Control Arm Question Recall?

[Swift 27]

Can anyone tell me which A-Arms these are? Are these the ones that were recalled or are these OK?

 

[shelbyelite]

The first two pics are of CAST A Arms. The last pic is a billet. Pics will not tell us if they are a recalled A Arm or not. What year model is your car and what is the last 4 of the vin. If you have an early production 05 and it has cast A Arms, chances are you have recalled A Arms. I was not aware there were any Ford GTs out there that still had the recalled A Arms still installed....

 

[thegtguy]

Control arms

If these pics are from the same car then it looks like it is an earlier 2005 car that has had at least the rear upper control arm replaced at some point in its life. The cast ones are on, roughly, 2005 VIN 1800ish to end of production. The cast ones are the only ones available out of service now as you can't get the billet ones anymore. You can also tell the control arm has been replaced because the paint pen mark on the control arm bolt is not there. Sounds like the car has a "story" to tell.
When the recalls were done the original arms were taken off and replaced with billet arms.

 

[shelbyelite]

I have had atleast 100 of the 05 Ford GTs including several VERY early cars. I have never seen mix-matched A Arms on on unless there was a "STORY" to the car....
I agree, something does not look right here. I assume this is a wrecked car, etc???

 

[Gulf GT]

Yep, bolt in first picture has definitely been on and off the car.

 

[KJRGT]

Yep, bolt in first picture has definitely been on and off the car.

You should change your name from Gulf GT to Eagle Eye GT. :thumbsup

 

[nota4re]

I agree with the others here and I would just add that I do not believe that there are ANY GTs in the hands of consumers with the "recalled" control arms. There were very few cars released by Ford at the time of the replacement decision and Ford was able to "touch" all of them for a suitable replacement.

 

[zrchris]

As I understand, the first ~300-400 cars had cast or sintered arms, all of which were recalled. These and about 1000 more thereafter have the billet arms after which they switched to a forged process. While the cast arms should have all been replaced by now, one should consider that during the later switch from billet to forged, maybe some cars have mixed arms (late 2005)?

I recall media reports that the recall replacement process was executed by dedicated travelling GT teams that tracked down the few hundred cars in circulation at the time. My car, 2005 #0604 built 10/29/04 (described as #212 of 2022) was one recalled, and according to the Oasis report, had the arms replaced on 4/4/05 apparently by the dealer while under his ownership. Maybe these travelling specialists did not reach all of the cars?

 

[Pete S.]

As I understand, the first ~300-400 cars had cast or sintered arms, all of which were recalled. These and about 1000 more thereafter have the billet arms after which they switched to a forged process. While the cast arms should have all been replaced by now, one should consider that during the later switch from billet to forged, maybe some cars have mixed arms (late 2005)?

I recall media reports that the recall replacement process was executed by dedicated travelling GT teams that tracked down the few hundred cars in circulation at the time. My car, 2005 #0604 built 10/29/04 (described as #212 of 2022) was one recalled, and according to the Oasis report, had the arms replaced on 4/4/05 apparently by the dealer while under his ownership. Maybe these travelling specialists did not reach all of the cars?

Going out on a limb here, but I believe those refered to as "These travelling Specialists" have answered the question in an earlier post on this thread. I am going to guess that these replacement nicely machined parts were assigned to each car needing replacements and was part of the "Tool Kit" that accompanied these specialists. I cannot see how a dealer or owner could possibly get these itmes and try and correct the problem themselves. I cannot even think why they would want to try when the factory was providing experts to make the change. I think there was quite a lag in production between the billet pieces on the earlier cars and those that followed: so that alone should explain that it is almost impossible for a mismatch to exist if all work on your control arms were done on 4/4/05. I am certain someone else on the forum can give a production date when the non-billet-machine arms hit the cars, or came into existance. As your build date is earlier than mine, and my '05 has all the machined billit arms, there wasn't a shortage yet. Unless they got to my car first.

I would concentrate your questions as to what most ealier posts here have indicated; there is probably a good explanation that can be uncovered by exposing the history of the car, and who may have done ??! It may be correct and safe, but someone did something.

And if it safe and aligned; I wouldn't give it another thought. Drive it!

Pete S.

 

[zrchris]

My car is all billet as well, all I'm saying is the Oasis report indicates it was done by the dealer, maybe they all do. Related to the original post I was posing the possibility that late 05 cars could be mixed when the switch was made in production from the use of billet to forged arms... remember the billet arms were not just used for the recall, but for many more cars during normal assembly (sorry, at Saleen).

Certainly as we don't know the details of the car in question in the original post, we can only make suggestions, and while it certainly raises red flags, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of mixed parts being originally installed in late 05. But are the arms pictured above cast or forged?

 

[Indy GT]

Well said Pete! I agree, the replacement specialists have spoken and given you new car owners the story.

Why is everyone so energized about this topic which was laid to rest YEARS ago? ALL nonconforming A-arms were identified, swapped out to CNC machined billet units by a select group of GT team members and the original defective units destroyed. End of story.

Some spectator shoots a couple pictures without any car pedigree or story and everyone is second guessing the very closely scrutenized Ford recall? Why all the fuss????

zrchris- The A-arm assemblies were not installed at Wixom, the rolling chassis was completed at Saleen in Troy, Michigan. Forum members attending Rally I saw this assembly station. Differentiating between a cast part and a forged part is certainly more difficult than determining if the arm is a CNC machined part.

Knowing full well the consternation this minor blemish caused the GT team of engineers and marketers during the introduction of Ford's Halo car, I would say with almost 100% accuracy there are no early defective A-arms in car land waiting to be reinstalled.

 

[zrchris]

Certainly much about the recall has been discussed in the past, and I am not suggesting that recalled cars were repaired with mixed parts. My main point is about later production. Late 05 cars COULD be out there with mixed parts from when the switch from billet to forged occurred during production, not necessarily true, but not necessarily the sign of a problem either. The unscrewed bolt is another story.

Of more relevance to the original poster is whether the pictured arms are forged or cast. As far as I know the later arms were forged, not cast, but other comments above seem to confuse this issue and hence why I posted. If they are cast, then we have a car here with some original defective units that have not been destroyed. I agree it is unlikely but not impossible.

I regret including info about my car as it caused further confusion; I was just trying to offer background related to Oasis reports, my car has no relation to the original post.

 

[fjpikul]

I can't believe IndyGT was so terse. In all these years, no one has reported mixed A-arms. This car has been repaired. Get an Oasis report on the car if you can.

 

[RALPHIE]

It was well known and published that the original sold cars with the cast A-arms were notified to return their cars immediately to the dealerships and not drive them any further. ALL were returned and accounted for. The teams were sent out and replacled ALL the cast parts with billet arms when they were available. The cars were not released by the dealers until the exchange was made. All former cast parts were accounted for and destroyed.

As far as the possibility of mixed billet/forged arms, we have narrowed the changeover time to sometime between the latter half of August, 2005 and the middle of September. No report has ever been made of mixed arms, and I believe that the changeover occurred when all the forged arms were available for the assembly line.

This does not mean that a mixed set may not exist, for a billeted car may have had some replacement forged arms installed, or a salvaged car might be refitted to create a mixed set. However, I believe no mixed set ever came out of the assembly lines.

 

[zrchris]

So if all former cast parts were indisputably accounted for and destroyed, one must accept that the pics in the original post can only be showing newer forged arms?

 

[fjpikul]

One picture is of a billet arm (machine marks), the other two are of cast.

 

[Indy GT]

So if all former cast parts were indisputably accounted for and destroyed, one must accept that the pics in the original post can only be showing newer forged arms?

I agree with this assumption.

The only A-arms you will find on cars presnt day are the CNC machined units or the new forged units.

If both types are on a given car, I would definately investigate deeper......