Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Control arm / alignment problem

Does the fact that other cars have riveted ball joints make it right? That's like saying if someone else jumps off a bridge, then it must be OK.

Look - the fact is ball joints are normal wear and tear items on the front suspension that are sometimes replaced on high mileage cars, as they simply wear out. Ford knew they would be replaced eventually by an owner, and chose to ignore that fact and go with the cost cutting solution and rivet them on. Probably saved them a dime per car over using bolts.

I'm well aware I can drill the rivets out. My point is I shouldn't have to do this. Ford should have used bolts - no excuses. The other thing is I don't need new ball joints - I need new control arms! The ball joints are fine!

I like the Contour very much. However, as far as ease of maintenance and repairs go for the do-it-yourselfer, the car leaves a lot to be desired. Hell, ask any mechanic who has worked on a Contour. They will tell you that without question, the car is a major PITA to work on. Fortunately, my car has not needed many repairs.

I did - haven't found any yet.

There are a few people who are working on new lower control arms for the Contour. I don't know of any that have been released yet. I'd say if you can deal with it for another 3-4 months there might be something that would better fit your needs.

Yes,and with grease fittings too!!!

I'm in the process of designing/fabricating alloy bushings for the 95 style arms. Unfortunately, they're different from the later model arms. Really don't know when the changeover date was, but my partner's 99 has the new style. As others have said, there are no replacement bushings available to date. The reason the left side are a bear to do is that the bolts must be removed by pushing them upward-they're about 5 inches long. The 2 forward bolts are directly below the transaxle with around 1 inch of clearance. The Ford manual says that the transaxle must be removed before you can get the bolts out. I have an alternate method of removal and will be trying it out as soon as my stiffened A arms are ready to go. No damn way I'm removing the transaxle to replace the left A arm!

Good to know. That's what my conclusion has been so far - just deal with it for now. It's not worth the cost, time and aggravation just so my car doesn't pull a little to the left anymore. Other than that, the car drives great. I'll keep an eye on the bushings, and if they completely disintegrate or I start getting weird handling or clunking noises, then I'll go ahead and replace the control arms then.

I'm pretty sure the '96 arms are the same as the '95. I think they were changed after that. I'll have to check the Ford part numbers.

As for removing the transaxle, my Haynes manual says you don't need to do that, but instead, you need to unbolt the subframe, and lower the entire subrame with the engine and transaxle about 4 inches to gain clearance to pull the bolts out. Perhaps this is the alternate way you are thinking about?

Yeah but then you need to align the subframe...If you ask me Ford did a stupid thing wwhen they came up with this.

I can think of a lot of other cars that are much worse. Most of the foreign cars these days are a nightmare for someone with large hands, such as myself. Ever try to change the firewall side spark plugs on any FWD 3.1L GM V6? lol, talk about PITA. And that is a part that you are more likely to change than control arms. Remember the Boss 429s? You had to remove the headers to change those spark plugs, IIRC. Try changing the water pump on that same 3.1L GM V6 (there is one bolt that you cannot remove until you take the power steering pump off, and to do that you need to raise the vehicle off the ground on a lift to get the proper leverage).

How about most Chrysler products? Engine components such as the EGR valve and starter motor are routinely buried so deep in the engine that you have to disassemble most of it to get to the part in question.

Yes, the alternator design on the Contour is very poor for it's location and replacement proceedure. There are other quirks too, but I would rather work on this car than most others out there.

What do you mean by "well used design"? Is this supposed to mean its been used a lot? Or that its a good design?

Either way, you don't explain how riveting ball joints on is a good thing.

Are you a Ford engineer? The way you defend them, I'm beginning to wonder.