Refurbishing Upper Control Arms (UCA)

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MObarracuda

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Refurbishing Upper Control Arms

I purchased a spare set of small UCA and I’m in the process of refurbishing them. Here are the steps I went thru.

Soaked them in apple cider vinegar for a week (I started a new job and I got busy)
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Just coming out of the vinegar the rust was falling off to bare metal.

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A quick rinse by the garden hose and 80% of the rust rinsed off.

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I made my own bushing tool from instructions found on this site using grade 8 bolt, an old piece of pipe and a 21mm socket (I never used the metric stuff until now)
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Coat the nut and washers with grease to reduce the friction View attachment 1715240867

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The removal of the bushings was a snap with the bushing press. Use grease to minimize the wear on the press.

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The tool doesn’t have to be pretty, but make sure the pipe sits flush and flat inside the formed edge of the UCA.

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I could not find full thread bolts so I used a hammer to pop the bushing out the last little bit.

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Here are the reassembly pictures I promised.

I just reversed the tool to the inside of the UCA and added a bunch of fender washers to allow me to pull the bushing into its mated slot. I greased the UCA and wiped out the majority of the grease to make sure I didn’t have any dirt or grit in the flanged hole.

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I used the offset bushings from Moog part number K7103. Here is what was in the box. I like the caps for the ends of the bushings. They will help distribute the load to the offset bushings and the VCI (volatile corrosion inhibitor) paper added to the bushing bags to stop rust while they are in the box.

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I ignored the instructions that were in the box below and followed the second picture I found on FABO showing the orientation of the arrows for maximum Caster.

(Skip the Moog instructions you find in the box...see next photo)

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Use this one found on FABO....the bump stop side of the UCA is the front of the car.
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The guy I purchased the UCA arms shipped me his new Mevotech small ball joint (MK704). I was not impressed with Mevotech ball joints. They are a good company and they sell to NAPA direct but the boot was thinner than Moog, the grease zert was tiny compared to the Moog part K704 and the Mevotech threads were not as tall and as well designed in shape and diameter as the Moog product.

Moog made in America (white/yellow box and Mevotech (blue box) from Taiwan

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Difference in the ball joint boot

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Cheaper hardware in the Mevotech box

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Close up of the boot metal ring on the Moog
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Moog threads
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Mevotech threads
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Side by side. Moog bottom and Mevotech top
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I liked the Moog product better although the Moog’s didn’t achieve torque in the old UCAs. I did notice the Moog were easier to thread over the Mevotech part with their rounded profile thread pitch.

This is my first rebuild of Upper control arms. Everything has been pretty straight forward except for not achieving torque and welding the ball joints to the UCA.

1) yes the arrow points towards the tire or ball joint on the front bushing and the rear bushing points towards the engine.

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As for choices between brands I’m sure they are all comparable coming out of the box. #1 cause of early failure to a ball joint is contamination that is why I like the HD boots on the Moogs.

Finished product. I used PPG paints. I started with an epoxy based two part primer for two coats and then three coats of satin black mixed the 8:1:1 ratio for pigment, hardener and thinner. The “satin” looks pretty glossy to me. Probably has something to do with the hardener, my mix might have been off and that is why they have so much gloss.

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I still have to snug up the grease zerts and I may hit the top of the ball joint with clear while I’m waiting for more parts to arrive. It is like Mopar-UPS Christmas all the time at my house.
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I like how the metal at the bottom of the Moog dust boot snapped on to the base of the ball joint. Makes for a clean install.
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I’m getting ready to install the UCA on the car. I have attached the image from the maintenance manual and the Moog web page details with part numbers on the UCA parts they sell

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K7103
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K8243A
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K7030
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I found this cheaper on Amazon with the stock bushing than k8243a alone.

Once I started to pre-assemble, I became a little concerned about how loose the cam bolt and the offset bushings fit together. There is .085 of slop when they are installed without the flanged washers. The following pictures detail the pre-assembly and how the components work together to make a very tight and well thought out assembly with dimensions. I read a post on FABO that these offset bushings were designed to be used when there had been front end damage to the vehicle and these bushings allowed the mechanic to dial in the alignment to counter act the damage. We just used them to increase caster for radial tires vs their intended purpose. That is why you skip the instructions they include in the box.

Just remember the small washer goes to the inside and the large washer to the outside.

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I got the k7030 kit cheaper from amazon than the cam bolts alone. I choose not to use the standard bushings but they were nice to have on hand to measure tolerances.

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Read more about this article here...
 
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Nice write up along with picture’s and easy to understand follow along instructions.
Wish more people would be to the point with on target facts.
Thanks
Happy Mopar :)
Arron
 
Nice job!! Those look good! I like the bushings press! I used a ball joint press on mine. I cant believe how good that vinegar did. I used a wire wheel and brake cleaner and it did get them that clean. Nice job bud! Cant wait to see them painted.
 
Your doing a great job! Keep up the good work! This is a great walk thru for first timers. I have the moog offset bushings also I have not installed them yet. So basically on the front of the uca the arrow points to the ball joint and the rear it points to the car?
I have skp ball joints upper and lower. I dont see much difference other than the boot from the moog ball joint I'm sure either will be fine.
 
looks solid........ moog all the way.
 
Once I started to pre-assemble event I became a little concerned about how loose the cam bolt and the offset bushings fit together. There is .085 of slop when they are installed without the flanged washers. The following pictures details the pre-assembly and how the components work together to make a very tight and well thought out assembly with dimensions. I read on a post on FABO that these offset bushings were designed to be used when there had been front end damage to the vehicle and these bushings allowed the mechanic to dial in the alignment to counter act the damage. We just used them to increase caster for radial tires va their intended purpose. That is why you skip the instructions they include in the box.

Just remember the small washer goes to the inside and the large washer to the outside.

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I got the k7030 kit cheaper from amazon than the cam bolts alone. I choose not to use the standard bushings but they were nice to have on hand to measure tolerances.

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Very good pictorial that is very helpful thanks!
 
This would make a awesome how to thread. Mods?
Yep, lots of good stuff here. Wish I would have 'discovered' vinegar sooner. Would have saved a lot of time with a wire wheel on a drill. I did some evaporust at much higher cost and I think vinegar works better. Only advantage of the evapo is it did not re-rust right away if not coated soon.
 
This would make a awesome how to thread. Mods?

I tried to link this article to the how to section and got this reply.

B3C4722D-E7DC-4AF8-9797-CF3E160A3D18.png
 
nice but one thing to note, the last several boxes of Moog stuff I've gotten, has said made in Mexico on them...
 
nice but one thing to note, the last several boxes of Moog stuff I've gotten, has said made in Mexico on them...
Mexico is closer than China but not much better. The bad Bart is the bushing say assembled in Mexico...so the stampings could have been done anywhere in the world.

I'll work on this later today...



That's because linking to an existing thread doesn't fit the "How To" format. I'll fix it for you...:)

That would be great...I have so much time vesteted in the other posts to recreate it.
 
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