Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Controll arms install

i am having a local shop install new lower controll arms for my 98 svt. has any one had new ones installed. the shops i went to all said i need to lower the tranny in order to do this on one side and will be over 400$ for just the labor. i really didnt expect that price. is this true, cuz its too cold to do this my self. thanks brian

The bolts don't have clearance. Some people have cut them off and installed from bottom but don't expect a shop to do this.

The passenger side is a simple unbolt and bolt back up operation. The driver side normally has to have the trans moved out of the way, but if your shop is pretty friendly ou can tell them the simple fix. Cut the head of the bolt off on the driver side front one and pull it out through the bottom. When replacing just go with a slightly shorter bolt with the head on the bottom and the nut on the top. The only real reason I can give for the head being on the top is that by chance if the nut should work it's way off the bolt then the bolt doesn't drop out of the control arm causing an accident. If they give you this reason ask them if they would install a cotter pin style keeper on the nut or even just loctite it in place. Either way should coral any concerns of theirs. If not you can do it yourself if maybe you have them do one side.

Rick

I figured the reason for installing the bolts from the top was that it was easy to do it that way in the factory, when you didn't have to worry about clearance or room to maneuver. I assume that the control arm was connected to the sub-frame before the engine/transmission was installed. My guess is that no one really worried about ease of repairs 10 years down the road.

Nah, it is to ensure 100% that if a nut comes off the control arm won't fall out (an exaggeration, but I bet it's right there in the FMEA as a high severity item).

To do it the right way, $400 doesn't sound that unreasonable. Many shops would be uncomfortable with the "upside down" bolt method, liability litigation being what it is today. Depends on how well you know the shop owner.