So armed with air tools i made a second attempt to get the LCA's off the car and put the new ones on.

Some notes I made while doing this:
1. You will need to remove the strut to easily work in the area.
2. Kroil is your friend.
3. Pay extra attention to the LCA ball joint nut, you may want to keep new ones handy. They strip very easily.
4. Make sure you call over some friends who can really undo the bolts that connect the LCA to the sub frame.
5. If you are going to work on the car yourself, make sure you get a set of link connector pins that connect to the sub frame with 4 bolts and basically slit into a metal sleeve on the LCA front bushing. These pins can bind and may or may not come out. In my case the drivers side was stuck and the sleeve had to be cut with an air chisel carefully but the passenger side slipped right out. These pins cost $25 + shipping from daveB and $30 at your local dealership. They are special order so make sure you have them handy just in case you need to replace them.
6. Have enough beer to last the evening.

Overall after a short drive, to me this was the best $300 i have spent on this car. The LCA's simply transform the roadholding of the car. At speeds between 75 and 90 where the car would not track straight due to crosswinds etc, the car now feels confident and secure. I also have tokico illuminas and H&R's with the front set at 2 and the rear set at 3(soon to become 2). The vibration noticed at speeds over 60 has disappeared. You now get real road feedback the way you should in a sporty family car.

btw this work was done on a 2001 gle with auto trans and 140K miles.

Thanks.

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So I made an attempt to install my new LCA's this evening and failed.

Here is what I did:
1. Jack up front and remove wheel on drivers side.
2. Remove outer tie rod cotter pin and castle nut. You will need a 17mm socket for this.
3. Use a tie rod end puller and remove outer tie rod connector to wheel hub. You can buy this at your local harbor freight store for about $5.
4. Unbolt the sway bar end link connector to the LCA.
5. Unbolt the lower strut connection the bub.
6. Unbolt the main axle nut. You will need a 32mm wrench for this.
7. Using a mallet slowly knock the CV axle back and get it out of the hub.
8. At this point you will have full access to the lower control arm ball joint nut. I found it easier this way as I could use a socket on it. With the CV axle in place it was hard as you have to use an opened ended wrench.
9. Lift the hub up and off the LCA ball joint.
10. You now have to unbolt the LCA. Unbolt the 2 bolts towards the back of the LCA. Then unbolt the 4 bolts that hold this really funky bracket with a extender in it. This extender goes into a bushing in the LCA. This is where my problem came up.

I was able to get the LCA out from the car but that piece that connects to the sub frame with 4 bolts would not separate from the LCA at all.

so basically we put it all back together and parked the car...

A friend of mine has suggested to use impact tools so we will try again tomorrow.

anyone else got any other ideas? I will be called the dealership to get an estimate on that part.

Thanks.

 

fyi bump

 

I removed all the suspension component as well as the sub frame connector , engine so basically there is nothing left see the pics, let me know where you are having a hard time I'm shure I can help since I remove all this alone:

 

As Borat would say... wah wah woo wah ....

fyi... atleast my engine bay doesnt have any sign of rust unlike your brackets etc.

even my original control arms had no sign of rust on them... FL car LOL!!

anyways... I did note where i had problems in my post

 

Hey kukx30de, english being my second language ( french being my native language ), I dont always know the equivalent english words that are use for the car parts so for that aspect I'm a little confuse, if you can take a pics and highlight where you are having trouble it'll be easy for me to help you.

AA

 

hi there

The spots I had issues were:
1. the connection bolt of the lower ball joint to the hub.
2. the bolt on the bushing pin that is connected to the frame with 4 bolts.