I'm crawling along slowly and all of a sudden I hear a REAlly loud crunch and the whole car drops down on the driver side. I stop IMMEDIATELY and jump out of the car. It doesn't take long to figure out that the driver side Lower Ball Joint has popped out of its socket......****. I was surprisingly lucky, I could have gotten into a really bad accident somewhere. The good news is that the only real damage to the car is that ball joint is in two pieces instead of one. I managed to get the car onto my driveway by jacking up the car under the engine cradle and pushing it with four people.
So now I'm trying to remove the control arm, but cannot get the bolts off. My impact gun going full bore will not even make them budge. I don't have oxyacetylene torches. How the hell can I get these off?
When you find out, let me know.
This happened to me almost a year ago. I replaced the balljoints. But I'd like to do the bushings too.
I also changed my outer tierods, I recommend doing that too.
__________________
1992 Deep Emerald Green Mustang GT Hatch, 5 speed, 2.73s, Mac fenderwell cold air intake, '93 Cobra MAF, Mac 70mm throttle body & spacer, Explorer intakes, Mac unequal headers & offroad pipe, Magnaflow catback, Walbro 110lph fuel pump, Jet adjustable FPR, MSD Blaster coil, Accel 8mm wires, FRPP aluminum quadrant, UPR firewall adjuster, stock cable, Granatelli upper control arms.
Waiting to go on: Granatelli lower control arms, and GT40 Iron heads!
I tried using a propane torch, but I don't think I can get the bolts or nut s hot enough to do any good. How did you cut the bolts before? How did you get enough access to cut them? and with what? (angle grinder, die grinder...) I also tried using a nut splitter, but I actually broke the frame of the nut splitter. I'm going to do the passenger side Lower BJ as well as there is noticeable play in it. i also discovered that the driver side coil spring was broken into two pieces (this must have happened before the ball joint popped as there is already considerable rust on both ends of the break.
This is really frustrating.
There is not much room in there but I got mine loose with a 1/2" Breaker Bar. You can get new Lower A Arm Nuts and Bolts from Greens. You might want to consider buying the Ford Racing Lower A Arms M-3075-A, they are a bargin.
I'd say go all out: Soak it overnight with liquid-wrench, (dry it back out again) then hit it with the torch, and a breaker bar with a pipe over the handle.
Thats pretty much what I had to do to get my driveshaft out.
HTH,
J
__________________
'66 Mustang Coupe-AKA "Lenore"
'93 GT, AKA Fawkes, basically stock
Rice Haters Club Member #239
Carpe Noctum
Beer is my anti-drug
One of both of the steel bolts are most likely stuck to the steel sleeve inside their respective bushing. If you're going to replace the arms, which come with new bushings, hit the old ones with some heat. It'll smell but they'll eventually break free. You should hear a pop when they do.
When this happened to me, I used a sawzall. Just put the blade in between the torque box and the control arm, it will cut through part of the bushing and right through the bolt. Works like a charm.
__________________
1993 GT Hatch: 306 with Twisted Wedge heads,TFS stage one cam,TFS upper/lower intake, 190lph fuel pump, 30lb injectors, 70mm TB/EGR plate, Granatelli MAF= now using Pro-M, Lakewood upper/lower control arms, powertrax diff, subframe connectors, Eibach springs, aluminum ds, t56 trans, Eibach swaybars, Flowtech LT's, Magnaflow CB, 17x10.5 deep dish cobras in rear, 17x9 cobras in front.
Marine Detachment, Keesler AFB, Biloxi MS
OOORAAHH!!!
Heres the update, I went to Canadian Tire and picked up a can of liquid wrench and a bottle of map gas (similar to propane, but supposed to burn hotter). I soaked the bolts and nuts with liquid wrench, let it sit for a bit and then hit them with the torch. I then fit a 1/2 ratchet on the nuts and slid a 4' pipe on the handle. With some force, the nuts came off. The bolt thats closer to the front of the car slide out of the arm easily, but the bolt in the rear of the control arm is seized in the bushing sleeve. So what I did is get a 3/8" bolt about a foot long and shoved it in through the front of the control arm where I had already taken the other bolt out. I then put a washer and nut on the bolt on the inside of the control arm and butted the end of the bolt against the end of the siezed one. Effectively, allowing me to press out the bolt. Unfortunatley, the bolt is not lone enough for me to press the bolt all the way out. As it sits now the bolt is about 1 1/2" out of the control arm. But I am making progress finally. Now to order my ford racing lower control arms.....
Heres the update, I went to Canadian Tire and picked up a can of liquid wrench and a bottle of map gas (similar to propane, but supposed to burn hotter). I soaked the bolts and nuts with liquid wrench, let it sit for a bit and then hit them with the torch. I then fit a 1/2 ratchet on the nuts and slid a 4' pipe on the handle. With some force, the nuts came off. The bolt thats closer to the front of the car slide out of the arm easily, but the bolt in the rear of the control arm is seized in the bushing sleeve. So what I did is get a 3/8" bolt about a foot long and shoved it in through the front of the control arm where I had already taken the other bolt out. I then put a washer and nut on the bolt on the inside of the control arm and butted the end of the bolt against the end of the siezed one. Effectively, allowing me to press out the bolt. Unfortunatley, the bolt is not lone enough for me to press the bolt all the way out. As it sits now the bolt is about 1 1/2" out of the control arm. But I am making progress finally. Now to order my ford racing lower control arms.....
You will love the new Ford Lower A Arms, you can get new Ford Nuts and Bolts from Greens.
Help!!!Lower Control Arm Removal.... 
now using Pro-M, Lakewood upper/lower control arms, powertrax diff, subframe connectors, Eibach springs, aluminum ds, t56 trans, Eibach swaybars, Flowtech LT's, Magnaflow CB, 17x10.5 deep dish cobras in rear, 17x9 cobras in front.
