Quote:
Originally Posted by StephenVA
Item #6 in the rear suspension forward control arm (Upper Guide Link) has a small swivel joint (ball shaped) that only comes with the arm. Their average life span is 100K, so one replacement in 200K for the 3.0 applications, longer than most owners' ownership. In the large V8 they last approx 60K depending on driver and road conditions.
Unless your needs are such and you plan on HEAVY modifications, it works as designed.
The next question just for curiosity, Why would you want to? What performance, adjustment advantage are you seeking?
There was a company that made adjustable length units many years ago. Are they still around? Who knows. Use the search function on this site to find the postings.
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I'm interested because I will be changing the bushing to poly which is essentially a lifetime bushing. So the ball joint is likely to wear out before the poly if the poly ever does. The existing arms have about 60,000 miles on them, so they've got maybe 40,000 miles left in them. I have 250,000 miles on this truck and I am shooting for 350,000. That means those ball joints will need to be replaced sometime before I ever have to replace the bushing. Since the arms themselves are essentially a lifetime part and a poly bushing is a lifetime part I'm curious to know if it is possible to replace the one piece of the arm assembly that's not lifetime. Especially since if the ball joint can't be replaced I will need to order a complete new arm, press out the rubber bushing to install poly and throw away the rubber bushing. Along with throwing away a perfectly good control arm that comes off with the worn out ball joint. Make sense?
Adjustable are still available from Hardrace:
https://hardraceusa.com/collections/x5-e53-2000-2006