swathdiver
Full Access Member
Went and tried to remove the upper control arms (21mm for bolt and nut) with no joy. Sent a text to my daughter asking her to pick up a hardened socket and a reciprocating saw with some bi-metal blades. My youngest asks me how it's going and then took a stab at it, got it all done with minimal assistance from me! LOL Super Jaime to the rescue! Sent a text to her big sister telling her to cancel the saw and blades, the socket will still come in handy.
Edited to add that the lower control arm bolts are 18mm and the nuts are 15/16ths, deep socket. Since the bolt is in a depression, some wrenches don't get a good hold so we used a breaker bar to hold it in place. The metric socket was too loose compared with the 15/16ths. As far as I can tell, everything is original, the cams still have the plastic inserts from the factory and we didn't destroy them getting them out.
So that's where we are today. Have to decide on whether or not to drop the diff so we can raise the motor and change the motor mount or hire that job out to the professionals. Kids picked up the newly painted bumper cover from the dealer, they said it looked great, I'll look on the morrow.
Edited to add that the lower control arm bolts are 18mm and the nuts are 15/16ths, deep socket. Since the bolt is in a depression, some wrenches don't get a good hold so we used a breaker bar to hold it in place. The metric socket was too loose compared with the 15/16ths. As far as I can tell, everything is original, the cams still have the plastic inserts from the factory and we didn't destroy them getting them out.
So that's where we are today. Have to decide on whether or not to drop the diff so we can raise the motor and change the motor mount or hire that job out to the professionals. Kids picked up the newly painted bumper cover from the dealer, they said it looked great, I'll look on the morrow.
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