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Not to threadjack but I'm in the middle of doing mine too. The upper BJ on the driver side came out by hand I'm hoping there's nothing wrong there. The threads look to be fine but I'll have to have a good look at the UCA .




Not good news. The Upper Ball joint should be very tight. If it's loose it could be because somebody used too much heat on it when replacing it last time, stripped it by over tightening it, or other problems. If the new ball joint will not tighten you have two choices.

1. Replace the UCA.
2. Tack weld the ball joint to the UCA.

I prefer #1 but I have heard many people do # 2 and have no problems.

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There is something wonky though because the drivers side strut rod is noticeably bent at the LCA end.




More Bad news.
It should be straight. Often people put the jack in the wrong spot, bend them in accidents or take the car off road and bend them. Time for a replacement.

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Another weird drivers side problem I noticed is the torsion bar was really corroded I'm guessing because its so close to the headers and all the heat-cool cycling.



This may not be so bad.
If the rust / corrosion is surface you can clean it up but if it starts to pit you need to replace them because it can cause a stress point that can lead to fractures. After cleaning it up make sure to coat it with a very good epoxy grade paint to prevent rusting.

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The torsion bar is also noticeably bent. Think its OK to use like this? The right side bar is rifle straight.




Even more bad news. It has to be straight or it's defective. but at least you don't worry about cleaning it.

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Also, I ordered original rubber strut rod bushings, but now after doing some homework it seems that there are two styles of original bushings? A one piece and a two-piece setup. Any one use the one piece? it looks to be too long for the application.



Good news at last.

In most applications the 1 or two piece design is swappable. as for the length it will squash / compress when installed so it isn't a big problem.


Sounds like the care got hit on that side. Take car to measure/check the LCA also.


P.S. What Kind of Car?