Rear upper control arm replacement

[04tbirdjerry]

I've had one rear upper control arm replaced. Now the other side needs it. Mechanic says it's a straight bolt in, no alignment necessary. He charged me $435, and I found part for $325, so not bad, but I like to work on my car. To anyone's knowledge, is it just a bolt in? Looks like just three connection points.

 

[airflyer]

It is a bolt in. Easy job I would remove the strut also. There are a couple of tricks. According to the service manual you need to measure from the center of the hub to fender lip while the car is on the ground. Then before you torque the upper bolts place a jack under the lower arm and get the assembly to the same measurement hub to fender lip. Then torque the bolts. I have replaced all of the arms on my 04 due to bad bushings and ball joints (at only 30k). The parts are actually less expensive from ford then aftermarket such as moog. Don’t use off market parts they will fall apart. Check with tasca parts and you should get a pretty good deal or many online ford parts places offer deep discounts. As you can expect all the parts say jaguar on them!

 

[04tbirdjerry]

Thanks very much for the info, and especially the tip. I'll go ahead and plan to replace the other side myself to stop that incessant squeaking/squawking. The front end is fine at this time.