08redgt500 Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Opinions and experiences with J&M products? Thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboGT Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 I have their LCAs & adjustable UCA on mine - very high quality, very good price & customer service. I'd buy from them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drlovegun Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 I have their LCA's and they are fantastic! Easy install, great service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyhighsd Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 I have their LCAs & adjustable UCA on mine - very high quality, very good price & customer service. I'd buy from them again. Same here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08redgt500 Posted August 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Same here! Good to hear. I ordered from their website today, hotpart.com: - Red UCA Street Performance #23980R - Red Rear LCA Relocation Brackets #23885R - Red LCAs Street Performance #23861R - Red Street Adjustable Forged End Aluminum Panhard Rod #23737R Will be set for Street only. - VOGTLAND Lowering Springs #VOG 953094 Keeping the stock Tokico shocks for now. Do the above sound like a good combination, to lower a little, eliminate the bunny hop, and tighten in the corners? Most are generic "Mustang '05- Present" parts. Hope they all fit nicely in the GT500s, I'm guessing they do, since most of the suspension components are the same, just beefier in some cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08redgt500 Posted August 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 I have their LCA's and they are fantastic! Easy install, great service. How easy are the LCAs to install for a novice(me)? Are special tools required? I have all the basic tools one would expect to find in the average garage. I don't have any specialized auto-mechanic tools though. Like everyone, I am trying to save a few $s these days and if I can install the LCAs and panhard I want to. I know the UCA is a fairly major project to install, as well as the springs; I think? Any help from the folks on this forum would be greatly appreciated. Thx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enormous Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 How easy are the LCAs to install for a novice(me)? Are special tools required? I have all the basic tools one would expect to find in the average garage. I don't have any specialized auto-mechanic tools though. Like everyone, I am trying to save a few $s these days and if I can install the LCAs and panhard I want to. I know the UCA is a fairly major project to install, as well as the springs; I think? Any help from the folks on this forum would be greatly appreciated. Thx. I'm looking for similar information and possibly a link to self install the panhard and lower control arms. Thanks Norm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyhighsd Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 How easy are the LCAs to install for a novice(me)? Are special tools required? I have all the basic tools one would expect to find in the average garage. I don't have any specialized auto-mechanic tools though. Like everyone, I am trying to save a few $s these days and if I can install the LCAs and panhard I want to. I know the UCA is a fairly major project to install, as well as the springs; I think? Any help from the folks on this forum would be greatly appreciated. Thx. You can do it, the LCA are a very easy to install. There are no speacial tools required other than a torque wrench. Just take your time and dont rush it and you will be fine. The UCA is a little more of a pain in the butt but it is really not that bad. If you disconnect the shocks off of the axle and let the rear end hang down as far as it can with a floor jack under the rear end. At which time your spring will be free to come out. Jack the rear end back up a bit and you can remove the UCA and the bottom of the back seat comes out very easy. All of the time the car will be on jack stands. After replacing the UCA you might as well put in the new rear springs, since the old ones are free to come out. Ok on to the front springs here is a great how to. I just did mine the other day and only took a hour at most to remove the fronts. You will need to take the hole strut to a shop to have the springs changed DO NOT TRY TO TAKE THEM APART! Most tire and muffler shops can change them over for you. To tell you the truth if you can handle the LCA's you can do the rest. Just take your time and its more fun in my book to do my own work. Good luck and pm me if you need any info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiefferGT500 Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 More info: http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...andling+install http://www.stangnet.com/Tech-Articles/S197...all-061230.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08redgt500 Posted August 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 You can do it, the LCA are a very easy to install. There are no speacial tools required other than a torque wrench. Just take your time and dont rush it and you will be fine. The UCA is a little more of a pain in the butt but it is really not that bad. If you disconnect the shocks off of the axle and let the rear end hang down as far as it can with a floor jack under the rear end. At which time your spring will be free to come out. Jack the rear end back up a bit and you can remove the UCA and the bottom of the back seat comes out very easy. All of the time the car will be on jack stands. After replacing the UCA you might as well put in the new rear springs, since the old ones are free to come out. Ok on to the front springs here is a great how to. I just did mine the other day and only took a hour at most to remove the fronts. You will need to take the hole strut to a shop to have the springs changed DO NOT TRY TO TAKE THEM APART! Most tire and muffler shops can change them over for you. To tell you the truth if you can handle the LCA's you can do the rest. Just take your time and its more fun in my book to do my own work. Good luck and pm me if you need any info Thank you very much skyhighsd. I'll take a crack at it. First the LCAs, and if that builds my confidence a bit, I'll try the springs and UCA in the rear. I do have a floor jack and stands. Here's a novice question. Where is the best place to put the stands for this type of work, without having to worry about damaging the car or me? I can probably get my Ford dealer to change the fronts if I bring in the strut assembly. Do I need to have an alignment done after all this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08redgt500 Posted August 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 More info: http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...andling+install http://www.stangnet.com/Tech-Articles/S197...all-061230.html Thank you, I'll look here too.... I gotta learn sometime, I'm just a little afraid of messing things up since this will be my first attempt at something this, to me, complicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mciarochi Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Thank you very much skyhighsd. I'll take a crack at it. First the LCAs, and if that builds my confidence a bit, I'll try the springs and UCA in the rear. I do have a floor jack and stands. Here's a novice question. Where is the best place to put the stands for this type of work, without having to worry about damaging the car or me? I can probably get my Ford dealer to change the fronts if I bring in the strut assembly. Do I need to have an alignment done after all this? Here's an interesting thread on lift points. Grabber has some nice pics (as usual). There are others. http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...st&p=430127 Although I like the instructional linked above, I'm not really sure I like his choice of lift points, particularly the K-member. I think that is wrong. However, IMHO, the differential is okay as described, although it is not a recommended lift point. In this case, you need to move the axle as a unit, so I think it's the way to go. You certainly will need an alignment, you're just messing with too much stuff to NOT need an alignment. Out of your driveway to a shop that can do the work. Probably best to find the shop first. You won't knock it dangerously out of whack or anything, but you will need to check it. I just ordered some slightly different stuff. I went with the adjustable UCA especially for a lowered car. If you are going to be on the drag strip, you definitely need the adjustable UCA for pinion angle adjustment. I talked to a couple of shops, and I decided the relocation brackets were not necessary (and maybe a problem) unless you were going for drag strip. If you get the brackets, I've heard they should be welded, or tack welded with bolts. I figure if its a problem, the brackets can always go on afterwards, they are hanging right down there in front of God and everybody. I'm a major fan of the Fays2 Watts link. I did that first, and that would be my only mod if I had to pick one (thankfully, I get to do more than one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frydguy79 Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 dont forget to order new fastners before you take it apart!! most of the bolts and nuts are one time use stuff!! and they might take some time to get Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08redgt500 Posted August 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Here's an interesting thread on lift points. Grabber has some nice pics (as usual). There are others. http://www.teamshelby.com/forums/index.php...st&p=430127 Although I like the instructional linked above, I'm not really sure I like his choice of lift points, particularly the K-member. I think that is wrong. However, IMHO, the differential is okay as described, although it is not a recommended lift point. In this case, you need to move the axle as a unit, so I think it's the way to go. You certainly will need an alignment, you're just messing with too much stuff to NOT need an alignment. Out of your driveway to a shop that can do the work. Probably best to find the shop first. You won't knock it dangerously out of whack or anything, but you will need to check it. I just ordered some slightly different stuff. I went with the adjustable UCA especially for a lowered car. If you are going to be on the drag strip, you definitely need the adjustable UCA for pinion angle adjustment. I talked to a couple of shops, and I decided the relocation brackets were not necessary (and maybe a problem) unless you were going for drag strip. If you get the brackets, I've heard they should be welded, or tack welded with bolts. I figure if its a problem, the brackets can always go on afterwards, they are hanging right down there in front of God and everybody. I'm a major fan of the Fays2 Watts link. I did that first, and that would be my only mod if I had to pick one (thankfully, I get to do more than one). Thank you mciarochi for the confirmation on the alignment, and the link for various jack points. I had a REALLY BAD day starting with the Ford dealer in town; see the TSB 08-16-4 thread. Fortunately another member, lives in my neck of the woods, and has a good dealership in his town of Mt Airy. I'm about to start a long arduous process of communicating my issues with Frederick Motor's service and denial of service for the TSB, AFTER the dealership had acknowledged and agreed to do the full TSB yesterday! This car will never see a strip, other than to perhaps just run down once or twice with the stock tires, and so on; just so I can say I did it. SO, I called J&M and canceled the relo brackets for the LCAs, don't need'em, and what was nice is the guy at J&M told me I didn't need them unless I was going to race the car, and that having them would actually make the street handling flakey because of the additional toe out camber, at least I think that's what he said. I grabbed "Grabbers' extensive and awesome photo-record of his TSB work, and created a 97MB PDF out of it; evidence for further activities I'm engaged in now.... At least there's a few good dealerships out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08redgt500 Posted August 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 dont forget to order new fastners before you take it apart!!most of the bolts and nuts are one time use stuff!! and they might take some time to get Thank you frydguy79, very good tip. I was under the impression the J&M parts would come with the fasteners and so on needed. I'll be sure to check before I start, thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlangvardt Posted August 15, 2008 Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 I had my local Ford dealer install J&M lower control arms & the adjustable upper control arm. Wheel hop is all gone. I ordered all the mounting bolts and nuts from Ford, they took about a week to come in. The only bolt I could not get as a single part was the upper control arm to upper control arm mount bolt. The parts man showed me on the computer that to get that bolt the upper control arm and mount had to be ordered as a complete assembly just to get the bolt. I had the technician clean and reuse the original bolt. The cost of all the bolts and nuts was about $53.00 with tax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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