Is my lower control arm toast? With Pictures!

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72bluNblu said:
Which side do you need? Does it have a sway bar tab? I have a few extra
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I need the driver's side. The Hellwig bar I'm using came with the right angle brackets to attach with the shock bolts so I don't need one with a factory sway bar tab.
 
cfordyce05 said:
I need the driver's side. The Hellwig bar I'm using came with the right angle brackets to attach with the shock bolts so I don't need one with a factory sway bar tab.
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Ok! I'll take a look in the morning to see if I have a driver's side that's in rebuildable shape. I have a few pairs of LCA's but some of them aren't in great shape and I'll have to look to see if I have a driver's side that's any good.
 
krazykuda said:
I tried poly bushings on a daily driver once and they were shot in 3 years... Went back to stock bushings and they last longer...
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Agreed, they'll last 50k on the streets of Cali, Detroit, and running gravel like the Duke boys with no maintenance.
 
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Mine have over 125,000 miles on, and altho I haven't looked at them for a couple of years now, the last time I was out in it, I didn't notice anything amiss. And they have never made a peep of any kind. Course our roads are smooth as glass,NOT,lol. No, I hammer them somewhat mercilessly. OK, used to.
But IMO, my LCA bushings don't work very hard, as I have pretty stiff shocks on them, and the poly strut bushings are the ones that take the beating. And because I am lowered, I kill the bump-stops. But I like how the car takes a set in the turns once it's on the stops. Remember this is a city car,not a racecar, so speeds are generally low.And I can get away with stuff.
I like how going in hot, rolls the car over onto the stop, and then it's all tire after that.And when she starts skating with the crappy BFGs, I lay on the gas pedal until the back starts sliding too. And then we're having fun! And no,I don't take passengers anymore. It's almost too hard to concentrate with all that yelling,screaming, and crying going on...
But mostly I don't drive like that anymore. I'm getting old and soft, and generally more considerate of other drivers, plus the tickets for this behavior are getting to be so high, that the fun is going right out of it.
 
AJ/FormS said:
Mine have over 125,000 miles on, and altho I haven't looked at them for a couple of years now, the last time I was out in it, I didn't notice anything amiss. And they have never made a peep of any kind. Course our roads are smooth as glass,NOT,lol. No, I hammer them somewhat mercilessly. OK, used to.
But IMO, my LCA bushings don't work very hard, as I have pretty stiff shocks on them, and the poly strut bushings are the ones that take the beating. And because I am lowered, I kill the bump-stops. But I like how the car takes a set in the turns once it's on the stops. Remember this is a city car,not a racecar, so speeds are generally low.And I can get away with stuff.
I like how going in hot, rolls the car over onto the stop, and then it's all tire after that.And when she starts skating with the crappy BFGs, I lay on the gas pedal until the back starts sliding too. And then we're having fun! And no,I don't take passengers anymore. It's almost too hard to concentrate with all that yelling,screaming, and crying going on...
But mostly I don't drive like that anymore. I'm getting old and soft, and generally more considerate of other drivers, plus the tickets for this behavior are getting to be so high, that the fun is going right out of it.
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Exactly. Properly installed and cared for the poly bushings should last a long time. 125k is more than I would have planned for, but I've yet to see a factory rubber bushing with more than 50k on it that wasn't shredded so anything beyond that is a bonus. And that doesn't even consider the improvement in suspension action.

Having a predictable car is a wonderful thing, and harder bushings with less slop makes everything more predictable. And being tire limited actually isn't a horrible way to set things up, as long as you know your tires. If the suspension is set up right with hard tires you should end up in oversteer, which is a lot of fun if you know how to drive it. And with that set up you could even have a second set of rims and tires if you wanted to do autoX on the side, slap on a sticky set of tires and you'd be set up right for that too. Then back to the hockey pucks for the street so you can smoke them up. :D Just gotta remember that will hurt your braking distances too so you have to leave more room. Which isn't a bad thing to do on the street anyway.
 
72bluNblu said:
Exactly. Properly installed and cared for the poly bushings should last a long time. 125k is more than I would have planned for, but I've yet to see a factory rubber bushing with more than 50k on it that wasn't shredded so anything beyond that is a bonus. And that doesn't even consider the improvement in suspension action.

Having a predictable car is a wonderful thing, and harder bushings with less slop makes everything more predictable. And being tire limited actually isn't a horrible way to set things up, as long as you know your tires. If the suspension is set up right with hard tires you should end up in oversteer, which is a lot of fun if you know how to drive it. And with that set up you could even have a second set of rims and tires if you wanted to do autoX on the side, slap on a sticky set of tires and you'd be set up right for that too. Then back to the hockey pucks for the street so you can smoke them up. :D Just gotta remember that will hurt your braking distances too so you have to leave more room. Which isn't a bad thing to do on the street anyway.
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Exactly;
235s are not much tire up front, but I have 295s out back, which have the brakes jacked up to the point that the rear shoes wear out faster than the front KH pads. Yet the car brakes amazingly well, and yes even in the turns. The back never comes around due to too much brake back there.
Of course as a streeter speeds seldom exceed maybe 40mph ( I can't really say, cuz I never pay attention,lol). But because I'm usually in first-over, or perhaps second gear and with 3.55s this could be as low as 28 to 40............ I guess. Too much less than 40 in second and I don't have enough TM to break those 295s loose anymore (swapped out the torquey cam). It was better with 4.30s but that's another story.
At one time I had understeer.Then I had a lotta oversteer. Now I have mostly neutral steer, or with a little gas, rear-steer,lol. Oversteer was brutal. I used to leave the stoplight headed for a left turn and get on it just a little and Zoom, around she went, and I was facing backwards pointed the wrong way. That was bad. Not really over-steer, I know, but bad it was for sure. Plowing I hated more. That gets expensive.
And yes, you will never see me tailgating unless stopped at a lite,lol.

The worst car I ever had for plowing was a 95 Sunfire. If I came in a little too hot, there was no saving it.
 
After cleaning up all the destruction in the arm, check the clearance with the pivot installed. If there is play, replace or since you are a machinist make a sleeve for better fit?
The debates still rage from people who still want to use rubber. That's terrific if you want the same miserable handling from 1970. This part is for people who understand the difference and are seeking a higher level of performance. Delrin is a popular material for suspension bushings due to its stiffness and durability. They offer precise movement and will not "walk" if the torsion bars are pushed forward all the way.
 
GMachineDartGT said:
After cleaning up all the destruction in the arm, check the clearance with the pivot installed. If there is play, replace or since you are a machinist make a sleeve for better fit?
The debates still rage from people who still want to use rubber. That's terrific if you want the same miserable handling from 1970. This part is for people who understand the difference and are seeking a higher level of performance. Delrin is a popular material for suspension bushings due to its stiffness and durability. They offer precise movement and will not "walk" if the torsion bars are pushed forward all the way.
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I just bought another arm with a clean bore. For $40, it's not even worth firing up the machine.
 
Got my passenger side arm welded up.

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Looking good!

Looks like you tightened it up a bit too like per the youtube video by jim lusk. I found that when I added the stiffening plates I still had some play between the halves of the control arm at the torsion bar hex/lever, so I add an additional strap to keep the ends from spreading apart any. The stiffening plate helps a bunch, but I was surprised how much flex there still was between the halves at the end. The strap takes care of that extra play. You just have to make sure the strap doesn't interfere with lever.

Here you can see the LCA clamped in a vice to tighten up and hold the tolerances on the lever. No, I didn't weld this with the bushing installed.
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And here it is installed on the car
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