Frontend problem..........

Discussion in 'Technical' started by Moneymaker 1, Sep 30, 2013.

  1. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    Ok so this morning went to get the alignment done again after the LCA's installations, can't get it to hold well, my alignment guy pointed something out to me I was not aware of, I need help figuring this out, the upper and lower ball joints do not line up........
    Seems the upper is out of place somewhat, now question is how, is the upper control arm symmetrical? is the ball joint on it in the center? could the PO have the upper control arms on the wrong sides? do I possibly have the wrong spindles on there? anybody got part/casting numbers for Maverick and/or Granada spindles?
    Thanks for all suggestions I will follow up on ALL of them.(y)
     

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  2. John Holden

    John Holden Member

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    That adjustment is taken up with the strut rods.
     
  3. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    Thanks John, I will look into that, I asked him about that and he said there was no more adjustment on them.
     
  4. John Holden

    John Holden Member

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    Maybe the rubber bushings on the strut rods are worn out/crushed and that's why there's no more adjustment. You could probably look at it yourself and see if there are any threads left in the direction you would need to move the lower arm in order to line it up.
     
  5. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    Just went and took a look at the strut rods, there is no adjustment room left, they are as far forward as they can get, no threads left, bushings look good. not flattened out.
     
  6. John Holden

    John Holden Member

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    So you can't move the lower arm forward... correct? And you said the upper arm is too far forward. If these two statements are true then I don't know what else to check.
     
  7. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    Yes that is correct, no more movement for the LCA forward, UCA's are too far forward.
     
  8. Krazy Comet

    Krazy Comet Tom

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    The upper control arms are same for Mustang, Torino & Maverick, I dunno about Granada...

    Which side of spindle are the calipers??? If spindles are reversed you'll have a problem...
     
  9. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    I assume you mean are the calipers on front or back of the spindle, they are on the back.
     
  10. John Holden

    John Holden Member

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    Not all mustangs..... 65-66 is different.
     
  11. Krazy Comet

    Krazy Comet Tom

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    Well that's correct, dunno what to tell you at this point...

    Mine is in pieces at the moment, will give me something to check when I get it together in the next couple of days...

    BTW I didn't forget about the dist, am yet to take it apart...
     
  12. Krazy Comet

    Krazy Comet Tom

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    OK but was referring to '67-'73 Stang & '66-'71 Fairlane/Torino, I should have made the distinction...

    BTW the '66-'70 Falcon can be tossed in that arena(Torino/Stang) as well...
     
  13. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    On the UCA's, is the ball joint centered or could the PO have them on the wrong side?
     
  14. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    in this pic it looks to be wider on the front part, if it actually is the PO might have them on the wrong side......
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2013
  15. tody

    tody Member

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    both uca and lca are symmetrical, so they can be used on either side. does the problem occur on both sides?

    what you can do is work with shims under the uca, just like they did on the 65/66 mustangs. shim the front bolt of the uca to have it swing outwards a little. this will also move the ball joint backwards.

    not having the ball joints in a straight line is what caster is all about. but if i see this correctly, to achieve a positive caster angle, the uca ball joint needs to be behind the lca ball joint...
     

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