Prudence, my 87 Town Car

[packman]

I jacked the trans up a little, unbolted the trans mount from the trans and at the sides (at the frame), tilted the trans mount downwards to free it from the transmission, and then turned it kinda sidewards and maneuvered it up and out of the frame gusset. Then I just reversed the procedure to install. It was quite the operation IIRC.

[gadget73]

yup, unbolt it, lift the trans, slide the mount out. Should be able to jack it up enough that it doesn't require much in the way of fiddling, though it might help if you rotate the driveshaft so one of the U joint shafts is horizontal.

[VicCrownVic]

Also, if you need to unbolt the trans cross member I've ran into a scenario where it is impossible to get the bolt out because it hits the floor pan before it clears the hole. This is due to shot body mounts. Get a piece of wood to spread the load on the floor pan and jack the body up if you run into this issue. Although perhaps your car isn't high mileage and won't give you this trouble.

[Lutrova]

Well I got the job done. In and out in about three and a half hours. Got a jack on the trans and was able to get just enough clearance to pull the old mount straight out. Grinding out the crossmember was probably the longest part of the job. I just had cheap Harbor Freight bits, but the Auto Craft Shop has pneumatic tools. I'd never used air tools before - pretty cool. What I had read somewhere on here but forgot about was that the Fox mount is a good deal taller than the old one. So I did have to unbolt the crossmember and shimmy it around until I got the new mount in. But all in all it wasn't that big of a deal.

I'm assuming the old mount was shot...



Unfortunately, replacing the mount has done nothing to fix the shaking I've been feeling. It feels both like it might be suspension related - every little bump in the road feels harder - or driveline related - the jerk on letting off the accelerator. I was really hoping the trans mount was the culprit for everything, but apparently not. At this point I'm starting to run out of ideas.

[Lutrova]

Well, in the latest on the car's shaking, I'm looking into the lower ball joints. They're both totally covered in greasy sludge. The boots are pretty pliable underneath, but clearly they've been leaking. With so much debris packed in around them, I figure there's a decent chance they're both on their way out.

The lower control arm bushings also appear to be succumbing to age, and I noticed a little seepage from the left upper ball joint.

I had planned on just replacing the lower ball joints since they're the parts that are most clearly worn out. But now I'm thinking I might want to do lower control arm bushings at the same time. After doing a little research on the forum, I think I'd rather just stick with rubber bushings. The poly ones seem to require burning out rubber, but I assume rubber replacements just press in? I also see Moog sells two different sets, one for same size bushings and one for different size. Which cars would have different sized bushings?

[gadget73]

Ford says do the entire LCA if the ball joint is bad, basically with the idea that if the ball joint is done so are the bushings. Not sure thats an option now, but you can rebuild them. It sucks, but its definitely not impossible. Dealing with that front spring is not even a little bit fun, but rebuild vs replace doesn't affect that.

I think its the cop cars with the different bushings but you can check yours easy enough. A big adjustable wrench or vise grips or literally anything that has movable jaws that can be set and left in a position will do it. They will either match or be pretty obviously different in size.

[Lutrova]

One of these days I will actually get around to doing the ball joints. At this point work has been busy enough that I haven't had time to get to the shop for an afternoon. I'm wondering if it might happen sooner if I did the job in my own garage.

To that end, is it possible to replace the ball joints - lower, but possibly also upper - without needing to compress the spring? Does the hub/rotor have to come off the spindle? If the only specialized tool needed is the ball joint press then it might make sense to pick one up and try it at home, but if spring compressors are also necessary then it starts to add up.

[VicCrownVic]

Spring compressor not needed. Jack the lower control arm up when it's time to reconnect the spindle.
The manual ball joint press kind of sucks, but I may have accidentally purchased oversized lower ball joints.
The uppers are easy once you figure out that the rivit heads on the underside is what needs to be ground off (assuming it still has factory ball joints). Grinding the top heads off is useless even though they are much easier to access. On both that I have done that upper ball joint does not move with the top heads ground off but comes out super easy with the bottom heads ground off.

Also, I did remove the caliper, rotor, and splash shield so I assume it must have needed to come off.

[Mainemantom]

Easier to replace the entire A arm assembly rather than just a ball joint. There are a couple nos on Ebay. Average price was $49 for the upper passenger side. Driver side occasionally is offered for about the same. That is what I have done many times.
CV,MGM and TC interchange for boxes. There is one offered for $149. It is the police version. Will fit but save your money.

[Lutrova]

Replacing the control arms may be easier, especially if the bushings need to be replaced, too. But I've got the ball joints already, and the arms themselves are so rust-free I'd feel bad just tossing them. If it did come to replacing arms I think I'd go to the yard and grab a spindle and upper arm from a 95-97 TC.

Thanks for the advice, Vic. I also found a video of some guy doing ball joints on his '96 Jimmy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3xMYZOzfU8 The suspension looks to be pretty close to a Box. Seems he was able to swing the spindle around on the tie rod without messing with the wheel bearings or rotor. I was concerned about the spring being dangerous when separating the joints, but it doesn't look to be too bad so long as the castle nut is still on. What I'm not entirely clear on is whether I can leave the sway bar end link connected.

In other news, I've been applying sound deadening to the roof, doors, and trunk. When I pulled up the carpet in the trunk I discovered a sheet from the factory calling out paint defects. I can only partially make out 'POTTER' and another word to the left of 'POLISH', and the stamp right of that is unreadable, but 'LANDAU' is 'SANDERS 7505', and a date stamp reads 'Aug 11 5 08 P(M?) '86'. Another stamp to the left of the date says 'ENAMEL SPILL'. No idea what any of it means, but I think it's cool to find something like this that's been hidden away for 35 years.





Full size images: https://imgur.com/a/ND6kWx4

[Tiggie]

Special Lincoln paint treatment! I have never seen a Ford sheet like that.

[Mainemantom]

Same here, never seen those sheets. At least quality control inspectors were doing their job.

[massacre]

Very cool

[87gtVIC]

Neat find.

[VicCrownVic]

Jogging my memory some more. Don't remove either upper or lower castle nut, just loosen them enough to pop the spindle loose. Or take the nuts all the way off to ensure they will come off then put them back on to separate spindle from the ball joints. I think I used a pitman arm puller with the bolt threaded in from the other side to push the ball joint free in the spindle. The castle nuts will then spin the ball of the ball joint if you have the arm jacked up. Pressure from the spring will keep the ball joint from spinning. Hope that makes sense, it's a little fuzzy in my memory because it's been a couple years now.