SPC ADJ Control Arms

[Treblig]

FYI - I just installed some adj arms on my '69 Barracuda. Everything worked great except the instructions didn't specify whether the bolts on the adjusting rods go in from the top or the bottom. The instructions have a pic showing the bolts going in from the top, which only makes sense if the nut fell off the bolt would tend to stay in the hole as opposed to falling out the bottom. However....now that I've driven the car around for a while I noticed a banging noise when I go over a bump as the front raises up as it usually does. It sounds like something is loose under there. After a close inspection with the flashlight I noticed that the nut on the rear adj arm is hitting the car frame. Of course this only happens when the body rises up far enough to let the front wheel come all the way down. Yes the rubber snubber is there but if the instructions had said to put the bolt in from the bottom it wouldn't have been a problem because the bolt head is much shorter than the lock nut (plus the end of the bolt sticks out a few threads). I've already had the car aligned but it shouldn't be a problem to jack it up and turn the bolt the other way without changing the alignment. Another FYI...the driver's side rear adjusting rod won't adjust enough to get the wheel exactly where it needs. The rear of the wheel need to move toward the frame just a little more to make the alignment perfect but there's no more adjustment. I called SPC and asked if I could remove the rear adjusting rod and take a 1/4" off the end of the threaded rods (they are bottoming out inside the hex sleeve). While I have it disassembled I'll also take 1/8" off each end of the sleeve so I can pull the back of the wheel toward the frame a little more. The tech at SPC said that it shouldn't be a problem because other people have done the same to get a little more adjustment. I finally got the stance I've been wanting....60s street machine!!!
Hope this help someone......
Treblig

 

[67cudafb]

What arms? Upper or lower control arms

 

[Treblig]

What arms? Upper or lower control arms

Upper...Sorry!!

treblig

 

[prrc]

Bolt goes in from the top. At least that's how we install them at my shop.

 

[Treblig]

Bolt goes in from the top. At least that's how we install them at my shop.

Yes, that's the way it's shown in the pictures of the instruction sheet. The problem is that the lock nut on the underside of the adjustable arm nearest the frame hits the frame when the frame moves up while the wheel is on the ground (basically when the car bounces over a bump). When the nut hits the frame it makes a loud "clank" sound. It's not supposed to hit the frame. I plan on putting the bolt in from the bottom because the head of the bolt is much shorter than the lock nut, this way there will be a little more travel in the arm before the bolt/nut makes contact with the frame letting the arm hit the bump stop before the bolt/nut hits the frame. It's only a problem on the rear of the upper driver's control arm. I wrote about this problem to let others know that the tall lock nut and the portion of the bolt that sticks out of the nut can hit the frame. I post some pics tomorrow.

treblig

 

[Treblig]

Here are the pics I promised on the area where the nut was hitting the frame. I installed the bolt from the bottom today to give it more clearance. My car's stance is high, that's how I like it (60s street car). Plus, I really hate it when I try and get a jack under the front cross member and it won't go under there because the front in so low.

treblig

 

[Treblig]

Well, I bought an extra SPC turn buckle and had the hexagon part machined down 3/16" on each end. Then I cut about 3/16" off the end of the threaded rods. When I had my Barracuda aligned the alignment man told be that the driver's side wheel needed to move back a little more to get the alignment perfect. Unfortunately the SPC turn buckle bottomed out so it wouldn't pull the wheel into the correct position. So my solution was to cut down the hexagon tube and trim down the threaded rods so they could pull the rear of the wheel closer to the frame and get a perfect alignment. SPC warns that you should have at least an inch of threaded rod into both ends of the hexagon, since mine are in as deep as possible (1 1/2") that shouldn't be a problem. Now all I have to do is swap them out and go back to get another alignment. I purchased the "lifetime" alignment so it won't cost me a dime to get it set perfect.

treblig

 

[340 demon 72]

I just ordered a set of these for my 72 DEMON so what you are both saying is remove 3/16 of an inch off of both ends of sleeve and an additional 3/16 off of each end of the threaded rods on the rear arm of the control arm. Ok I get that but that being said did you have to do both pass & driver sides also how about the fronts did you need longer ( or shorted) sleeves or were the standard 4 inch ones good ???????

 

[Treblig]

I just ordered a set of these for my 72 DEMON so what you are both saying is remove 3/16 of an inch off of both ends of sleeve and an additional 3/16 off of each end of the threaded rods on the rear arm of the control arm. Ok I get that but that being said did you have to do both pass & driver sides also how about the fronts did you need longer ( or shorted) sleeves or were the standard 4 inch ones good ???????

I had to modify the hexagon part and the ends of the threaded rods because I have my car "jack up". You probably won't have to modify your parts if you keep the car stock or even a little higher than stock. The higher the front end the shorter the upper arms need to be. I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't have to modify anything if you keep your car at a stock height. Maybe someone will chime in.

treblig

 

[340 demon 72]

Mine will not be stock height I think stock is too low with the road we have around here don t want to drag my deep sump pan and the ground also put 15 inch tires on it

 

[340 demon 72]

Did you have to modify the front sleeves or rods at all?

 

[Treblig]

Did you have to modify the front sleeves or rods at all?

I'm pretty sure (based on the first post here) that is was only the rear adj rod/hex that needed modification. I can look at it (on the car) once the sun comes up a little more. You can easily see the marks on the hex where the chuck jaws (lathe) bit into the hex. But I'll have to look under the car to be sure.

Treblig

 

[340 demon 72]

Please do and was it on both side thank you in advance Jeff

 

[Treblig]

Jeff, my appologies. I had my daughter's graduation (College) ceremonies last Friday then my son's (University) graduation ceremony yesterday. Not to mention the parties that went along with the graduations and all the relatives coming by the house. I only got 4 hours sleep Friday night. I totally forgot to check out the Barracuda. But today everything is back to normal so I'll go out there in a while and check. It's been very, very hectic around here for the last 5 days but I'm very happy (and proud) with my children!!!

treblig

 

[340 demon 72]

Totally understandable it's all good supposed to get my control arms tomorrow. Let me know when you can thanks jeff

 

[Treblig]

Looks like it was the upper, rear driver's side that needed the most adjustment. The passenger's rear was really close to maxing out but it was able to meet the alignment standards.
But please realize that EVERY SINGLE car produced by Mopar was not an exact duplicate of all the others produced. Each car had it's front end assembled and installed with many variations. So even though my all original '69 Barracuda needed more adjustment on the upper, rear driver's side doesn't mean that yours will be the same. Every car is a little different.
Suffice to say that the rear seems to be the biggest problem and if I had to do it all over again I would have had both rear upper hex tubes machined just to make sure that I had plenty of adjustment in the future.

If your car has had a front end collision...all bets are off!!!

Treblig

 

[340 demon 72]

When you say maxed out you mean full collapsed?

 

[Treblig]

When you say maxed out you mean full collapsed?

Yes, but there was 1 or 1 1/2 thread still showing. The higher you raise your front end the more you need to collapse the upper control arms to get the car aligned because as you move the wheel/tire further away from the body the upper control needs to be shorter..

treblig

 

[340 demon 72]

So did the same thing have to be done on the passenger side of car as well

 

[Treblig]

So did the same thing have to be done on the passenger side of car as well

In my case I took "one" hex section to the machine shop, so to save money I had one hex section machined because only one side (driver) bottomed out when I was trying to get it aligned. If I had a lathe at my house I would have done both sides myself (JUST IN CASE). I'm a machinist (retired) so I was able to cut the threaded rods with no problem because I know how to refinish and bevel the threads after cutting.
But like I said before, every front end is different. You won't know which upper arm (front or rear) is going to bottom out until you go to the alignment shop. It will depend on the rims, tires and car height...and lastly if there's ever been any front end damage??

Treblig