Raised my car this past weekend to try and find where the knocking sound is coming from and the likely culprit is the lower control arm bushing. A certain "speciality" Jag shop in Springfield failed to follow basic JTIS instructions and take precautions when they removed the control arms a while back to install my new struts and so they tore the bushings in the process. I knew this day would come when the ball joints would fail thanks to this, just didn't expect so soon. Anyway, lesson learned.

Question. Do I "really" need to loosen and lower the subframe in order to get the control arm out? If I lower it just one side at a time, a) would that save me from requiring a subframe realignment, and b) would the stress cause any damage to the other side that remains tightly bolted?

 

You'll definitely need to loosen the subframe. The vertical bolt holding the arm won't clear the frame of the car without some play. That being said, you can just loosen one side of the subframe and use some muscle-power to lever it down just enough to get the bolt out.

http://www.bluejag.co.uk/front-lower...arm-change.php

 

Ah, perfect. Gonna do both front axils this week. The other side is bound to go bad soon. This way I won't need to pay twice for an alignment.

 

Loosen the sub-frame bolts on the opposite side of the car and remove the one's on the side your are working on or you will have a tough time getting enough room to remove the upside down control arm bolts.

Alignment is very simple, when you are done as you are tightening the sub-frame bolts back up, stick a large pry bar or screwdriver in the alignment hole at the rear of the sub-frame on each side and wiggle it around to center it and presto it's correctly aligned again. No special tools needed, and very easy to do.

 

Good news and bad news (of course). Would it be any other way [urgh]

The good: Successfully changed the lower control arm on the passenger side with no issues. Thanks for all the advice and tips guys.

The bad: Attempted the same on the driver side, but had trouble removing the rear sub-frame bolt. Even with me impact wrench, it would not even budge. Sprayed some bolt off, waited, impact wrench (0), bolt (2). Brought out the breakers bar and after two loud clicks, was able to make two full turns. It loosened up a bit but then kept turning with no progress. It appears that the upper nut is turning with the bolt. Unfortunately, the upper nut (if it is a nut) is unreachable. It's in an inclosed space.

So now what? I can't loosen nor tighten it. Unfortunately, I can hear and feel it now when I drive.

Options?? I finally found a good shop I can take it to, but I'd rather finish this job myself.

 

I had the same problem.
check out my solution

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...e-free-113243/

 

Ah man, thank you. Comforted by the fact that I'm not the only one with this issue.

So would you take some $$ toward a 24-pack of beer (or a fancy bottle of wine) and two-way shipping charges to help out a fellow Pennsylvanian and let me borrow your magic wrench for a day :-) I'm only half kidding btw.

I can possibly grind the wrench with my Dremel, that's easy. I just need to figure out the bending part. Would a Bernzomatic hand-held blow torch do the job?

 

Spielnicht: Paul's bent wrench solution is brilliant.

There is a brute force solution, which I used prior to Paul posting his solution. It's posted here, including pictures at the bottom of page 1:

Suspension overhaul nightmare

Cutting a hole in the floorboard is easier than it sounds. It's perforated to show you where to cut, and reduces the cut to a ~3 inch straight line, which took only a few minutes and a few Dremel cutting discs.

Since it's precut, you don't need to cut all 4 sides of the access hole. You cut only the bottom edge of the square and bend the sheet metal up at the top of the square. The left and right sides of the square are factory pre-cut, i.e., Jaguar's engineers foresaw this need. The precut hole is on both driver and passenger sides. After loosening the bolt and repairing the suspension, I bent the sheet metal back over the hole, and resealed it with a ~4" square of galvanized sheet metal edged with RTV silicone, then put the carpet back in place.

If you choose this approach, feel free to ask questions.

 

I actually used a Bernzomatic torch to bend my wrench took about an hour to get the correct bends.
Let me know if you want to borrow mine PM me
could take a drive down and give you a hand if its not to far

 

Got it done last night with Paul's help. The wrench idea is genius, it worked like a charm. I would have gone for the footwell cut as a last resort, but glad to keep my car intact

Both control arms replaced, and thus knocking sound is gone. Now to address the wheel/tire issue that's causing the steering wheel to vibrate insanely (even at low speeds). Dropping her off at the shop this afternoon for that and an alignment.

 

Glad to hear you got it all fixed. It's nice when they aren't clunking all the time anymore.