Thank you so much for your video. My son and I followed your video to a tee and avoided the pitfalls. I so appreciate that you provide tips along the way, like where specifically to jack the vehicle/moving the control arm pivot behind the knuckle/disconnecting the tie rod end. So helpful. I also appreciate the fact that you are working on a garage floor and not a lift, like the majority of us.
One of the best videos I have ever seen on suspension repairs! Thank you for taking the time and stepping through all of the nercessary steps required to do a perfect and effective control arm replacement! The text comments are a very effective way to communicate each step.
Thanks, Jim...hope the vid helped you change out the control arm. Unfortunately, I left out the final step, which is to recheck the torque, on the control arm mount and pivot bolts, after the vehicle is lowered and the suspension is under load. Thanks for watching!
One of the best made videos on how to complete a task on the internet! Best part about it, you show what tools are needed for the job. I can make sure i have everything i need prior to the project. Typically i have to run to the parts store once or twice while involved in my task. Not this time! Great video thank you!
The best tutorial video I've seen so far :)! Thanks for taking the time to do a detailed explanation of how to change the control arm. I appreciate it :).
Your awesome. .thank you sooo much for ur video and how much I've learned today and money saved and guessing taken away!!! Keep posting..thank you n God Bless you
It took my about 10 hours just to do one arm. Tips: the control arm does not slide in, and out like in these videos. It is wedged in there when you first take it out. A bottle jack is a must, I had to put mine in the center of the control arm, and raise it up to lock (install) the left bolt in the control arm. Took me 2 hours to get the left control arm bolt in, because the hole wouldn't line up without a bottle jack to raise the arm up, and level the hole. The stabilizer link / connecting joint sags when you do this job. You need the bottle jack to raise the arm into the stabilizer link bar, which sags, and doesn't allow you to manual lift the control arm without serious force (bottle jack), the pry bar doesn't work in the hole trick..liquid
Excellent video! May I ask, were the old control arms original 2001? My daughter's mechanic says he installed new control arms and ball joints. After 5 months the "new" arms look like the old ones you are removing. She continues to have turning clunking sounds. Thanks for your amazingly well done video!
You could press the ball joints off and press new ones in, but it's easier (and not much more expensive) to just replace the whole control arm with the ball joints already in them...plus you will also have new bushings. Thanks for watching!
Yeah this vid was superb right up to that point. In every video I have watched, they either jack up the arm to ride height before torquing, or they run the bolts down and then lower the vehicle (with tire on) and torque on the ground. I'm surprised this one made no mention of that at all, and now I'm wondering the same thing as you.
@@BigDaddyJinx (or anybody!) I see warnings not to jack the vehicle at control arms as they are fragile compared to older vehicles and can distort. So how can we get it under load and have room to work? Is it considered that jacking the arm up to ride height while supported elsewhere is less stress on the arm and thus not so bad? It seems that once the arm is compressed enough to reach normal position, it's now bearing the load of that corner at the jacking point on the control arm? But, at least it's not lifting from ground to working height, which does add more twisting torque to control arm as it jacks up.... In any case, it would want a wood block bridging the stamped arm to distribute better, I'd think. Actually, I jacked up the car a couple times at the control arm with a block before I found out. Was not understanding how weak the Escape's design is. After a lifetime of working on Toyotas and Nissan trucks. VW vans, all beefier, I did not suspect it would be that fragile. But never again!
You need to either measure your ride height or torque the bolts down when the car is on the ground. Your bushings are probably torn now from the constant twisting stress. Was a good video until that point
