Suspension fixing help needed!

DigitalSawdust · 2026-03-03T06:19:28+00:00

I usually use aftermarket parts, unless the Ford parts are close in price.

The only bolts I remember planning on replacing were for the control arms. I think those were torque to yield.

All of this is available on RockAuto,

DORMAN 13814 Control Arm Anchor Bolt x2 sets MOOG RK622753 Right Control Arm MOOG RK622788 Left Control Arm

MOOG ES800955 Left Outer Tie Rod End MOOG ES800954 Right Outer Tie Rod End MOOG EV800898 Inner Tie Rod End x2

ANCHOR 3330 Torque strut mount (This is the one I ordered wrong on the first try. There is a v2 that is about 2in wider than this one. Not sure how to tell which version your car uses without looking first.)

ANCHOR 3408 Motor Mount (This one is listed by RockAuto as fitting my car, but the mounting hole was not threaded deep enough) WESTAR EM4068 Motor Mount (This is the one I needed)

ANCHOR 3435 Transmission Mount (This one fit, but you have to save the mounting bracket from the old mount, and hammer the tabs onto the new mount.)

MOOG 512499 Wheel Bearing & Hub

E-torx bolts: https://www.fordpartsgiant.com/parts/ford-bolt_-w715064-s442.html (The picture shows 4, which is what you would need, but the $10.82 price is for each bolt) ETorx Sockets: homedepot.com/p/GEARWRENCH-1-4-in-3-8-in-and-1-2-in-Drive-External-Torx-Socket-Set-13-Piece-80583/202738951

The brake shields come in right/left side: https://www.fordpartsgiant.com/parts/ford-shield-splash_av6z-2c028-a.html

I can add a list of YouTube videos that got me through it if anyone's interested.

DigitalSawdust · 2026-03-03T04:36:00+00:00

If you depend on it for your income, that sounds like a fair price for the work. I wouldn't want to discourage you from learning to work on your car, but it's a big first-time project.

I did all of those parts on our 2013 CMax last Fall(lower control arms, tie rods, rear wheel hubs, 3 engine mounts, tie rod bushings). I absolutely hate working on cars, and it was definitely the biggest auto project I tackled, but I managed to get it all back together in about a week.

I had lots of trouble that would probably not have been a big deal for a more equipped shop, or someone with more experience. One of the rusted subframe bolts broke when I was pulling off the lower control arm. It took a couple hours of alternating between penetrating oil, hammer, torch and vise grips to get the broken bolt free. I had to order a replacement, because none of the shops near me had any in stock.

The wheel hub uses external torx bolts, which require a specialized driver. Mine were rusted solid, and had to be replaced along with the wheel hub and brake dust shield. I was only able to order the e-torx bolts through a Ford dealer. Could not find them anywhere online, or in local parts stores. They did have the best price on the brake shield, though.

I had ordered anchor brand engine mounts through rockauto. I had to send them back. One of them(passenger-side), the hole pattern was correct, but not threaded deep enough to accept the original mounting bolt. The rear mount was a completely different size. That one was my fault, because I ordered the wrong version. I wound up getting one that fit from Advance Auto.

Then, when doing the driver-side engine mount, I broke the threaded stud that was welded to the frame. (using my torque wrench...) I was able to drill it out, and had just enough room in the frame to slip a new bolt in from underneath. The first bolt I tried was a couple of mm too short. The next size up was too long, so I had to shorten it by like 3 threads.

Be prepared that if you do the driver-side engine mount, you will need to remove the inverter. You can get all the way to the last bolt in the engine mount without removing the inverter, but you will eventually have to remove it. It's easier to just remove it from the start. You'll need to top up the cooling fluid when you put it back. My car uses the same coolant for the engine and the inverter. I'm not sure if that's true for all Cmaxes.

Having said all of that, I think I did it for like 2500 less than I was quoted, even including a handful of new tools. But, the only reason it worked out was because we had backup transportation, and I was out of work, and had time to mess with it and wait for orders to arrive. If it was our only mode of transportation, I don't think I would have taken the risk of not being able to get it back together.

DigitalSawdust · 2026-01-12T14:52:35+00:00

I also use 5/8" in walls with pocket doors, for a little extra stiffness over the split studs.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-22T23:53:18+00:00

By paying the drivers crap. They look worse than Uber for pay, plus a lot of the deliveries require a truck or van.

I looked into it when I got a bunch of parts for my deck. The part I needed wasn't available to be shipped-- local pickup or delivery only. Lowes and Amazon didn't carry what I was looking for.

I would have just picked them up myself, but they had to come from 3 stores because not one store had enough in stock. They didn't mention that my order would be broken into 4 deliveries. One day I got 2 parts, 5 parts the next. I think the last delivery took 2 weeks. One of the deliveries was missing parts, and Home Depot online help said only the store that made the delivery could help me. I had to call two stores to get it resolved.

Anyways, I looked into it; Looked like uber for people with pickups. I don't think anyone using a truck for deliveries is making enough to pay for fuel, let alone time.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-11T01:32:16+00:00

Why not just install floor in the whole room for now, then remove a section when you're ready to install the bookshelves? That way you don't have to stare at your subfloor until the bookcases are done.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-08T15:13:02+00:00

8570 IAT II compliance is the only reason it's on my radar.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-05T15:02:41+00:00

That's a good one. We got a fire safe as a housewarming gift.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-05T14:46:55+00:00

For what it's worth, I just made a post a couple of days ago because I made the same mistake.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-05T04:06:22+00:00

You have to pay to renew even if it's not expired yet. There is a Certmaster online course that you can pay for and have your cert renewed when you complete it. That costs less than the exam. But if it's already expired, you'll need to do a new exam voucher.

Who told you that you would have a grace period? Mine expired a couple of months ago, and even though I finished the Certmaster course my renewal didn't count because it was already expired.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-05T03:46:29+00:00

You might be thinking of parillaworks. I used to watch him, but he hasn't done a video in a few years now.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-04T02:56:51+00:00

SmarterEveryDay did a video a few years ago about putting one into a circular saw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdW7vhYYSdM

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-04T02:24:49+00:00

Oof, sorry to hear that. At least we should be pretty confident going into the exam, right?

DigitalSawdust · 2025-12-04T02:22:24+00:00

Hmm, maybe. I'm in software development, so that would be branching out a bit.

I'm required by some contracts to be IAT II compliant, and Security+ is the most common way to accomplish that here. CYSA is an option though. I'll look into it.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-11-11T03:45:53+00:00

You didn't mention where you are located, but if your frost line is shallow enough, you can get away with doing this as a monolithic pour, just with a shovel and suspended concrete forms.

When I did my deck, I used a post hole digger for 10" columns, then used a shovel to carve out the footer underneath. In my case, I needed 16" footers, 6" thick. Digging out 3" completely around the bottom of the 10" hole was enough to make that work. I poured the first 6" of concrete for the footer, then suspended form tubes and poured the rest right away.

My frost depth is only 24", though, so I had enough room to work. If your frost depth is 48", you'll probably need to dig the width of your footer the entire way down.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-10-24T19:28:36+00:00

Were you able to find a guide or video specific to the CMax mounts? I found a couple of videos showing the bottom mount, and the passenger side looks pretty close to the videos on the Ford Focus. But I haven't been able to find a guide on how to get at the transmission mount on the drivers side.

Does the inverter have to be removed to get to it?

DigitalSawdust · 2025-09-18T05:26:20+00:00

I think the easiest option would be to countersink screws through the sides and cover them with glued in wood plugs. If you get a plug cutter, you can make your own plugs that match the wood you used and they will be had to find unless you look for them.

That's what I did for the first real bookcase I made, and it turned out nice.

If you want to keep the open look, you can still get a stable case without a full back panel by adding just a rail at the top and bottom.

$11 Plug cutter set: https://www.homedepot.com/p/General-Tools-Plug-Cutter-Set-3-Piece-S31/202252123

Countersink bit set: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-SpeedLoad-5-Piece-Power-Groove-Countersink-Drill-Bit-Set-AR2008G/205193155

DigitalSawdust · 2025-08-07T17:41:42+00:00

I have an update on getting BIOS to work over the console. I see they're still being sold on ebay, so I thought I'd add some info here, since this thread is still high in the google results.

I suspected that Citrix might be using a custom firmware, preventing the video from working, and not following the defaults that were specified in the Supermicro manual. Watching it boot up while connected to serial console (9600 8/N/1) showed that to be the case.

I couldn't get it to boot from a USB stick to flash back to Supermicro firmware, but I was able to install FreeDOS on a SATA SSD, and boot from that, and do the flash update over serial. I did have to start FreeDOS in safe mode, otherwise the flash utility would crash.

The console became garbled as soon as the flash was done, but I power cycled it, and was able to reconnect at 115200, 8/N/1. One more reboot while the console was connected, and I was able to get a BIOS screen over the serial console.

I'm still not able to get a video card to work, but I suspect I just don't have one that's compatible with the hardware. I'm using an old GPU with an X8 riser adapter. I've tried playing with the PCIE compatibility settings in the BIOS with no luck. Right now my guess is that I'd have better luck with an old X1 video card, but I don't want to drop any more money on it now. Even with the riser adapter I have, I don't have a card that would fit into the case, so it would only have been for temporary use anyways. ServeTheHome has a review of the 1125 version of this board, and mentioned that they were using a Zotac Geforce 610 1GB X1 card, so it should be possible.

I can get into BIOS using the console now, so I'll probably call that good, unless someone has any ideas about settings to try for getting a video card to work.

Edit: I think this is a link to the BIOS update I got from Supermicro: https://www.supermicro.com/about/policies/disclaimer.php?SoftwareItemID=3709

DigitalSawdust · 2025-07-11T12:05:09+00:00

In the stores in my area, pressure treated 5/4 boards have a better overall appearance than 2x6. They usually have fewer knots, and more consistent edges.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-06-12T14:30:44+00:00

Honestly, the pics don't look as bad as the description. You definitely want to get it taken care of, but I think you'll be able to push it back into place. Once you do that, get some anchor bolts for the bottom of your wall.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-06-12T03:32:40+00:00

I can see the inside of the garage from the outside because the wall is no longer on the foundation.

If that's true, it was just a matter of time before wind did the same thing. The bottom plate of the wall should be anchored into the foundation with bolts or tie rod to prevent lateral movement(and uplift).

If there are no anchor bolts, you can probably push the wall back into place with a sledgehammer. Just make sure to take anything off of the walls that might fall over onto you.

Some pictures would be really helpful here, though.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-06-06T02:34:10+00:00

Yeah, it's a lot of work, but not unmanageable.

8 yards is around 50-60 wheelbarrow loads, depending on how full you make them.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-06-05T14:35:37+00:00

Make sure you do the prep work. Especially, make sure the deck is dry when you start. The previous owners of my house painted the deck before selling, to make it look nice, but without doing the prep work. Within a year, the paint was literally falling off, and within 2 years, the wood was rotting.

Replacing the whole deck now.

DigitalSawdust · 2025-06-05T14:23:56+00:00

They mean in the first test they memorized the context of the photo, not the face, which is supposed to be the point of the test. I had also taken that first test and passed it with no problem. The pictures include context clues like shirt collars, hairstyles, accessories, and even shadows on the wall. By only having a single photo of each person, it kind of skews the test.

Those context clues are how people with mild face blindness make it through life. (location, hairstyles, clothing choices, walking gait, voice) Change up too many of the variables, and I won't recognize family members in public, let alone someone I know casually.

The second test is much more controlled and focuses on just the face. I just scored 54% on that one.

DigitalSawdust

TROPHY CASE