Idler Arm Installation

[money pit]

I rebulit my suspention on my 70 Barracuda. When I took it to get it aligned, they told me there is too much play (up and down) on the idler arm. Did I install it incorrectly? If I recall there was a steel washer and a couple of foam pieces/washers. Where do the foam pieces go and where does the steel washer go? I think I put a foam piece above and below the idler arm.  Thanks

[70chall440]

The idler arm should not be moving up and down in the mount, it is possible that the mount was bent or that the idler arm you got is after market and made to other specs. I believe the arm can be shimmed to locate it into the mount which would entail putting some spacer/s between the arm the the mount to correctly position it. I have seen some cars where the mount itself has been bent and could be straightened out to align the arm and eliminate any movement.

[money pit]

 Does it matter if the shim is on the top or the bottom? I looked online and a number of manuals and couldn't find where the shim would go.
I bought the idler arm from Rockauto. I thought it was a name brand. I ordered another arm (Moog) from the local auto parts store, it was 3X the cost of the Rockauto part.  I stopped ordering from them. I have gotten parts that were returned by other people, with parts missing or dirty and greasy.  Thanks for your help

[70chall440]

It took me a little time to refresh my memory, however usually there isn't any shim or spacer on the Idler arm. There should be two soft washers that go above and below the arm (on top and bottom), then the bolt goes in from the bottom with a nylock nut on the top. This is how it was done originally, however I do recall getting shims with an idler arm (been awhile) and if your idler arm is sloppy in the mount, then you would need to take up the space with shims or spacers; where they go depends on the orientation or position of the arm in relation to your center link which you want parallel to your pitman arm (meaning the center link should be straight across and should not tilt up or down on either end). Therefore, if the idler arm mount is sloppy, you need to determine where it needs to be to make the center link parallel with the pitman arm and shim accordingly to make the idler arm both rigid in the mount and parallel to the pitman arm.

[money pit]

I pulled the idler arm. The diameter of the bushing that the bolt goes through is much larger than the bolt.  It looks like the play/movement is from the bolt moving in the bore of the bushing.  I'm going to try another idler arm and see what happens. Thanks for your help.

[70chall440]

Good deal, I am sure you will get it sorted.

[SlyGuy]

Curious if you were able to get this figured out? I am in the process of gathering steering parts for my '72 Challenger, and I am confused about the idler arm as well. All of the posts that I can find seem to say that Moog #K7041 is the part I need. The part store listings seem to all agree as well. However, when I compare the Moog K7041 to the one that came off the car, there is an obvious difference in the shape.  The Moog part is pretty much a straight piece, whereas the one that came off has an obvious bend to it. Will this work? I'll attempt to attach a pic.
Thanks guys!
 

[70chall440]

I don't have an e body up on the lift but I think the new part will be ok as it does not have to be positioned in a specific place; also, the parts changed over the years and there were slightly different designs by different vendors. Point here is do not discount the new part because it doesn't look like the old part, get all of the components and set it up, that will then tell you if there are any major issues, but I think you are going to be ok.