[s-cars] control arm removal

[Djdawson2 at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/19/04 10:23:27 PM Mountain Standard Time, 
billdealva at yahoo.com writes:

> The reference to a separate sleeve that has to be removed in order to 
> remove the control arm is very interesting to me.  I did not encounter such an 
> inner sleeve when I removed the left control arm on my car.

Someone must have done it wrong in the past... my car was missing them on 
both sides.

  The parts diagram shows this inner sleeve.  I had assumed that my car was 
> different.  Yet this could explain why I was not able to remove the right 
> control arm from my car.

Yes, that sleeve is longer than the knuckle on the subframe, and prevents you 
from removing the control arm.  The sleeve must be removed first.  If you try 
and force it, you'll damage the sleeve.  It isn't a hardened part...

  It seemed like a good idea to replace the bushing on the right side even 
though it 
> appears to be in good condition.  I tried for over an hour to remove the 
> right control arm and finally gave up, figuring it was not worth the effort to 
> replace a bushing that was still good!

Yep, it's sleeve was likely intact.

> 
> I will now have to inspect the connection at my right control arm more 
> closely.  If I find the inner sleeve Rich refers to in his posting, I'll need to 
> order a replacement for the botched installation on the left side!
> 

You will want to correct that.  The ID of the holes in the both subframe and 
the control arm bushing sleeve are larger than the OD of the bolt.  That means 
2 things... first, your control arm will likely "wander" around in the 
subframe knuckle.  Second... repeated "wandering" = a subframe bolt that will slowly 
be reduced in diameter due to abrasion.  When I did my control arms, I found 
that previous work left the sleeves out of the job.  Both subframe bolts 
looked as if they had lost about 2mm of diameter in the area where they pass 
through the control arm bushings, and significant wear in the area where they passed 
through the subframe.  Enough of that could lead to a serious failure.
HTH,
Dave in CO