Planning front control arm rebuild.

I see sources for the LCA ball joints and complete control arm bushings (ES, Prothane and White Line).

Q: Are the OEM UCA ball-joints replaceable or do the entire UCAs just get purchased separately, along with a Front Control Arm bushing set/LCA BALLJOINTS.??

 

The upper is a sealed ball joint, you replace the entire thing.

You should consider getting an aftermarket FUCA that would typically be part of a camber kit, there is NO camber adjustment on the stock arm but the adjustable aftermarket ones like the one offered by Z1 Motorsports has adjustable points plus a replaceable upper ball joint.

Just don't get them with solid heim joints Get the poly ones, take the polyurethane bushings out (they're only hand tight but you might need a screwdriver to push out the center metal tube) and lube them THOROUGHLY with poly bushing grease or some off the shelf marine grease or whatever NLGI#2 grease you have laying around in a grease gun (seriously you want the entire thing slimy with lube where it rides against the inner race of the metal FUCA as well as on the inside race of the poly where the metal tube goes through it). If you don't they will squeak, if you lube them heavily they will almost never squeak even a decade later. First lube them by hand, then once the FUCA is installed on the vehicle shoot a little more of that grease into the greaseable zerk fittings. Don't go crazy pumping grease into the grease zerks though or you will hydraulically damage those poly bushings, a hand pump grease gun can generate almost 1000 lbs of hydraulic force if you're pushing hard enough. You won't be squeezing grease out of the side of the fittings like you would normally watch for when doing things like greasing u-joints and 2-piece slip yoke driveshafts and such, instead you'll literally be pushing the poly bushing itself out.

 

Thanks for the reply on a Saturday night!
Yup.
On the 99-04 mustang cobras with IRS, The Rear FTBR Delrin and FLCA Global West (FORD RACING Clone) Del-A-Lum Delrin bushings have a spiral groove that feeds, through a grease fitting, to lubricate the outer-inner metal sleeve of the bushings...so what you advise makes sense in that without a path for the grease, the grease gun force would damage the outer bushing, because the grease has no real place to go.

I don't have the rear FTBR bushings in my mustang. I have the MM Delrin bushings without the grease fittings, but my MM bushings are lathered with synthetic grease/teflon paste that comes with the MM kit. The teflon probably keeps the grease in place or where it needs to be.
No problems or noise so far, as I am only a daily driver.

Thank you for your quick and incisive reply....as always.

I use Green Grease or sometimes Mobile1 synthetic in a pinch.. I also use Green Grease on my Mustang MM CC Plate bearings to block dust contamination from getting to my bearings.

 

Yup.
Hiem joints suck for any joint that has to articulate..even the teflon lined ones.

They are dirty joints.

 

They're great at what they're designed for which is track cars.