Upper Control Arm & Alignment

Joined
Sep 26, 2017
Messages
1,587
Location
Under the Hood
Good morning all.

I will be replacing the Upper Control Arms on a 2002 Ford Ranger(160,000 miles) / giving me new Ball Joints and Bushings.
Ford Rangers have a two-piece UCA on the passenger side / one piece has Bushings, other piece has Ball Joint (see photo).
It's common practice to replace these two-piece arms with a one piece and using an adjustable Cam Bolt (see photo).

My concern is that I may loose my 'camber' alignment with the Adjustable Cams resulting in poor tire wear.
Question: Has anybody installed these Adj Cam Bolts and had problems.

The 'current' Control Arm with Bushings can not be purchased / I would need to buy replacement Bushings.
But that's an option if the Bushings can be easily replaced.

So that's it:
Option 1: Keep it stock and deal with the Bushings and hope it can be aligned
OR
Option 2: Go to a one piece Control Arm with the adjustable Cam Bolts (I believe many Indy Mech would go this route)

Thanks for any suggestions.

Factory two piece Upper Control Arm (photo from internet)
98a45a9f-05cb-4cde-b513-abfa85493de2.jpeg


Adjustable Cam Bolts (photo from internet)
Screenshot (3).jpg
 
We use them all the time without problems. Our fleet is the same front end (2000 model year explorers). When we need to replace that arm we get cam bolts and have plenty of adjustment to get it in alignment.
 
t1snwrbrdr12 - Thanks for the info / good to hear.

Upon further (internet) reading, it seems wise to put the Cam Bolts on Driver and Passenger sides

This is my first time changing an UCA and I'm in the 'collecting info' stage.
Thanks for your opinion.
 
Last edited:
We use them all the time since they got rid of the caster slider years ago. Only issue I have had is with customers wanting the OE part and not understanding what a supercession is. Also the arms are different if you have coil springs vs torsion bars.
 
OP here,

Previously I was totally ignorant of how these Cams/Bolts worked.
I have since seen a good You-tube video, along with your experience.

So, I will install these Cam Bolts on Driver & Passenger sides.
At 160,000 miles, I will most likely use OEM replacement Upper Control Arms.

Thanks for the info.
 
OP here,

Previously I was totally ignorant of how these Cams/Bolts worked.
I have since seen a good You-tube video, along with your experience.

So, I will install these Cam Bolts on Driver & Passenger sides.
At 160,000 miles, I will most likely use OEM replacement Upper Control Arms.

Thanks for the info.

Good idea. We used moog for awhile on our fleet. They’d be shot at the next 6 month maintenance. Now we’ve since switched to some no name brand that’s even worse because that’s what we do, haha!
 
Either option will work fine. Once either upper arm is taken off (main arm not the 2nd piece on passenger's side) it'll need an alignment and a competent alignment tech can get it set right, assuming your lower BJs and tie rods are in good shape. Putting the cam bolts on makes it easier and saves buying them later if needed.
 
Good idea. We used moog for awhile on our fleet. They’d be shot at the next 6 month maintenance. Now we’ve since switched to some no name brand that’s even worse because that’s what we do, haha!
This MOOG link explains the difference between MOOG's R Series and CK Series of parts (half way down page)
R Series .... is lower quality
CK Series .... the quality most would expect
 
Back
Top