[s-cars] CONTROL ARM installation concerns

[QSHIPQ at aol.com]

--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
No.  . This "loaded" inner control arm procedure is exactly *not* applicable
to UrS cars at all Ray.

In the ursS car, the inner control arm bushing is held in place with a sleeve
insert thru the bushing barrel, so it's alignment to the sub/frame is
predetermined before you even put the bolt in.  What you describe below
applies to cars with traditional a-arms ala 90/urq/4k/80 chassis cars.
Failure to follow this procedure on the earlier A-arm cars can destroy the
bushing within a few thousand miles.  Tightening the inner C/A bolts on the
urS car "in situ (unloaded)" won't affect bushing life at all.  Even without
the inner sleeve (ala 5k/200/v8) this isn't really an issue.  The movement of
concern is the hinge rotation of bushing vs arm, on a 80/90/urq/4k that would
be up/down, on a urs/5k/200/v8 that would be fore/aft..

What you might procedurally argue in the same context is that you want to
tighten the swaybar nuts before tightening the inner control arm, since your
tearing concept does apply wrt fore/aft movement of the C/A bushing locked in
place, then dragged forward as you tighten the swaybar nut.

HTH

Scott Justusson
QSHIPQ Peformance Tuning.
Chicago

In a message dated 3/20/2003 8:42:35 AM Central Standard Time, ray at s-cars.org
writes:

WRT control arm failure - a common installation oversight is that, since the
control arm uses bonded material, torquing down the control arm with the
suspension fully unsprung (e.g., on the lift), and then subsequently
dropping the lift will cause the bonded inner bushing to tear around the
inner sleeve.  The bonded bushing is designed to rotate only so far, and
torquing in the wrong location causes premature failure to the bonded
bushing.

Be sure to tell the tech to compress the strut by using a tranny lift, etc.,
under the brake rotor or steering knuckle to about 50% compression such that
the bonded sleeve is at its proper alignment BEFORE torquing the inner
control arm bushing bolt.

On an aside, check the swaybar nut where the swaybar mounts to the control
arm.  Mine managed to back its way off to all but 2 or 3 threads.  If that
nut comes loose, there is nothing to support the lower control arm, which is
BAD.  VERY BAD.

Ray Tomlinson
Boston