1994 CV Upper Control Arms interchangeable?

[Hill185]

Looking for a drivers side upper control arm with ball joint for a '94 Crown Vic. Rockauto only has lower, and none of the other suppliers seem to have any. Does anyone know if other Aero Vic control arms will work? For instance Rockauto has upper control arms for a '97 Crown Vic.

Thanks for any tips

[kishy]

There is a way to make that combo work (97 arm on a 94), but I wouldn't recommend doing that, and I'm not sure if it might create a geometry problem between left and right. Your 94 uses a shaft that the arm mounts on while a 97 uses two fixed mounting locations with bolts. In order to install the shaft into the arm you need to press the bushings out of the assembled arm and then push them back in...which may destroy them and kills a lot of the value of buying a complete arm. I strongly suspect the reason there are no aftermarket complete early aero upper arms is because the parts manufacturers had no interest in assembling that mess.

I would just buy a ball joint that fits the arm (both the early and late aero style will work) and if it also needs bushings, buy them and install them in your existing arm. I would also be doing left and right at the same time but that's more of a preference than a rule. Consider that the car will need an alignment so if there's any doubt about other parts, this is the time to do all the problem items to avoid paying for multiple alignments in a short period of time.

[Hill185]

Thank you very much, that answers my question. I did find a NOS arm, but the price was a bit of a turn off. Again, thx

[sly]

+1 just rebuild the arm you have if it's not damaged. Bushings are a bit if a PITA, but the bushing tool helps loads.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/8MILELAKE-Con...dp/B07HF7RDWP/
I have the OEM Tools version (27206), but that's $135 now. Exact same contents, though probably better quality.

[Hill185]

Original arm is ok, looks like I’ll be pressing a new one in. Thanks for the reply’s fellas.

[gadget73]

You can use the 97 arm, but as mentioned only if you remove the bushings and swap the shaft from the 94 arm into it. At that point you've removed 2 sets of bushings and need to install 1 set vs just R&R one set if you rebuild the arm you have already.