Check your rear lower control arms!

[02Expedition]

hnd ordered up a set M14x2 100mm 10.9 bolts from Fastenal for $6ea.

Did you need Full thread or partial for this?

 

[Poor Expy Drive]

We have a 2000 EB Expedition experiencing the lower control arm failure. We have ordered both the lower and upper control arms since the uppers appear to in the beginning stages of failure since the powder coating is flaking etc. The arms we ordered did not come w/ hardware & see the post from Bremsen about getting them @ Fastenal but wondered if the Fastenal spec was for the lower or the upper or both control arms. We are waiting for the parts & have not yet taken the old arms off. I am very pissed off about this failure. We purchased the Exp new, it's been garage kept & always taken thru the car wash after a snow storm, etc. Had no idea this was an issue with others until I saw this thread. Ford's had rust issues w/ Windstars and just recalled F150's for gas tank straps, how long until they recall for these control arms.

 

[kwilk79]

Well I ended replacing my lower arms and guess what about a month later the uppers broke, so when I take off the real axle flexes and the driveshaft comes out a bit , and i get some vibration so I have to take off really slow so that wont happen, so now I dont drive it due to that. Any ideas of a good place to get the uppers, I ordered the lowers on ebay. I see that these are named a few differnt names. rear upper control arms and rear upper trailing arms. just to clarify so when I order does it matter the name that they use , I dont want to order the wrong ones, I see them on ebay for 145 it looks like it the right part and it says its the rear upper control arms.

 

[Biged1968]

kwilk79, i bought my lowers from PMT machine, they also sell the uppers, they are very well built, Pmt machine has a internet site and they sell on ebay, you can get the arms with all the bolts and nuts. so no need chasing parts.

 

[kwilk79]

ok thanks I will try them out

 

[will_higgins]

I was just under my 98 Expy last night and low and behold i have two very large holes in my lower controll arms. Flipping sweet!! I have found them on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1997...ake:Ford|Model:Expedition&hash=item2eb7ad804c for the lower. And here is a good price for the uppers. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-2...ake:Ford|Model:Expedition&hash=item231457151e .
The prices are $185 for lower and $140 for upper. I will be ordering these ASAP.
I have to say that this forum has been great for crap like this. However, i wish i knew about this before my purchase of the Expy.

 

[JTKustoms]

Yeah I checked mine last valentines day. Pullin out of wally-world, the one snapped and I dropped my drive shaft. The other one was cracked. Happy Valentines Day!

same exact thing happened to mine a few years ago, one snapped and the driveshaft dropped out

 

[Rebecca]

When I bought my expedition 12 months ago, both the rear trailing arms and the rear upper control arms (amongst quite a few other things) had to be replaced. I had the dealer do it (negotiating the repair costs in with the purchase price) prior to me driving it off the lot. The trailing arms in particular were absolutely horrid, both would've snapped within no time. They were so bad, in fact, that it wasn't safe to even test drive.

Now, I'm originally from upstate NY and know far too well the accelerated deterioration inflicted on vehicles by the snow, salt and extended winters. When reviewing the Carfax report on the Expedition, one of the things I was specifically looking for was where it had been located. With two previous owners, the truck had never been garaged farther north than Virginia. Obviously we still get snow and ice here, but nowhere near as much, as often or for as long as the northern snow belt states. Taking into consideration my Expedition's age (2000), Mileage (109k miles when purchased), and known garaged locations, the deterioration of those trailing arms was still surprising to me. Being that bad, they probably should have been replaced at least 20k miles earlier if not more.

I'm glad this thread stayed active because up until now, I had assumed that since they had been replaced last year, I probably wouldn't ever need to replace them for as long as I have it. Unfortunately, because they were replaced at a dealership using (what I would assume to be) the same poorly finished OEM parts, now I know I'll have to keep an eye on them in the future.

In case anyone was curious, in addition to the parts, the invoice reflects a 4 hour labor charge for the trailing arm replacements and another 5 hours for the rear upper control arms and the brake hose assemblies’ replacement combined.

 

[the_tool_man]

Old thread, I know.

But I'm looking for adjustable lower arms for my '02 Expy to correct a pinion angle problem. I found one person making them. But he uses a single RH thread stud for adjustment. I'd like to get a pair made with RH and LH threaded ends, so I don't have to disconnect the links to make adjustments. Can anyone make me a set of these?

 

[TheMightyThor]

I just checked out mine, lowers look like they might be new... cant see the uppers, gotta get under it but its pouring rain so I'll wait LOL

 

[AskMeLater]

I just found this thread. What an eye opener! Does anybody know the affected years? It looks like Ford might have changed the design in 2003, because all I can find on rockauto.com for the rear is a 'toe link' for that year.

I just bought a 2003 4x4 last month, and we are going to be using this vehicle mainly for road trips. In fact, we are going up to Wisconsin next month, so I hope I'm good to go.

Come on Ford wrenches, help a brother out! Gimme the info! I work offshore, so I won't be able to put eyes on it for two more weeks!

 

[allanbegg]

My '98 Expy has failed annual inspection due to lower trailing arm being rusted through.

Has anyone installed the "MTC 30192" arms? Cost is pretty low compared to others, so not sure of quality.

Can't afford to spend too much, but need to replace these quickly, in order to get through inspection.

Thanks, Allan