Lower control arm replacement-- remove exhaust?

[2002rangerv6xlt]

Howdy. I'm in the process of replacing the lower control arm on the passenger side and hit a snag-- the rear pivot bolt is hitting part of my exhaust. My truck is a 2002 3.0L V6 XLT RWD. My repair manual kindly omits any mention of this.

Here is a picture:

http://imgur.com/G5ephk6

Has anyone else encountered this problem? My thoughts are:

1) Try jacking up the exhaust slightly to see if it moves enough

2) Remove the exhaust

3) Cut the damn exhaust off and maybe have some yahoo re-weld it back

4) Drink enough beer tonight to forget about it.

Any helpful comments are appreciated.

 

[Earl43P]

Loosen or unbolt the motor mount(s), then jack up the engine enough to clear.

 

[monsterchuck]

The picture isn't showing up for me, but I'd start with trying to jack the exhaust up by itself if you only have a little bit to clear. If you have to go a long way, then Earl43P has the correct idea.

 

[2002rangerv6xlt]

Thanks folks.

Here is a picture of what I ended up doing:

http://imgur.com/bcV85TP

I jacked up the exhaust and was then able to fight out the bolt. When I reinstalled it, I simply flipped the bolt (so now the nut side is facing the exhaust) and had no problems. I guess the UAW guys in MI who assembled this were thinking too much about the bikini girls in the shop calendars.

Just took it and had it aligned and I'm all set. The truck steering response seems better and all in all it's driving better. Could be the placebo effect but I'm happy.

 

[Mcleary316]

Glad to see it worked out for ya.

 

[adsm08]

That looks like what I was going to suggest.

 

[2002rangerv6xlt]

Gents, one last thing: I ended up replacing the stabilizer bar end links because one of them ended up breaking. Since I was screwed and needed the parts the day of, I had to settle for some duralast parts from autozone. Well I installed them and the damn things creak like hell now. I greased them, too. Has anyone had any better experience with other brands?