Is this lower control arm toast?

[shadango]

Oh man, now you hve me paranoid.....

Thing is, I already painted it.

here are a couple more shots...if the thickness of the bead is the concern, i think maybe it because th flash on the camera made it such a flat photo....?

[sprecks]

This is a game of power of suggestion.    The LCA's on the bottom is fine. It's really tough to see in a picture. You have to take the picture with the lens right on top of the end piece. When you have two LCA pictures the one off center will be hard to tell because of perspective of the picture.

How about taking the pictures with a physical straight edge down center of them.

Here is a bent E-body LCA....

In case you didn't notice, the one on the LEFT is bent.

The pictures of the LCAs I offered to Shadango are over on his Parts Wanted thread. It is his call if he wants them or not. It really doesn't matter to me one way or the other. After all I offered them to him for free. I am not trying to "suggest" anything to him by taking a picture from an angle. Sheesh....can't even give something away without being accused of trying to deceive someone.

[the_engineers]

Jay, I think this is more to the fact that Shadango can exhibit some paranoid tendancies.  Once he thinks an LCA is bent, then they all look bent to him.  Autoxcuda posted a pic of one that is truly bent beyond use to show that maybe this whole thing is being over-thought by quite a bit.

No offense Shadango, just trying to help Jay understand that he's not (or shouldn't be) being accused of anything.

That's my take. 

[shadango]

The pictures of the LCAs I offered to Shadango are over on his Parts Wanted thread. It is his call if he wants them or not. It really doesn't matter to me one way or the other. After all I offered them to him for free. I am not trying to "suggest" anything to him by taking a picture from an angle. Sheesh....can't even give something away without being accused of trying to deceive someone.

Hey Jay.....

I think something got twisted here (LOL no pun intended)....

I had made this thread a while back when I realized my original LCA was bent, at the pivot.....hence the name of the thread......

So then, after a short discussion about my original LCA's condition, I decided I would rather get one that wasnt bent at all....so I posted a WTB thread on the "wanted "forum.....Jeff (torredcuda) had graciously sent me a LCA that he thought was good for just the cost of shipping......when I got it, it turns out that it was bent at the gizmo where the balljoint attaches.....I wasnt sure how much bending was OK, though I assumed that none would be best.....a couple folks posted that YES it was bent.....so, Jay, I posted AGAIN on the WTB thread and asked if you still had one available, and you volunteered to take pics, which I really REALLY appreciate.....it was hard for me to tell from the pictures if they had the same issue the other had and I didnt want to ask you for more pics cause I didnt want to put you out even more than I had already.....so I came back to this thread and asked what the folks who had already classified my first two as bent what they thought based on the pics you posted over there.....then a short sidetrack into my welding skill (or lack thereoff)  ensued, where I mentioned that shelby's mention that my beads might be too small got me worried about that (also being new to welding).....and now we are here.

Aye aye aye!!!

Here and elsewhere I have since learned that bent LCAs , especially the passenger side, is very common and a problem as it usually affects caster, etc.  Hence my wanting to find a good one.

I never said you were trying to fool anyone....as you said, you were giving them away...why would I say that you were trying to decieve me? I still remember that you had helped me out when I first got my car with the cowl screens. 

I wasnt trying to tick ya off....I just figured since I couldnt tell if they were straight or not from the pics you posted, probably partly because I now cant figure out what it SHOULD look like, I would have a few sets of eyes try and figure out if it was good or not based on pics....which apparently is hard to do.....before I had you go thru the trouble of boxing up and sending it to me as well as saving me wasted postage....only to find it was bent as i so common. 

All I need at this point to put my front end together is this LCA and to be sure that my other side is OK (re:welds)...so I am giddy .  LOL 

My main goal was simply to get a good straight LCA to replace the two bent ones I have....not have yet another bent LCA sitting in my garage and to have to find another.

If you have been offended by my posting the pics, my apologies for that.....but I never ever accused you of trying to deceive anyone.  I actually don't think that is what autoxcuda posted meant either, honestly. I think he meant that it is hard to perceive straightness in a picture of these because of how they are built.

So I hope that settles that.  If you are upset enough to want to withdraw your kind offer, I guess I understand, but hope thats not the case.  I would still like the LCA if its straight.

Since I am putting this all out there, I guess I  kind of take just a wee bit offense at the "paranoid tendencies" and "overthinking" comment...although I know its meant that way.

I am a newbie here relative to many of you and I am just asking questions.

Rebuilding my front end is a huge project for me. You guys can probably do this in your sleep....but think back to when you had NEVER done this type of thing......that's where I am right now.  I have NEVER done this before....I am mechanically inclined and I think I am doing Ok....but this process is new to me....I don't know for sure what is OK to be bent and what is NOT ok.... I am working on the assumption that "bent front end parts is not a good thing".  Am I wrong?

 I do not want to go thru the trouble or welding brackets and reinforcing on, cleaning and painting a LCA to find that it is bent to the point that an alignment will be an issue.  I am asking because I don't want to have to tear the whole front end apart again to replace a bent component that I could take care of now.

My apologies to anyone who doesn't like my numerous questions.....but that's me and thats how I learn.  I have learned TONS on this site. And I hope to one day be able to pay back even a small part of what I have received both in knowledge and parts. Until then I will be asking many many more questions.....

Call me paranoid, but I call it cautious....perhaps too cautious, but like I said, I am a newbie to this stuff and want it to be right, preferably the first time with as little wasted cash as possible.

Not once did anyone say "Yes, that second (from Jeff) LCA is bent but it can be used just fine" relative to the second LCA...it was suggested that I could "unbend" the second LCA with my press....I am not comfortable with that for a suspension piece...others said 'Yes, its bent'.... so I started looking for another, from you Sprecks....

It WAS said that my original would "probably" be fine, if I clamped it together and reinforced it.....but I preferred to just get one that was right to begin with. I may be back to that option if I cannot find a straight LCA I guess. 

But yes I am asking lots of questions and maybe you see it as overthinking or worrying too much....I view it as being cautious till I have the chance to learn through experience.

So I hope no one was put off, upset, pissed off, ticked or otherwise miffled over this.

I hope we are all still Ok and that no one has any ill feelings over this.

I just want a good lcA so I can put my baby back together.   

[sprecks]

No offense taken, maybe I took it wrong. Sorry about that. All is good.
I can't answer the question you are asking about how much (if any) bend is OK. I'm not even close to being a suspension expert. On a personnal note, if I needed a LCA on my car I wouldn't be afraid of using one of these. But that's me. You need to make that decision for yourself. Once you have educated yourself where you feel comfortable you'll make that decision. No problem here. Take your time and continue to ask questions. If you decide you want my LCA just let me know, they're not going anywhere.
All is cool, Jay   

[LAA66]

 Your welds look pretty good to me. Much better then I could do. 

 As a quick check set up your front LCA  less the t-bar and spindle assembly and see how the strut fits lengthwise.  Assuming you are using poly bushings you can check all candidates as they just slide in not pressed like the factory type. Rotate the LCA up and down to find any binding or looseness. (at the pivot with the K frame.)


 As for paranoid I spent hours looking at all angles, LCA on the car, on the bench, plus around 20 pictures to try to verify what was straight.

   

[autoxcuda]

The pictures of the LCAs I offered to Shadango are over on his Parts Wanted thread. It is his call if he wants them or not. It really doesn't matter to me one way or the other. After all I offered them to him for free. I am not trying to "suggest" anything to him by taking a picture from an angle. Sheesh....can't even give something away without being accused of trying to deceive someone.

I think/said yours are fine. Run 'em. 

He had some doubts it seemed. But all I was saying that if you look at them long enough with the thought that they are bent, they will all start looking bent.

Just get the thing to a competent alignment technician.

[shadango]

Your welds look pretty good to me. Much better then I could do. 

 As a quick check set up your front LCA  less the t-bar and spindle assembly and see how the strut fits lengthwise.  Assuming you are using poly bushings you can check all candidates as they just slide in not pressed like the factory type. Rotate the LCA up and down to find any binding or looseness. (at the pivot with the K frame.)


 As for paranoid I spent hours looking at all angles, LCA on the car, on the bench, plus around 20 pictures to try to verify what was straight.

 

Now that the LCA is painted  I took a closer look at them and the pictures.  The pictures dont show the "thickness" of the welds.....I think one , maybe two , of my welds could be heavier, and the other two are OK, based on comparing them to other welds I have seen....     I would have no problem adding more weld...but its painted at this point...I guess I could wire brush or sand the paint away from the weld areas?  ?? I certainly dont want the bracket peeling off of the LCA once its installed.....

I think/said yours are fine. Run 'em. 

He had some doubts it seemed. But all I was saying that if you look at them long enough with the thought that they are bent, they will all start looking bent.

Just get the thing to a competent alignment technician.

I did have doubts....I didnt doubt the pics or Jay.....I doubted my own judgement as far as which of the two he had looked the best as far as being staright....cause, just like you said, the more I stare at these pictures and the actual LCAs I have , the more bent they look...LOL 

Here is a bent E-body LCA....

In case you didn't notice, the one on the LEFT is bent.

Yeah that left one is obviously bent....at the end doo-hickey and it look like in the middle of the arm itself (like my orginal).....

[shadango]

Your welds look pretty good to me. Much better then I could do. 

 As a quick check set up your front LCA  less the t-bar and spindle assembly and see how the strut fits lengthwise.  Assuming you are using poly bushings you can check all candidates as they just slide in not pressed like the factory type. Rotate the LCA up and down to find any binding or looseness. (at the pivot with the K frame.)


 As for paranoid I spent hours looking at all angles, LCA on the car, on the bench, plus around 20 pictures to try to verify what was straight.

 

Thanks for confirming that I am not the ONLY one to go ape-sh!t over making sure something is straight.  LOL

I guess there is such a thing as being TOO worried about straigtness, but like I said, I dont know what that oint is yet...going by some of the comments here, I guess I am at that point?  LOL   

[shadango]

No offense taken, maybe I took it wrong. Sorry about that. All is good.
I can't answer the question you are asking about how much (if any) bend is OK. I'm not even close to being a suspension expert. On a personnal note, if I needed a LCA on my car I wouldn't be afraid of using one of these. But that's me. You need to make that decision for yourself. Once you have educated yourself where you feel comfortable you'll make that decision. No problem here. Take your time and continue to ask questions. If you decide you want my LCA just let me know, they're not going anywhere.
All is cool, Jay   

Thanks Jay.  Looking at this whole thing again I can see how you could see it that way... So no need for any apology from you.

Again, I apologize for any moment where you felt like you were under the gun at all....that would have been a result of my cross-posting probably.....I didnt mean it to cause any grief.....

Based on what everyone has said here, if you are still willing, I would like to get the lower one (silverish color) off of you. Just let me know where to paypal ya and how much. zip is 15132   

I woulda PMd ya but this dang machine at work wont let me.....I can READ PMs but I cant reply. Go figure.

Thanks again!

[sprecks]

Dave, send me your address and I'll get the LCA in the mail. I tried to PM you but it isn't working.
You can get the shipping cost to me after I know what it is. I'll let you know.

Jay

[shadango]

Ok Shelbydogg....your suggestion that my welds weren't heavy enough had me concerned so I went ahead and redid them.





I think these will be better, yes? Thanks for the suggestion....after looking at them again subjectively I figured they probably could be heavier.....

One more question......after I did my welding I noticed that the pivot (torsion bar socket/adjuster) is somehow slightly cocked in the arm, looking at it from the side and I couldn't turn it by hand.



 Out of kilter by about 1/16" if I measure on each side of the socket, on the socket side of the arm....it is also out on the other side....sticks out a little on one side, recessed in the other, so the pivot is cocked in the arm itself I think....

Thing is I don't know what happened here....I am pretty sure this one moved OK before welding and paint...in any event, at first I could not move it by hand but could move it by tapping it with a rubber hammer.   After working it some and trying to tap it back into place, and using some penetrant lube, it not moves by hand (although just barely)....still pretty tight.

You guys think it is safe to to install this way?  I figure the joint doesnt have to move once it is adjusted (right?) and I tried installing the adjuster bolt and it works fine.....

I am just overthinking, right? 

[autoxcuda]

One more question......after I did my welding I noticed that the pivot (torsion bar socket/adjuster) is somehow slightly cocked in the arm, looking at it from the side and I couldn't turn it by hand.



 Out of kilter by about 1/16" if I measure on each side of the socket, on the socket side of the arm....it is also out on the other side....sticks out a little on one side, recessed in the other, so the pivot is cocked in the arm itself I think....

Thing is I don't know what happened here....I am pretty sure this one moved OK before welding and paint...in any event, at first I could not move it by hand but could move it by tapping it with a rubber hammer.   After working it some and trying to tap it back into place, and using some penetrant lube, it not moves by hand (although just barely)....still pretty tight.

You guys think it is safe to to install this way?  I figure the joint doesnt have to move once it is adjusted (right?) and I tried installing the adjuster bolt and it works fine.....

I am just overthinking, right? 

That will be fine. That only moves relative to the arm when you adjust ride height. It will have the weight of the car on it. If you can move it with a hammer or barely with your hands, it WILL move on the car.

[shadango]

Thanks!  I was just thinking that if it were cocked in there it could throw off "something".

But I stuck the t-bar in that socket and it even wiggles some...so I guess its not that precise a deal.

Like I figured, thinking too much into it again....LOL