Son of a.....Murphy is a d-bag!

[JOES66FURY]

So my kid says the 96 Explorer is shaking pretty bad at highway speeds.

A few things pop into mind so I trade trucks and put it on jack stands...a quick check says the wheel bearings are a bit worn and could use a swap. No big deal.

I am fiddling with things to see what else could be wrong and everything seems tight on the pass side...Cool. get to the drivers side and do the standard parts checks and I notice the rear part of the upper control arm is moving quite a bit.
Thinking the bushings are shot, I pull it apart..bushings are good.... hmm

Took a look at the rear bolt, its got 2 big gouges in it, about 1/4 inch deep. Damn bolt looks like a crank shaft.

Now I gotta find replacements...the local chain stores don't carry hardware...

Looks like its rock auto or maybe A+ will have it if they are open tomorrow...

What sucks is now its gotta get an alignment....

[SuperBuickGuy]

buy Fords, use F-words... nothing abnormal here


okay, nothing like giving you grief to add to you pain

[Caveman Tony]

Wonder if some four-wheelin' and AZ pinstripin' contributed to the abnormal wear pattern? (sic, wink, wink...)

[JOES66FURY]

I know she had it alighned about 2 years ago. I suspect that the place I know she took it to did not properly tighten the bolts...it didn't seem that the back cam was properly seated in the perch....its a 2WD and my boy ain't much of a boy...so no 4 wheeling...

[bulletproof]

not sure if these are uppers or lowers,,,, napa# ncp 2642953

[Monk]

Sucks.......especially when you're wanting to get it done.
I'm not good at waiting for needed parts.

[JOES66FURY]

not sure if these are uppers or lowers,,,, napa# ncp 2642953

Those are the uppers, I may have to go check them out tomorrow, our NAPA sucks but it is worth a shot as I HATE dealing with the local salvage yards here.

[squirrel]

I know she had it alighned about 2 years ago. I suspect that the place I know she took it to did not properly tighten the bolts....

I encountered that problem several years ago, had a few cars aligned and it seems like no one in the alignment business at the time knew that you have to tighten the bolts when you're done. Since then I like to go over them myself afterwards...

Might be a junkyard part?

[JOES66FURY]

I encountered that problem several years ago, had a few cars aligned and it seems like no one in the alignment business at the time knew that you have to tighten the bolts when you're done. Since then I like to go over them myself afterwards...

Might be a junkyard part?

If Merle's cant get it I will swing by the yards tomorrow and see. I suspect I can find it there....I also noticed (as it was dark when I pulled the bolts last night) the bolt threads are gone right were it would be reaching torque.


This thing had over 180K on the clock and the 5.0 still pulls strong and is dead nuts reliable. I am amazed at the condition of the front end parts, once I added new wheel bearings it is super tight..If only the interior held up as well. the only issue being the bad bolt....

[TC]

I still say give Copper State a call in the morning, the ones here have almost every type of bolt you can imagine........