I have read the book and know "how" to torque the two control arm bolts at the sub-frame:
1. Car on the wheels, weight on the suspension
2. Torque to 51 ft lbs.
3. Turn another 120 degrees

However, I had practical problems actually doing this. With the car on the ground, there was zero room to swing the torque wrench. I drove it up on ramps, and still could not get enough room to fully swing the wrench. I had to move the distant end of my breaker bar in 1/2" increments, and guess at the torque.

I don't have a lift. So, the only other idea I had was to put a floor jack under the rotor with the tire off, and jack it up to compress the strut. Then, with the tire out of the way, I think I can get enough room to torque it up properly.

Is this acceptable? Is there a way I know that I have compressed the strut enough?

Thanks!

 

Wow, that's actually a very good question!

What do think the techs at the Goodyear store do when they're doing front end work on your car? Hmmm... Probably just impact it on in any old position.

What i would do is note the approx position/angle of the lower control arms (LCA) before i took it apart (would have to go look but think they're pretty much horizontal) with the car's weight on it.

Then lock it down and torque at that same position. Remember what you're trying to do; not have the bushings torqued when at rest (which is more or less the center of their rotational travel extremes). Make sense?

 

When I did my control arms and sway bar end links I had everything torqued to specs. About a week or so later I started getting clunking noises again. My son in law, who is a mechanic, said retighten everything and forget the torque wrench. Just torque them to good-n-tight. I retightened every bolt anywhere from 1/8 to 1/4 a turn and never had a problem since. Tech replied he never uses a torque wrench on those bolts either. Now I only use a torque wrench when I'm doing engine bolts.