I need to replace the front upper control arms on my 87 S4 and from the searches i'm doing on here some people are sayings its almost impossible to get to the bolts with the engine in the car??? Is this correct? Is there a write up for this somewhere? It's currently 42 degrees outside in Michigan and thought I would start on the disassembly process.

 

Perfectly doable, but it takes some patience. Did it a couple of years ago on mine.
If I remember correctly, I had to get one bolt on each side from below the car, the others can be reached from above. I did have to use a fairly long breaker bar to reach. The biggest problem I had was to get the upper a-arm separated at the balljoint without damaging the rubber boot.

Cheers,
Carl

 

This link might help: http://www.928intl.com/repair/upperaarm.pdf

 

thanks for the input. What are the torque specs on those two bolts in the engine compartment? I can't budge these things holy cow! Mine are also 23mm.

 

103 ft lbs

 

One thing that helped me get them loose is an old 1/2" drive breaker bar I inherited that has been cut down to about 10". Once I got it and the socket onto the driver side nuts it was easy to slip the box end of a large wrench over the end of the breaker bar and get enough leverage to break the nuts loose. A 1/2" drive palm ratchet sped things up as well. The passenger side was pretty easy from under the car as I don't have an air pump installed.

Mike

 

As Carl says - 1 each side crack them from above - the other pair from below. Then to undo them it's easiest to attack the rear bolts by putting your arm up the front of the cross member and the front bolts up the rear of the X member. Sorry I can't be more specific as II haven't done it enough times to remmeber exactly how - but last time I had all 4 undone in about 15 minutes.

I don't have a ratchet spanner in the right size (22mm IIRC) but what I find useful is a 72 tooth 1/2" ratchet that has three separate handles - 6" 12" and 24" and the ratchet bit is about 4" long with no handle attached.

 

i also used the breaker bar to loosen, and a ratchet wrench to finish the job of getting the nuts off the studs.

 

The fun part is when installing to get a torque wrench on there. Wiggling around to get that one more 'click' on the ratchet of the torque wrench. Scraping your hands and trying 13 different positions just to wind up in the original position. Man, good old times

 

Thanks guys for all the tips and tricks. Obviously mine are seized on there if they are only torqued to 103 ft/lbs. I was able to get my 15" bar in there and really reemed on it but could not get it to crack loose. I soaked them with PB blaster and im going to weight since it started raining by than. I'm currently working on the driver side, good to know the passenger side might go a little smoother with no air pump installed. I also noticed if I removed the oil filter I get a little more room.

Just to confirm:

There are on righty tighty and lefty loosey, correct? Didn't know if these are reverse thread or not?

 

So I guess I should make sure to put my new C-arms in while I have the engine out.

This is good to know

 

Yes, normal thread.

 

Success I got the driver side out. I just ordered a set of steel control arms from 928 Motor Sports. Will let you guys know how they hold up as I this is my daily driver in the summer.

 

You and me both.
I am excited to get my engine out and all my parts on.

 

Dayum dude teasing me with all those goodies! Very nice! Are you doing the lower ball joints as well while your in there? Still up in the air about that even thought mine are currently OK.