• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

About to install Massive Tubular Toe Arms

Swami

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 24, 2013
Messages
145
That was sure fun trying to break the bolts loose lying under the car with minimal leverage and the wrong tools. Did it anyway - and the skin on my hands is still intact! Yay.

I did it "just because" not realizing something was wrong. The stock right toe arm was twisted some 16-18 degrees off center. Now I feel that I did not waste my money as it needed to be replaced regardless.

The center locking nut was impossible to tighten as no wrench would fit. Is this problematic to have it only hand tightened? Do I need an alignment now?
 
No Title

PB blaster, heat and an air impact wrench are your friends!!!! Not sure what you mean "The center locking nut was impossible to tighten as no wrench would fit." They look like a hex nuts to me?

And yes, your rear toe could be waaaaaaay off and you'll chew up your tires real fast. Once you understand how to adjust the arms, explain them to the alignment tech and get an alignment.
 

Attachments

  • photo17085.jpg
    photo17085.jpg
    95.8 KB · Views: 3
PB blaster, heat and an air impact wrench are your friends!!!! Not sure what you mean "The center locking nut was impossible to tighten as no wrench would fit." They look like a hex nuts to me?

And yes, your rear toe could be waaaaaaay off and you'll chew up your tires real fast. Once you understand how to adjust the arms, explain them to the alignment tech and get an alignment.
​This 61 yo man got them off thru sheer force of will and muscle - no impact wrench.

I installed the toe arms with the adjustable locking nuts loose so as to make sure I was fairly neutral as to toe. Where they are joined to the frame the center, there is no room to tighten the locking nut with them installed using any sort of wrench as the nut is practically flush with the frame. Should I take them off (ugh) and tighten then reinstall? I thought they were supposed to be adjustable AFTER installation.
 
​This 61 yo man got them off thru sheer force of will and muscle - no impact wrench.

I installed the toe arms with the adjustable locking nuts loose so as to make sure I was fairly neutral as to toe. Where they are joined to the frame the center, there is no room to tighten the locking nut with them installed using any sort of wrench as the nut is practically flush with the frame. Should I take them off (ugh) and tighten then reinstall? I thought they were supposed to be adjustable AFTER installation.

I would think you could use a chisel and get the nut to turn/tighten that way. Seems like a design flaw to me. I wonder what others have done?
 
There isn't a lot of room to get a wrench on the rod end inboard jam nuts, I had to drop out the ends after the rear was aligned and tighten the nuts. I didn't re-use the Ford cam adjustment bolts, so I didn't have to keep track of where they were set, just used regular 12mm high grade bolts and nuts. I also put 12mm Seals-It rod end seal washers on the rod end balls to keep out road crud and water.
http://www.sealsit.com/rod-end-seals.html

If you don't tighten up the inboard jam nuts, you'll hear some light clunking when turning because the rod end stud threads have some play in the tube-end threads.

 
Back
Top