Factory Five Roadster Build Part 3: Suspension Install

The FFR upper control arm is a multipiece part that is fully adjustable for camber and caster adjustments.

The arm mounts with its own hardware to the frame.

We also snugged the arm's adjustment sleeves and lock nuts to take out any slop in the control arm until we were ready for an alignment.

(Clockwise from upper left) The upper control arm uses a Chrysler-style screw-in ball joint, which makes for simple servicing down the road. While we've heard that some people tack-weld the ball joint to the control arm to prevent the ball joint from backing out, we're optimistic that a generous helping of thread locker will do the same job.

Luckily, the editor of our sister magazine Mopar Muscle is just down the hall, and we were able to borrow his ball joint socket to properly tighten the ball joint to the specs in the FFR build manual.

We're sure there are alternatives, but there's no excuse not to use the right socket when you can usually get these from parts-store tool-loan programs.

As a final check, we used an automatic center punch to mark the ball joint and the arm. This way we can quickly inspect the ball joint to see if it is backing out on us.

The front suspension is slowly taking shape, as the completed upper and lower control arm installation shows.

One thing we didn't think about until after the upper control arms were installed was how to seat the ball joint dust boot.

We read several tips on the ffcobra.com forum, but in the end we simply used a pair of slip-joint pliers. The boot has an internal metal retaining ring that needs to seat in the groove of the ball joint. It takes a bit of patience to seat the boot, but you can do it without removing the arm.

Hindsight being what it is, these boots should have been installed before the arm went on the frame.