RE: joint and axle musings

[Dave Lawson <dlawson@ball.com>]

Hi Chris,

>One the subj of interchangeability, can anyone tell me what control arm I 
can
>use in place of the right front one on my TQC, which I think I've bent. Can 
I
>use one off a 4000q, front or rear?

>Any thoughts?

It depends on the year and VIN of your TQC. Sometime in MY 1983, around a 
VIN of 545(?), the TQC suspension was changed over to that like a 4000q,  so 
I would assume that you can use the 4000q parts. Be careful though, a friend 
used to own an 83 TQC with a VIN in the 560s and his car had the 'old' style 
suspension. This was a source of much frustration when ordering parts, they 
would ask for the VIN, the parts microfiche would point to the 'new'style 
suspension, parts would come and wouldn't fit.  When the car was built, 
Ludwig and Fritz must have found an 'old' style suspension sitting in the 
corner and installed it. One difference between the suspensions is the wheel 
bearings are a different size. I believe another difference is there is no 
rear sway bar on the 'new' style.

How did you come upon bending a control arm? On my 83, an early one, the 
control arms are very heavy and seem quite strong.

Another thing that comes to mind, is in the development histories of the 
ur-q, they always mention that the suspension and subrame are from a 5000 
turbo and the rear is identical to the front just turned 180 degrees. The 
early control arms might be found on an 81 or so vintage 5000 turbo. Just 
speculating here, as I have never looked into this, but it might be worth 
checking into if yours is really bent.

Hope this helps.
 -
Dave Lawson  dlawson@ball.com