Hey Everyone,

I'm attempting to replace the upper control arm on my 2011 XJL. It's been a lot harder than I thought it would for a couple of reasons.

1. The bolts that hold the wishbone to the frame are difficult to get to as one is under the fuse box.
2. The camber bolt in the wishbone hit the from shock/spring when trying to remove.

This brings me to my question. I"m trying to move the shock out of the way in order to remove the camber bolt from the wishbone. I've taken the four bolts off the top of the strut and only need to remove the T60 bolt from the bottom. That T60 bolt is seized like nobodies business. My question is, can I put a spring compressor on that strut to just move it enough to remove the camber bolt? Or do I need to drop the bottom of that strut by removing the T60 bolt? I feel like if I have to remove that T60 bolt I'm going to be replacing a lot of crap due to the damage I will have to do.

Thoughts??

 

I'm pretty sure you will have to undue the T60 bolt to move the shock out of the way. Sorry

 

I was afraid of that.

Do you think an impact with a T60 is less likely to strip?

 

Seizure of those bolts was commonplace on the previous model, although mine were OK. On the later model the design is the same, except you have coils not air springs. I was told by a mechanic when my car was in for having the lower shock bushes replaced, that it was occasionally necessary to remove the lower straight arm of the suspension and the spring unit as an assembly, and then saw the bolt to split the assembly into its two parts

Have you not ever had the lower shock bushes replaced ? If you're at the stage of replacing major suspension parts like the top wishbone, I would think those lower shock bushes must be well worn out by now, as they are the shortest life component of the front and rear suspensions.

 

I couldn't say. That bolt has never been much trouble for me. Just using some penetrating oil or heat should free it up. I find its harder to get everything lined up properly to put the damn thing back in.

 

Well, I will check to see if it ever been replaced. I suspect not since the bolt is seized up so bad. I was looking at the lower shock bushings and they are only like $40 each, so pretty cheap. Wondering at this point if its worth replacing the straight arms as well. They have a number of bushing.

 

I'll try a little heat. I'm using a breaker bar but still not able to get enough.