Possible to convert non-sway bar lower control arm to work with sway bar?

[Grec]

I've got a bent passenger-side lower control arm on my 73 Challenger Rallye. The car is equipped with sway bars, so it's making it a bit harder for me to find the part I need.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to pull the sway bar mounting bracket off of my bent control arm and weld it to a straight non-sway bar arm...

Has anybody ever done this or heard of this being done?

Barring this, does anyone happen to have one of these arms, or ideas on where to look?

Thanks.

[gomopar440]

Metal is metal. I'd just cut the mounting tab off and reweld it on the new arm. While I had the welder out I'd also suggest adding the LCA reinforcing plates to the botom of both the LCA's as well. They're cheap insurance to help resist this from happening again in the future.

The Mopar LCA's were designed as a weak link so you could replace those in case of a moderate front impact. They would bend and absorb the load of the impact saving the rest of the front end. Problem is they are no longer made and the parts will eventually become harder to find. IMHO, they were made a little too weak and the aftermarket seems to agree. Hence the LCA reinforcing plates available all over the place. I think I paid $20 for mine from Mancini.

[Grec]

That's what I thought. The reinforcing plates sound like a good idea, too.

Thanks.

[Street_Challenged73]

I'd let you use one of the spares I have, but I think I just have the left hand side one that I shouldn't need to use. (My original has a mushroomed part on the swar bar bracket that I may just weld up and clean it up that way.)  As for the reinforcement plates, definitely get a set as they will help the car out so much more.

[HemiDog]

Firmfeel converts them by providing an "L" bracket that is bolted to the LCA.  The bolt goes through both the front and back of the LCA with a spacer in the middle so you dont collapse the arm.  Just another idea.

http://www.firmfeel.com/swaybars_e.htm

[Grec]

Thanks for all the replys. Very helpful, as always.

I actually found the correct arm and am just going to pay the price premium on it to get it quickly. I'm a bit swamped lately and the thought of doing fab work on top of just swapping parts out gave me pause.

I'm still trying to get her ready to take to Hot August Nights in Reno at the end of the month. :-)

Will definitely add those reinforcing plates when I'm not in such a time crunch. Don't want to deal with this again anytime soon.

Cheers.