Something to consider with cheap front LCAs

Thunderstruck95

Thunderstruck95

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Sep 23, 2023
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S.W. Michigan
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1995 Thunderbird 4.6
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I attempted to replace the balljoints on my Mark VIII this weekend and discovered that the standard replacement ball joint won’t fit. I’m guessing the previous owner redid the front end with an economy kit, and the new lca does not accept the standard balljoint.

Just an FYI for everyone.

Pictured left to right- Standard replacement ball joint, quality LCA, seemingly non serviceable LCA.
 

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I've run into that too. Pretty annoying. But par for the course with cheap parts.
 
I've always had good luck with pressing in new ball joints. My cars must have stock control arms or arms that have been replaced with OEM or better. There was a post on the FB page a while back and everyone overwhelmingly was saying you can't press in new joints and they are tack welded or something.
 
The mevotech professional ones are back on ra; I'm going to hope I can get a set, before they disappear.
 
That gold joint with the blue boot looks like what comes in the AC Delco arms that I've got.
 
It started out with raybestos, 10+ years ago, lol. Now, mevotech. I guess raybestos' design has been sold again. With Delphi selling them, I'd bet they're putting other names on their product as marketing.
 
If it's not Tay- Tay's ass I don't care, lol.
The guarantee at az only means they give you a new one after it breaks, and you bring it back with receipt. :roll:
 
Keep this in mind too.

I've been running the RA LCAs on the drift car. And the currently available angle kit is made by modifying those same LCAs.

I have bent multiple sets. Theyve turned u shaped between the inner mounting point and where the Strut rod fastens. Almost like the metal they use can't handle the weight of the car.

Granted, I'm running 800lb springs. But, I have noticed it.
 
Damn! I hit a square curb several times hard, broke chunks out of wheels, destroyed other stuff, and the control arms were fine. Spindles were a bit worse for wear, but control arms, no. That's pretty impressive. Got any pix of those? That's pretty impressive, bending those.
 
Grog6 said:
The mevotech professional ones are back on ra; I'm going to hope I can get a set, before they disappear.
Click to expand...

I wound up getting Dorman greaseable lower control arms off Amazon because nobody (at the time) had the Mevotech Supreme versions (which I assume are the professional ones). And I'd read reviews of them somewhere saying that somehow the Mevotech arms didn't want to fit the spindles right? Can't remember where now.

So are you saying that the good OEM style arms allow for replacement of just the ball joints? The Dorman arms I got have the metal bearings and are greaseable but I remember talking to someone on the phone at Mevotech (I think) and they made it sound like neither the upper nor the lower control arms had replaceable ball joints. Obviously that can't be true but I wonder if that applies to Mevotech or Dorman arms.

Ah, now I remember my issue with RockAuto, if you look at the pics for the Mevotech Supreme arms, the front left lower has the black boot and doesn't seem to show a greaseable fitting while the right one has the blue boot and the fitting. That's why I ended up going with Dorman.
 
OK; if you go to the ra website and look at the mevotech, go to more info, and the second pic shows the gold joint from below. It is a standard chevy balljoint that's in a billion cars.They're the ones originally brought to market by raybestos about 15 years ago.Delphi also sells them.
 
I just returned a Mevotek Supreme front left LCA because it didn't have a greaseable ball joint. The right one that I ordered at the same time had a greaseable ball joint. I can almost guarantee that they will send me back the same exact part. This particular control arm said Mevotek Supreme on the box, had the correct part number but didn't come in a blue printed plastic bag, just a clear bag.
 
GRWeldon said:
I just returned a Mevotek Supreme front left LCA because it didn't have a greaseable ball joint. The right one that I ordered at the same time had a greaseable ball joint. I can almost guarantee that they will send me back the same exact part. This particular control arm said Mevotek Supreme on the box, had the correct part number but didn't come in a blue printed plastic bag, just a clear bag.
Click to expand...

I bought these ones from Amazon, if you're still looking -



AutoZone is supposed to stock them but they cross over to Duralast arms without the greaseable fittings.
 
There's a thread on the old site about that. The greaseable LFs are no longer available. You'll have to find a NAPA with old stock like I did.
 
Grog6 said:
The mevotech professional ones are back on ra; I'm going to hope I can get a set, before they disappear.
Click to expand...
Well, I just returned a non-greaseable unit for replacement. The one they sent me back was identical to the one I returned. Not greaseable. I specifically mentioned why I was returning the unused non-greaseable unit. This was two days ago...
 
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