[craigsa]

I’ve removed the upper control arm on the passenger side and cleaned it up.
Seems to have been gouged by something. Is it ok to refit. Holes seem fine from the under side.

 

[craigsa]

 

[craigsa]

Looks like someone has been in there with an angle grinder for some unknown reason.

 

[Sparkie93]

...to remove the original rivets holding the ball joint.

 

[cruising68]

Looks like it got chewed by a cutoff wheel when trying to remove the ball joint rivets. Might be ok but I would replace it to be on the safe side.


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[craigsa]

Under side

 

[rbohm]

bare upper arms are cheap enough that its stupid to deal with something that is below par trying to make it work.

 

[BW66]

As long as they are not to deep and the bolt hole fit is ok I would put a washer on it just to help. They were done by a cut off wheel or air chisel to remove the rivets that held the ball joints on originally.

 

[craigsa]

I didn’t know the originals for the 66 Mustang were riveted in.

 

[BW66]

If you are changing everything else I would buy new upper control arms. Opentracker has a Nice set of upper control arms.

 

[68Ghost]

Stock replacements I found cheapest at Auto Parts Warehouse.

 

[Huskinhano]

I'd definitely replace it. Those cuts set up stress risers for a possible crack and failure. Why take a chance on a critical suspension parts especially when replacement parts are cheap and commonly available.

 

[craigsa]

$60 for these.

 

[craigsa]

Well, that stalls all the plans for the long weekend!

Can't do much without the upper control arms in.

 

[66_72stanger]

Craig,

The original arms upper &lower, are stamped steel units; weak links of the front end. I would not reinstall compromised pieces. For a few bucks more and given you have already have them out, I would think about installing some aftermarket upgrades. Open Tracker or Global aWest units won’t break the bank but the performance gained would be very substantial.
either way be sure to carefully inspect the complete front end suspension. If the PO employed a cut wheel to remove the original ball joints, who knows what other “tricks” they had up their sleeve.

 

[2nd 66]

if you have a welder and a grinder and know how to use them .............