I took the plunge and ordered a set of front wheel bearings and front lower control arms. Over the weekend I had the knuckles out of vehicle ready for the machine shop. It took about 4 hours that included a trip to Murrays to rent some tools.
It would have taken shorter had I known a few tricks. Here are my lessons learned/tricks for your benefit.
1. Buy 2 control arm bushing bolts/nuts. You will be cutting two of them to remove from car.
2. Do not attempt to separate the knuckle from control arm on vehicle. It's a whole lot easier to take them out together and separate them off of car.
3. Rent the following tools, you will need them: hub nut sockets( 32mm socket needed for Contour )and hub puller.
4. PB Blaster before you begine.
5. Wear dust masks as there are a lot of brake dust and road grime when working on the suspension.
6. Buy a set of stabilizer bar end links. It's hard to tell while installed but once off car you can tell they are worn.
Some cost estimates:
Parts: lower control arms $35/ea (two vertical busing type)
control arm bolts/nuts $8/ea set
wheel bearings $33/each
stabilizer bar end links $20/ea
bearing pressing at machine shop $40/side
metal cutting blade for my sawzall $3
