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Rear toe arms - question

C

contour_r_us

Hard-core CEG'er
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Dec 31, 2002
Messages
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Location
Portland, Oregon
I have recently converted my rear drums to disc; went from a '95 drum to an early '98 SVT disc. Just discovered something - the left rear toe arm/tie rod is different between the two models. I was led to believe that the rear toe arms/tie rods are identical on all models, drum or disc. I am unable, at this moment, to find Ford pn #'s in order to verify same.

Here is problem - the early '98 SVT left rear toe arm/tie rod is bent with less of an angle just forward of the spindle mount than the '95 toe arm/tie rod. Result is that the oversize tire I am running, 225/50 X 16 is very close to rubbing on the left toe arm/tie rod - no where near the clearence of the right toe arm. Both right toe armstie rods are shaped the same. The left tire inside sidewall actually rubs the left toe arm/tie rod when I jack up the vehicle.

This '98 left rear toe arm/tie rod is not bent, just shaped differntly than the '95 left rear toe arm. I will get pics when I remove them and can put them side by side for comparison sake. Of course I failed to verify this until I installed the '98 toe arm, which now has the nice looking red poly bushing in it at the subframe mount ;-)

Any comments or help appreciated.
 
Shaped differently? ALL '95-'00 should be EXACTLY the same. If they are laying on the ground they should lay flat as a board. No curvature to them period. If there is then they ARE bent and that's that. Hope this answers your question. If your having issues I would think it would be caused by something else.
 
Not following you - #5 is tie rod or toe arm (trailing arm/pan hard rod), #4 is the rear lower control arm, of which there is two. - forward and rear.
 
there are 2 number 4's in the pic. one is the control arm (the square one) and one is the toe arm (the flat one) thats why pole and myself and others have double adjustable toe arms, thats where the rear toe adjustment comes from
 
Not what I am seeing - #4's are referred to by Ford as lower control arms, front and rear - this is Ford saying this, not me. Yes, toe adjustment comes from the lower rear control arm. All this said, my questions remains the same - #5 in the picture - are they the same with ALL 'Tours and years?
 
the only difference would be in the knuckle from drum to disc. if the knuckles are different sizes than it would cause an issue. do they have different part numbers
 
jaged said:
there are 2 number 4's in the pic. one is the control arm (the square one) and one is the toe arm (the flat one) thats why pole and myself and others have double adjustable toe arms, thats where the rear toe adjustment comes from
Click to expand...

btw - pole120 wrote the fine article on the ES bushing install on the rear trailing arms. Again, Ford doen't refer to this as a trailing arm, though I and others do.
 
Yeah the issue has to be the knuckles. Its probably differnet vs one with factory discs. Ill have to look and see... Hopefully someone can confirm the difference between the knuckles if there is any.
 
Issue is not at the knuckle/spindle, but the shape of the trailing arm, just forward of the knuckle/spindle. In investigating this further, memory tells me this left rear wheel assembly was hit in an auto accident on the donor SVT. I wonder if the stealership replaced the trailing arm with one from something other than a 'Tour? where our left rear trailing arms has a pronounced "bend" just forward of the knuckle/spindle, this one does not....more of a taper. I beleive the knuckle/spindles to be identical drum or disc, based on a number of factors, least of which is that ES specs their black/red poly bushings for all '95 thru '2000 'Tours and Mystiques. Raybestos also the same story on thier replacement bushings.
 
Agree - my response was that the knuckle/spindle connection is the same. doomsayer559 was saying this is where the diff was, if I understood him correctly.

hey, not trying to be difficult, I do appreciate the two of you for your responses, very much REAL TIME!!!!
 
jaged said:
just because the bushings are the same doesnt mean the actual bar isnt different
Click to expand...

You nailed it, I held up the '95 bar, minus bracket to body, and matched it up from underneath to the '98 trailing arm in the vehicle - defiantely a difference in the way the bar is bent/shaped.
I suspect getting my ES poly bushing out of it will be a PIA. Would have to use a clamp to compress one side of this bushing the press the bushing out. Not unlike compressing rings on a piston, for insertion into a cylinder. Time is the luxury I don't have, as is the case for most of us. I might just press a bushing in the '95 bar and call it good - mismatch of red vs black ES poly bushing, but who would know this besides me. ;-)
 
contour_r_us said:
You nailed it, I held up the '95 bar, minus bracket to body, and matched it up from underneath to the '98 trailing arm in the vehicle - defiantely a difference in the way the bar is bent/shaped.
I suspect getting my ES poly bushing out of it will be a PIA. Would have to use a clamp to compress one side of this bushing the press the bushing out. Not unlike compressing rings on a piston, for insertion into a cylinder. Time is the luxury I don't have, as is the case for most of us. I might just press a bushing in the '95 bar and call it good - mismatch of red vs black ES poly bushing, but who would know this besides me. ;-)
Click to expand...

Removed the '98 arm from the 'Tour last night. It is defiantley shaped differently than the '95 arm!!! The '98 arm is shaped with a "shallow" bend just forward of the "U" at the nuckle/spindle. The '95 arm has a much more acute bend to it just forward of the "U". This provides the clearance to the inside sidewall of the tire. There is a full 3/8" more clearance with the '95 arm, than the '98 arm. Part numbers ARE DIFFERENCE!!! So, the '95 came stock with the 14" steel wheels and the '98 arm had the E0 16's. Go figure.
 
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