Is this lower control arm toast?

[shadango]

Bought a press today and that made removing the pins from my LCAs super easy.

However, the sleeves for the LCA bushings are TOUGH!  I tried the trick of welding a washer to the rim of the sleeve and then using a long bolt/nut and pressing that way...but the washer just bowed and eventually broke at the welds.  I fought the first sleeve for a good hour or two.  That sucked.....chiseling and hammering and heating....eventually got it out.

Then I looked at the second LCA........

The end where the torsion bar fits is spread apart some....making it difficult to move the adjuster....



The bushking sleeve's edge was below the edge of the control arm part....



I was able to squeeze the LCA together some and get it a little better, as shown here....but now the sleeves edge is not square...its like the one side half of the LCA needs to be twisted some yet...



This particular LCA is on the side where my car appears to have had some damage like it went off the road and scraped....

So, is this LCA reusable or is it toast?   

Can I safely twist and tweak in a vice until its right or do I have to replace?

I haven't removed the bushing sleeve yet...dont want to waste my time if you guys think it is toast......

[Supercuda]

It looks ok in the pics, but this is a judgement call. I don't like the idea of having to "tweak" a component like this in order for it to work properly, but some "adjustment" is often necessary for us to get what we want out of these parts. If the amount of bending you need t do seems a lot, or the part was badly damaged to begin with, it's toast. My decision would be based upon this set of rules: 1. Does the part appear as if it will survive the process? 2. Is it a difficult part to source a replacement for? 3. Can I afford a replacement? 4. Will replacement of this part adversely affect the outcome of my labors? (e.g.- devalue a restoration, or make for a less safe vehicle) If you can answer the questions honestly, you will come to a good solution for your problem. 

[autoxcuda]

It's common for them to spread there a little. Man, that is rusty.

[shadango]

Thanks guys.

Truth be told, what I would like to do is find a set of arms that have the sway bar brackets on them already.....or maybe go to tubulars....but since I am trying to stay on a budget, I guess I will reuse these...

Seems like this one in question will be OK, if you guys think the spread is normal.....the drivers side isnt spread at all.....the torsion bar socket moves OK now...it was pretty sticky...but when I was pulling it off the car it seemed ok with leverage.....

I think I will be able to clamp it a bit to expose the sleeve edge better while I am removing it.....it will probably spring back to where it is now.....I dont want to tweak TOOOOOO much....

I have yet to clean them up.....this one looks particularly rusty as I sprayed it down with PB Blaster hoping it helps the sleeve a little for the removal...PB blaster is reddish color and is oily so it looks worse than it is I think (hope).

Once I start cleaning them up I will see if they are too rusty.....seem like they arent though.

Supercuda, thatsa good checklist.....

1. yes...seems like it will survive
2. no...replacements could be had (well, I would think  I could find some used ones, right?)
3. thats the kicker....budget....LOL
4. My car is a frankenstein already so I dont think so...

[autoxcuda]

Hotchkis sells the sway bar tab for $29.95 to weld on. At the same time get some 1" wide metal and weld the rear split closer and put a reinforcement in the middle.

Don't bother with tubular LCA. Not going to save you much weight. Never going to feel it. Would only matter if you were building every other componet to it's trickest ($$$) And the CAP stuff is not known for it's sturdiness. More built for drag racers.

Spend money where it matters.

[Bullitt-]

I've read that A-body LCA works, they are a tad longer which makes more +Castor?.?
  Someone in the know please verify.



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DART-DUSTER-73-76-Lower-Control-Arms-w-sway-bar-tabs_W0QQitemZ230424897208QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item35a664e6b8

[LAA66]

 I would suggest making sure it is straight before the next decision. The LCA bends pretty easily, even a curb stop can do it. Passenger side is said to be the most suspect as it's on the curb side.

 If it is bent back towards the rear you will lose castor even with offset UCA bushings and such. It is hard to tell from looking at a singel one. Setting both side by side with the pivot pins helps.   

[the_engineers]

Hotchkis sells the sway bar tab for $29.95 to weld on.

Ooh...I likey
http://www.hotchkis.net/late_mopar_control_arm_bracket.html

[shadango]

I'm having a hard time on this one guys.

I cleaned up the arms and they turned out great as far as that goes.....ready to paint....

But, the one in question I cant decide.....

The suspect arm....



It has three small divots...two that line up on the one side that is tweaked and one on the bottom on the other side....





Below I drew a line thru the divots...you can see all three of them....an arrow indicates the direction of the slight tweakage.....



If I carefully feel the backside of the side with the two divots (top and bottom), it is ever so slightly bowed (and I mean slightly), in line with the two divots.

So it looks like the one half of the  side may be tweaked towards the rear....leading to the "spread" at the t-bar socket end...the balljoint end looks as straight as the other arm does....and the other side/half  looks fine....

Its hard to tell if the t-bar socket is "square" with the arm or not....it actually looks like BOTH arms are not square in that regard....

On the good arm, the socket moves a bit so it COULD be "square" depending on how that firms up when installed.....the suspect side is tighter due to the slight tweakage meantioned above.

So the question is, is this enough to kill the one arm?  Side by side it is not obvious to me that the one is tweaked where it would matter.....

[the_engineers]

As long as it still pivots, wouldn't you be able to take the "tweak" out as the car is aligned?  Who knows, maybe it was out before and you squared it up again.

[shadango]

Thats what I was thinking....but am not sure....

I know the car was off the road or otherwise damaged on that side.....the k member has scrapes and gouges on that side too, and the fender has been repaired on that side.........the strut rods on both sides are slightly bowed, but no major bends, so this "tweakage' is the only indication of any issue.....

I just dont know how much is acceptable.....

[autoxcuda]

I've read that A-body LCA works, they are a tad longer which makes more +Castor?.?
  Someone in the know please verify.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DART-DUSTER-73-76-Lower-Control-Arms-w-sway-bar-tabs_W0QQitemZ230424897208QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item35a664e6b8

That sounds like info related to what I posted on my old website: 68 Cuda Autocrosser: http://hometown.aol.com/pwall5/cars/2cudapag.html

It would be to gain camber not caster. In a racing application with other fabrication and tweaking you could put a 1/2" longer A-body arm on a E/B body. The sway bar tab will be in the wrong place and the strut rod will move outward too. A spherical adjustable would be perfect for that. But a stock rubber or poly would probably work but you would have test fit it to see if you needed some spacers on the rear strut bushing to make up for the LCA strut rod hole being moved out 1/2". Maybe not, since poly strut rod bushings are about 3/16" thicker than stock.

Like I stated on my website, I had never tried it personally. Just a fact that may help someone.

Anyway, it's really a factoid for the non faint of heart. You gotta be pretty familar with front end geometry and alignment to see if it would help you meet your needs.

[autoxcuda]

Thats what I was thinking....but am not sure....

I know the car was off the road or otherwise damaged on that side.....the k member has scrapes and gouges on that side too, and the fender has been repaired on that side.........the strut rods on both sides are slightly bowed, but no major bends, so this "tweakage' is the only indication of any issue.....

I just dont know how much is acceptable.....

I think it will align and be fine. Might be cause for a clunking or some noise in the future.

Just clamp it to match the other, or clamp it to where there is some feedom of movement and weld a strap like I posted a picture of. It only rotates when you adjust for ride height. Otherwise it never moves relative to the rest of the LCA.

[Kapteenikosmos]

For me it seems to be so that the other half of the arm has bent from the dimple shown in your pic. I've attached a pic which shows where I think that the bend is. Because you are in a budget as I am I would just try to straighten it up and weld a strap on the end of the arm to keep the gap down as autoxcuda suggested.

At the same time you could also "box" the arms too and that way increase the stiffness. Just weld a strip of metal on the underside of the arm and drill a holes big enough for a socket to go through so that you can turn the adjuster and also a hole to access the mounting nut of the rubber bumper. I think that there are plenty of pics in the net for that and I can also try to remember and post a pic from mine.

[shadango]

Ooh...I likey
http://www.hotchkis.net/late_mopar_control_arm_bracket.html

Anyone know if this will work with ANY sway bar or if its just for hotchkis stuff?