Is this lower control arm toast?

[Kapteenikosmos]

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

Should work with original one too. I did mine from scratch and they ended up looking about the same. It's mainly about the placement, not the looks anyway

[Bullitt-]

What I'd do is find a way to get a Triangular measurement...Select 3-points on the LCAs & measure to see what the differences are...Place the bent areas of the one in a vice & squeeze them flat till they match.   Then weld the reinforcement plates on both...
http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/coarmstpl.html



 

[Supercuda]

I would replace this arm, if my budget allowed for it. The tweak in the arm is enough to negatively impact your alignment angle adjustability, and I am not especially fond of bending old steel back and forth a lot. If replacement is not an option, the recommended reinforcement plan is a good one. Best of luck on that. As far as the idea of using longer LCA's on your car; this would be very trick for autocrossing, as it would ncrease front track width, and also allow for dialling in more negative camber (excellent for turning corners). Use of a spherical-end strut rod would almost seem mandatory, pulling it another 1/2" out like that.

[ShelbyDogg]

Truth be told, what I would like to do is find a set of arms that have the sway bar brackets on them already.....

Mine was tweaked a little like yours. I had a friend that had spare e-body LCAs but non of them had the sway bar mount so I ground mine off and welded it on the other one. If you are this worried about yours then just replace it.

There is a guy out here parting out a 70 Challenger and a 74 Barracuda. Both basically shells left. PM me if you want his number.

[shadango]

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.

Spend money where it matters.

Any chance anyone has a discount code for Hotchkis?

The tabs are only $30 but they want $15 to ship!    Trying to save where I can....seems like this would be a good idea to do though while I have them off the car....

[shadango]

Mine was tweaked a little like yours. I had a friend that had spare e-body LCAs but non of them had the sway bar mount so I ground mine off and welded it on the other one. If you are this worried about yours then just replace it.

There is a guy out here parting out a 70 Challenger and a 74 Barracuda. Both basically shells left. PM me if you want his number.

Think I will try the reinforcing tact.  Seems like its just that half of that side that is tweaked...will do the strap at the end plus the plates and I should be ok I would think....If I coudl find an ebody LCA cheap I would go that route...

I ordered the weld-on plates from mancini ($23) and am considering the weld-on sway bar tabs...wont have a sway bar for a while, but might as welll do this while I have them off....

[autoxcuda]

Think I will try the reinforcing tact.  Seems like its just that half of that side that is tweaked...will do the strap at the end plus the plates and I should be ok I would think....If I coudl find an ebody LCA cheap I would go that route...

I ordered the weld-on plates from mancini ($23) and am considering the weld-on sway bar tabs...wont have a sway bar for a while, but might as welll do this while I have them off....

If you are worried about the $15 shipping, save the $23 on the weld on plates and just buy some 1" wide think steel strap that I show in the picture I posted above. That plate is way overkill.

[shadango]

Already ordered the plates.....at least for that money you get something....LOL

Just feels like $15 to ship a couple of metal brackets is kinda $$$$$$$?

Oh well...you wants to play, ya gots to pay....<grin>   

[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 single one. Setting both side by side with the pivot pins helps.   

 Take a look at the photo and see which one looks bent..... After sending it to a specialty shop and asking for their determination, it was OK. 

 However, the alignment shop confirmed my suspicion , it ended up to be 3 degrees off from the other side. (caster, bent backwards). It's very difficult to see and I have not heard of a jig to check them.

 Struts are somewhat adjustable but that is not a solution as it binds the bushings to hold the control arm in place.

 

[shadango]

I have decided to replace the passenger side LCA and not risk it.....have a "wanted" ad and a couple folks have chimed in having one available....

(Have I said lately how awesome this community is!?!?)

Figured it is better to not take the chance....only way to know for sure if its bad or not is to have it all mounted and then aligned....seeing as it is visibly bent, the odds arent in my favor......

[shadango]

Found the hotchkis brackets on  lightningforceperformance.com...looks to be a mostky Ford vendor, but they also have stuff for the new Challengers etc so I gave them a pass.  LOL

Saved a whole $5 total with cheaper shipping and $1.00 savings on the actual price...LOL
   
But hey, $5 is $5.

Couldnt find them ANYWHERE else besides Hotchkis's site.

[the_engineers]

Wish I'd known...I would've had you order (2) sets and ship me the 2nd.

[shadango]

Ok....I'm back with this issue.

Here is a picture of the LCA that Jeff so graciously sent to me for only shipping (Thanks again jeff!)

Thing is, as I was cleaning it up I kept looking at this angle and it seems to me that the forged end could be twisted/bent.....




I am not sure how much would be considered Ok...I just know thati have read many places how this is very common and a problem....I dont want to weld on the reinforcement plate and sway bar brakcet (if I ever get them) and then decide its bent.....My eye keeps catching this...not sure if its an optical illusion or what....



I dont seem to see this on the original (which is bent near the pivot )...or am I being too picky/worried?

Closeup of new LCA



Original --

[the_engineers]

It's bent.

[shadango]

Thats what I thought.

Crap.

So I guess I am looking for another one then.