LCA stiffener plates-why not?

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ppsi

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I figure the puny ball joints in my dart is the weakest part of the front suspension but got a hair and figured I'd make the LCAs a little stronger. Just some 1/16" plate punched and ready for welding.

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Makes sense to do them while they are out can’t hurt. I done the ones on my Bee
last week.
 
Good addition to 40 plus year old control arms. It can't hurt anything, just adds strength & rigidity.
 
I put the plates on all mine now. The arms tend to spread out and the plates eliminate that. Be sure to squeeze the arms back together with clamps before welding the plates on. Plates should be parallel and little slop where the T-bar socket spins in it. If the T-bar sockets moves back and forth, the arm is sprung.
 
I made plates and welded them on when I had mine apart. Just make sure you get the squeeze right after they're tacked before the final seam welding. One of mine moved but I caught it before it was too late.
 
There is a “tie” by the torsion bar socket that you can cut to tighten up the clearances to the adjuster if they are sloppy there too. Look up Jim Lusk on YouTube. He’s also a member here and it will show what I’m referring to.

 
Dubob said:
There is a “tie” by the torsion bar socket that you can cut to tighten up the clearances to the adjuster if they are sloppy there too. Look up Jim Lusk on YouTube. He’s also a member here and it will show what I’m referring to.

Click to expand...

I've seen it.
Thanks
 
I still imagine those things collecting mud, small gravel, etc... maybe cause rust too. Every other nip rusts in time. So will the lower arms live another 50 years? Maybe not.
Retail plates have good amount of holes but just 2 or 3 little pieces of flat bar would serve the purpose.
 
Yeah they have a chance to last another 50 years just as well as the rest of the car. The difference is these cars are pampered now and many live in garages and are driven in good weather. They were abused when they were children.
I really dont see any negatives on adding the plates. Another thing I will note is to be careful lining up the slot for the tortion bar adjuster. Make sure there is plenty of room to get a socket on it. If your doing home made it needs to be a slot because the T-bar bolt pivots so the adjuster wont always be centered if you just do a round hole.

PPSI, what did you use to make the slot on yours? Greenlee knockout punch?
 
I used a hole saw and cut the the holes at the end of the slot and used a cutoff wheel to cut between.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
Yeah they have a chance to last another 50 years just as well as the rest of the car. The difference is these cars are pampered now and many live in garages and are driven in good weather. They were abused when they were children.
I really dont see any negatives on adding the plates. Another thing I will note is to be careful lining up the slot for the tortion bar adjuster. Make sure there is plenty of room to get a socket on it. If your doing home made it needs to be a slot because the T-bar bolt pivots so the adjuster wont always be centered if you just do a round hole.

PPSI, what did you use to make the slot on yours? Greenlee knockout punch?
Click to expand...

Yes I used 1"greenlee punch. Then I didn't pay attention to the adjusting bolt so I had to go back with a grinder to make one larger. Oh well.
 
Oh and if your planning on new bushings don’t bother with the MOOG crap I went through 3 sets and all were junk just save yourself some time and aggravation and get the proforged ones.
 
cudascott said:
Oh and if your planning on new bushings don’t bother with the MOOG crap I went through 3 sets and all were junk just save yourself some time and aggravation and get the proforged ones.
Click to expand...

I already put new bushings in mine. I purchased all the needed parts for restoration when I bough the car over 10 years ago and then the project sat in my shop until recently when I started the restoration. Being that old all of the moog part are made in the USA. Hopefully they will be good. So far everything fits and installs fine.
I am doing battle with the Prothane sway bar bashings but I should conquer that today after cutting the cages open. What a PIA these have been. Maybe the rubber can be pushed into the cages but the urethane can't be without cutting them. I cut one side and bent them open. Bending them closed is also a PIA so I would recommend cutting both sides. YMMV.
 
I used the store-bought plates for two CA's before I realized that one of the CA's was trash (badly twisted). I had another CA around, so I just used flate plate strips to stiffen it. Also, I beefed up the weld on the opposite side where the bump stop bolts on.
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Why do so many plates have three holes? Drainage maybe? It seems like a hole for the torsion bar adjusting bolt and another to get to the bump stop stud should be the only ones required?
 
I think for weight savings and as you stated so as not to trap debris.
 
A flat piece of metal with a hole in it will not distort like a flat piece of metal without a hole in it will.
If a piece of metal cracks. The crack continue all the way across breaking the peace in two. However if there is a hole in this piece of metal an the crack hits the hole it's stops
 
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Jadaharabi said:
A flat piece of metal with a hole in it will not distort like a flat piece of metal without a hole in it will.
If a piece of metal cracks. The crack continue all the way across breaking the peace in two. However if there is a hole in this piece of metal an the crack hits the hole it's stops
Click to expand...

Um, OK? Yoda much?
 
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