Rebushing controll Arms

[69 Mach 393]

Has any one rebuit their own upper and lower controll arms. Mine seams to be ok so I was thinking I could buy new balljoints and bushings and rebuild mine. Is it any cheaper and is it worth the hassle.

 

[jesserose17]

I have a shop manual that says do not re-use control arms... you will be better off and happier with new control arms that comes ready with new bushings and ball joints. Metal fatigue can be a factor if you retain the original control arms.

 

[Ronstang]

I don't particularly buy into the metal fatigue thing on the control arms, the bigger problem is the threads that hold in the bushings are a very strange shallow thread that tends to get destroyed when removing the original bushings. Rust takes it's toll over the years and there are many times no threads left to screw the new bushings into. Mine were fine and the new bushings fit snug and do not require tack welds so they will go one more cycle.

 

[bud4660]

Dont know about yours. But I couldnt find anybody that sold just the lower balljoints for mine. So I ordered new lowers and cut the rivets out of the balljoints so I could reuse the arms I have. They are not stock factory arms. They are somekind of a made race arm based off the factory ones. Someone had welded the nuts on the uppers so I had to replace them with new ones.
Bud

 

[Hack]

I don't particularly buy into the metal fatigue thing on the control arms, the bigger problem is the threads that hold in the bushings are a very strange shallow thread that tends to get destroyed when removing the original bushings. Rust takes it's toll over the years and there are many times no threads left to screw the new bushings into. Mine were fine and the new bushings fit snug and do not require tack welds so they will go one more cycle.

Yeah, fatigue is a funny thing. It's probably the factory's way of covering their bases. I remember in engineering school being annoyed by the fatigue "science" .. mostly lack thereof.

I would think that if you closely examine the arm and don't see any cracks, it's probably fine. But don't hold me liable for that advice.

 

[Ronstang]

I'm a dumb one too.....I didn't even see that you were talking about lower control arms and I went off and discussed the uppers....sorry. On the lowers I simply throw them away and buy new ones unless I am going to make them custom like opentracker does....good idea there.

 

[69 Mach 393]

I beadblasted the Controll arms and they all look to be in good shape. The bottom balljoints are pressed in then tacked but I ground off the weld and knocked them out no problem.I figured someone made after market ball joints.Did you say that the bushings are screwed in. I thought they were pressed in.

 

[Opentracker]

Lower arm

Upper arm

The replacement lower ball joints I found were junk so I went with the screw in ball joint. The inside pivot is a spherical bearing done like GW. The upper arm has had the ball joint area realigned so a 1 3/4" drop can be done.

John



(edit to fix photo links)

 

[Ozsum67]

I wouldn't rebuild them. Over time, the holes wallow out egg shaped, and the cost versus pain in the butt is clear.

 

[bnickel]

i think the factory uppers are probably good for one rebuild, maybe two if you live in a relatively dry climate and rust isn't a big deal. however check the arms closely at the ball joint area around the bolt holes for cracks, after 30 years both of mine were cracked in that area, we welded the cracks up and ground them down flush and they seemed to be okay, but i have new arms ready to go on shortly when i rebuild the front end again. i drove the car only about 6000 miles with the arms repaired that way, so i can not attest to longevity of the repair and never intended to put a lot of miles on them anyway. as far as the lowers go, i'm going to do mine like open trackers and also do some spring perches like his as well. i will probably use the pro-motorsports negative wedge kit instead of the mods he has done to his uppers. i don't have that much trust in my fabricating skills.