Broken Control Arm now with pics

[Myles]

I'm pretty sure I broke my right control arm yesterday sliding into a curb. I'm going to grab one tonight from Doug aka Old Hairy Bastard, and atempt to put it on on Sunday before THE BEARS GAME.(not the superbowl THE BEARS GAME) I've been doing some studying in the Haines manual but I was just curious if you guys had any tips of the trade for getting it off and re-installing. Is there anything I should go out and buy before I start this?
Thanks Ahead

 

[JNR]

never tighten any suspension components, like control arms, while it's in the air, or else you'll preload it...have the weight of the vehicle on it, before tightening.

 

[Polish]

You might as well put a new ball joint in the new control arm, unless the replacement has really good ones. Get yourself a pickle fork to separate the old ball joint from the hub. Otherwise it's just disconnecting the sway bar endlink, removing a couple nuts and bolts from the rear mount and a nut/bolt from the front mount and it comes out.

Edit - About the tightening thing, I also read that you should have the weight of the vehicle on it before tightening. I just don't see how to set the car on it's wheels and get wrenches underneath to tighten things, especially the front nut/bolt on the control arm. If you have a lift it would be fine but I don't. So I just mounted the control arm and tightened everything up snug but not torqued down. Then I jacked up the control arm until the spring was compressed as if it was sitting on the wheel. Then I torqued everything, not sure how correct this was but it was my best effort at torquing everything under load.

 

[Rausch]

^^ you are correct. you can snug things up a bit, and then drop the car and torque to spec. if you don't have access to a lift, you can always drop the car onto a couple cinder blocks under the tires, or some stacks of wood, or even jackstands under the ends of the control arms. it will all work. just don't tighten things too much with the suspension unloaded. it will bind, and preload everything. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[14u2nV]

I've never had any problems tightening everything in the air. This is the first time I've even heard that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

[JNR]

^^maybe you didn't notice any ill-effects, but it's one of those 'common knowledge' things, if you will /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[gtluke]

now its the second, because i'm backing him up.
unless you have poly bushings, because then it doesn't matter.
but with rubber bushings, you HAVE to have the car at the right position when you tighten it down.

 

[Armitage]

Can we have some more specifics as to the negative side effects of tightening everything with the car up in the air? I've been doing that for years and never noticed anything odd.. Also which bolts/nuts specifically are we supposed to tighten only after the suspension is loaded?

 

[toybreaker]

I usually just eyeball the angle the control arm is at, with the car sitting on all four wheels, before I take it apart. (On a non-lowered car, the control arm will be approximately level/parallel to the ground at normal ride height.)

Then, when the control arm goes back on, I pull the strut out of the way. Then all you have to do is the clock the control arm to the same angle it was at on the ground, and tighten it up at that position.

Torque the front control arm thru bolt to 72-87 ft lbs, and the rear bracket inner bolt to 58-72 ft lbs (short bolt), and the outer rear bracket bolt (long bolt) to 72-87 ft lbs. The two bracket nuts go to 25-34 ft lbs.

After you've got the control arm torqued, you can pull it down and swing the strut over the ball joint and let the control arm spring back into place. Torque the ball joint to 43-52 ft lbs.

Torque the pillow ball sway bar link to 25 to 33 ft lbs and you're done, and ready to go to alignment.

I usually put antisieze on the shanks of all the bolts to prevent corrosion, and a schosche of blue loc-tite on the threads to keep it all together on dirt roads. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

 

[toybreaker]

Quote:
Can we have some more specifics as to the negative side effects of tightening everything with the car up in the air? I've been doing that for years and never noticed anything odd.. Also which bolts/nuts specifically are we supposed to tighten only after the suspension is loaded?



It's about winding the bushings up.

With the car in the air, the suspension droops (extends) several inches. If you tighten things there, with the arm at an angle, it will end up winding up the bushings a ton when you set the car back on it's wheels, and the suspension compresses.

This results in a preload from the bushing itself. This makes for some weirdeness in ride height and a small amount of difference in the spring rate of that corner. In addition, the bushing won't live very long, or be very happy about it.

+1 at firing a new ball joint in it while you've got it apart.

Also check the rear bushing. Many times, they're loose on the arm. This leads to caster/toe changes and weirdness when you get on the brakes hard.

 

[Rausch]

^^^ yep, what he said, pretty much covers it. as far as poly bushings go, i guess there would be less chance of the same effects, but i'd suggest approaching it the same way regardless...they still can bind.

 

[14u2nV]

Well, that said, I've never had any problems with the three galants I've had, and I've had the suspension off of all of them. I've never heard that, so I've never gone by that theory, and I'll continue that way. When something is working for you, don't change it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[OldHairyBastard]

What part will bind on the control arm? The only part that could bind is the long bolt if you tighten it way to hard and bend everything together. Any other part?

Doug

 

[toybreaker]

It's about the bushing.

Visualize how the control arm pivots around the front bolt.

The outer part of the bushing is pressed into the control arm, and will move with it.

The inner sleeve/spacer is also bonded to the bushing, and is held stationary by the pinch of the thru bolt.

The bushing has to wind up/twist/stretch/deform in order for the control arm to rotate about it's axis.

Think of the bushing as a rubber torsion bar/spring that winds up and springs back.

You don't want to unnecessarily wind up/preload the bushing, in either direction.

 

poly bushings DO bind. rubber bushings bind and will even tear. this goes for just about every bushing except the subframe bushings. besides, since you are changing suspension stuff, not to mention you managed to bend a fully boxed control arm /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif ,you hit the curb hard and you should have the alignment checked. just leave the pivot loose and tighten everything else down and ask the alignment tech to tighten it before the alignment. given the age a mileage of these cars, if you going to change one ball joint, do both of them. get a moog or spicer part, don't get the chinese crap or you will be changing them again soon.

 

[Terry Posten]

Myles, you bonehead! - Leave the drifting crap to those RWD pretenders that think it is cool to not have any traction. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Post up a pic of how your rookie ass driving style has cripled another GVR4 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

j/k man. Post up the carnage.

As I like to say, "If your not pushing the limit, you may as well stay home and watch NASCAR."

 

[Myles]

Yeah Yeah I know( No I Don't) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

I just got some pb blaster to loosen the long bolt and the cover bolts. I got the ball joint nut and sway bar link off some what easily. Hopefully the damn thing will come off in a little bit. You should see how rusted through the old one is.

 

[Terry Posten]

Both front ball jionts and sway bar end links are new, about 3 months before I sold you the car. If they comes out in 1 piece, just reuse.

 

[Armitage]

Thanks for the tips guys. I replaced the bushings and ball joint on one control arm today and made sure to preload it with a little bottle jack before bolting everything snug. Will tackle the other one side tomorrow. 200k mile oem bushings are pretty nasty.

 

[Polish]

Yea, they are pretty gross after all the years. Did you do the 1 AWD Prothane kit or just go with oem? I did the Protanes and they went in super easy since you don't need a press for the fronts. Summit was only 50$ to my door next day for the entire front control arm kit. Then I did Moog Tie Rod ends and TRW(?) Ball joints from Advance since Summit only had one Moog brand in stock when I needed them.

Just having all that stuff replaced make the car drive so much better.