Lower front control arms rusted

[jepherz]

Just removed the stock bushings from my front lower control arms, and am seeing that the pivot arm on them is rusted enough in the middle that the bushing is a little floppy on there. I figure my 3 options for fixing are:
1. Weld some beads on them and grind the beads down, hoping to get close enough to the original contour.
2. As much as I hate the idea of the stuff, JB weld on them and then sand it down to get it closer to the original contour.
3. Use fiberglass resin to follow a solution closely resembling the one listed in #2.

Any of you have to fix this before? I've never used JBWeld, so I'm not sure if it's up to the task or not.

 

[iceman69510]

Weld, not JB.

 

[Rausch]

+1 don't think the JB would hold up too well, you'd be best off with just welding it up and grinding it down.

 

[ggsxkid]

or you could just buy new control arms from mitsu, they even come with the balljoints already in them. and how do i know they come with the balljoints? simple when i wanted to buy a balljoint from them they told me they don't sell a balljoint to press in cause pressing the new one in could stress/crack the control arm... sneaky bastards . to bad when i went to press the napa balljoint i bought in it did't crack or deform in any way!

 

You can purchase a set from me, mild steel tubular with new bushings. Or an adjustable set, depends on your bank! Taking orders now!!!

 

[jepherz]

Yes, all options. Here's what I was referring to:



You can see that the tip and the base are fine, it just rusted out in the middle a little bit. I think I'll try the welding method first...

 

[Polish]

I think they are like that on purpose actually.

 

[evo8ya]

Quote:
You can purchase a set from me, mild steel tubular with new bushings. Or an adjustable set, depends on your bank! Taking orders now!!!



go any pics of these? PM me a price if ya could. tubular non adjustable

 

[iceman69510]

Jeff,

What did you end up doing with this issue? I have a replacement arm in a similar situation. Thinking of sleeving it.

 

[curtis]

I just ordered a set of energy suspension bushing for the whole car and the kit came with steel sleeves id is 12.20mm outside of poly bushing is 28.11mm. You can order individual kits/ pieces and not a complete master kit from here

 

[jepherz]

I will have to look for some pictures of the finished product, but I ended up filling in the missing metal with a mig welder. Picture beads of weld running down the control arm. Then, using an angle grinder and belt sander, I was able to get them very round and in-spec. To make sure that the bushing wouldn't have any wear problems, I covered up all grind marks/divots with JB weld, and smoothened that out with sandpaper until it was like new. I haven't had them apart since, but I'm not having any issues so far.

Curtis, I didn't get any sleeves with any of my bushings; maybe this is new?

 

[jepherz]

Actually, the best picture I probably have is in here.

 

[iceman69510]

I measured mine today. It is 22 mm at the end and about 19 mm at the inner end. I did remove some crumbly rust from inside the bushing once getting it off. It seems weird to me that the shaft can still be reasonably smooth but seemingly have lost so much material. Is a new one the same diameter all the way?

Even the bushing doesn't seem to be the same dimension all the way through.

 

[jepherz]

I know the Whiteline bushings I installed were a constant diameter throughout. I think the radius and the wear on the bushings you pulled out are probably throwing you for a loop?

 

[BoostedAWD91]

i know u probably dont wanna buy a new one, but u can get a BNIB from autozone with ball joint and bushings for $100

 

[spoulson]

I just had to replace a control arm on mine because the ball joint came loose within its mount. This was causing steering slop.

Cost was ~$250. Just get new and don't reengineer a worn out critical part.

 

[BoostedAWD91]

U can get them from Autozone, they are made my Dorman for around $100. i have a thread posted in the How To section about this. Part number is listed and price

 

[turbowop]

AM Autoparts has the Chinese ones for $125/pair with new balljoints and bushings already on them, but they're out of stock on the passenger ones. I plan to buy them for 503 as soon as they're back in stock.

There's another place on Ebay that has them for $79 per side also.

 

[blacksheep]

Isn't there some issue about how these have 1 degree less caster since they are 1G AWD arms or something? I know Jeff autox's it, so I thought I'd mention it. I know whiteline castor bushings help fix it. I dunno where you would find them though, I think they quit making them...

 

[jepherz]

Quoting spoulson:
I just had to replace a control arm on mine because the ball joint came loose within its mount. This was causing steering slop.

Cost was ~$250. Just get new and don't reengineer a worn out critical part.




It's really not that critical of a fix, if you know what you are doing it's no less strong that it was from factory. I suggest you never try to restore a car