Advice on LCA, Cv axles, tie rods, etc....

[lanemeyer14]

In the process of doing my aspire swap I've noticed the festy has a lot of stuff that needs replacing up front. The outer cv boots are toast (one looks to be out of grease almost completely), inner boots torn as well, ball joint bushings are torn and worthless, and the steering rack boots look dead too! I already bought new escort duralast tie rod ends from autozone, but I'm unsure what else I should get, and where I should get it from. Should I just get new axles and control arms? Is any of this stuff worth getting on ebay? Please help guys!

[sam.1956]

When my left outer boot ripped open, the CV joint soon was toast. I can't recall which CV joint can be rebuilt (the Birfield or Rzeppa). One can, the other can't (or so I'm told). So I replaced the entire axle.

Took me 4 or so hours (I don't get in a hurry anyway and V8Festiva was a major distraction that day; what else can I say?) A new axle was something like $72 at AutoZone (oddly, they had 1 in stock that day). I already had a new axle crush nut to use.

I've had varying degrees of luck finding Festiva stuff in stock at places like Napa, Pep Boys, AutoZone, Advance Auto, Walker, etc. Sometimes I end up ordering stuff online and so far, so good.

[lanemeyer14]

Thanks Sam! I wish I had some people around here like you and Dean to help me with my festy repairs! I'm doing all this stuff for the first time ever and I'm all alone!

[sam.1956]

I know the feeling. Neither Dean nor I had ever done anything with front wheel drive cars before the Festivas. And as you know, the Ford shop manual often leads you down a primrose path then kicks your butt off the cliffs of Dover. I guarantee you that both Dean & I have done a LOT of head-scratching with a box-end wrench after the manual left us high & dry.

Many of the folks here on the forum actually know what they're talking about. Me... I'm just a hack with a wrench who ain't afraid to spin it. (...my poor Festiva....)

[Biglay5150]

I personally have'nt had any problems with the Ebay lower control arms. I know shucks has lifetime axles.

[sam.1956]

Does anybody know where you can buy Festiva suspension bits that actually have Zerk (grease) fittings?

[KingFish]

Grease fittings are a crap shoot even with the best of brands.

[skeeters_keeper]

You can get escort rod ends from nappa with zerk fittings and polly boots... 3x the cost of autozone but well worth it IMHO.

As far as LCAs we seem to be SOL, no one makes them with grease fittings.. I've considered trying to add my own, but haven't yet.

NAPA around here had the steering rack boots in stock and have lasted for 40+k on my car. They also have LCA's, but expect to pay an arm and a leg for them! I got a pair of LCA's with bushings from FMS on e-bay for like $50. The other day I was in a pinch and had to get one from napa and spent $100 for one, no bushings! I always cut the black rubber boots off and put on energy suspension polly boots. I've used the same energy susp boots on 3 sets of LCA's and they still are going strong, the black rubber ones that come stock on them crack in <6 months.

[lanemeyer14]

You can get escort rod ends from nappa with zerk fittings and polly boots... 3x the cost of autozone but well worth it IMHO.

As far as LCAs we seem to be SOL, no one makes them with grease fittings.. I've considered trying to add my own, but haven't yet.

NAPA around here had the steering rack boots in stock and have lasted for 40+k on my car. They also have LCA's, but expect to pay an arm and a leg for them! I got a pair of LCA's with bushings from FMS on e-bay for like $50. The other day I was in a pinch and had to get one from napa and spent $100 for one, no bushings! I always cut the black rubber boots off and put on energy suspension polly boots. I've used the same energy susp boots on 3 sets of LCA's and they still are going strong, the black rubber ones that come stock on them crack in <6 months.

Do you think it would be a good idea to order a set of LCAs off ebay($50-60 for a set) and add the energy susp. boots?

[TominMO]

CV Axles

In the process of doing my aspire swap I've noticed the festy has a lot of stuff that needs replacing up front. The outer cv boots are toast (one looks to be out of grease almost completely), inner boots torn as well, ball joint bushings are torn and worthless, and the steering rack boots look dead too! I already bought new escort duralast tie rod ends from autozone, but I'm unsure what else I should get, and where I should get it from. Should I just get new axles and control arms? Is any of this stuff worth getting on ebay? Please help guys!

I can strongly recommend www.cvaxles.com for remanufactured cv axles. Top quality and inexpensive.

[Smedley]

We just got outer tie rod ends from Carquest and low and behold, they have grease fittings. Don't know how they compare with others costwise, but my car needed to be done for Ohiostiva and they were in stock! We'll see how they hold up. They've only been on the car for two days.

[skeeters_keeper]

yea, i'd get the e-bay LCAs and put energy susp boots on in a minute. If you can, get some polly bushings for the LCA as well... the rubber ones that came with the FMS lca's are cracked almost to the point of falling apart after a year. I haven't got any polly bushings for that yet so I'm not sure where the best place to get them from is.

[festivaWES]

Do you think it would be a good idea to order a set of LCAs off ebay($50-60 for a set) and add the energy susp. boots?

For 99 bucks through FMS you can get a pair of LCA's, inner tie rods with boots, and the outter tierod ends. Sell the teirod ends on here and make back 10-15 bucks.