A body lower control arm bushing

A body lower control arm bushing - 07/01/12 08:19 PM

Im putting in new strut rod bushings on my 72 dart. When i got the lower control arm off i noticed something that didnt seem right.Is the lower control arm bushing suppost to be loose where it go's threw the control arm? The rubber part seems fine but the outter shell is loose and wobbles in the hole on the arm. Im wondering if the arm itself is worn or that its normal.

Posted By: Jim_Lusk

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/01/12 09:06 PM

The pivot is loose in the control arm. It can be fixed. I have a video of the process I need to upload to Youtube, but the basics are that you need to cut the weld on one side of the bumper plate and clamp the two halves together and reweld the plate. Tack the plate in place and make sure that the pivot still spins.

Posted By: challengermike

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/01/12 09:30 PM

I see what you are saying, it does tighten it up some but i think my arm is worn to much.I put the arm in a vice and tightened it up and i still can get a small flat head screwdriver tip to fit inbetween the the bushing outter shell and the arm. the outter shell doesnt have a groove in it like its worn. I guess my next question would be is do they repop lower arms or should i be looking for one at a junkyard ?

Posted By: challengermike

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/01/12 10:24 PM

I did cut it apart and rewelded it. I also welded a brace on the back side to keep it tighter. The last pic is the gap between the bushing and the arm. This will get me by untill i find an arm i think.

Attached picture 7273118-055.JPG

Posted By: challengermike

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/01/12 10:25 PM

2nd pic

Posted By: challengermike

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/01/12 10:26 PM

gap

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 01:08 AM

Quote:

I see what you are saying, it does tighten it up some but i think my arm is worn to much.I put the arm in a vice and tightened it up and i still can get a small flat head screwdriver tip to fit inbetween the the bushing outter shell and the arm. the outter shell doesnt have a groove in it like its worn. I guess my next question would be is do they repop lower arms or should i be looking for one at a junkyard ?

How many miles on the car , that is sort of a wear point , but it's not a press fit there , A replacement arm is probably in your future , nothing is repeopped .

Posted By: challengermike

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 02:39 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I see what you are saying, it does tighten it up some but i think my arm is worn to much.I put the arm in a vice and tightened it up and i still can get a small flat head screwdriver tip to fit inbetween the the bushing outter shell and the arm. the outter shell doesnt have a groove in it like its worn. I guess my next question would be is do they repop lower arms or should i be looking for one at a junkyard ?

How many miles on the car , that is sort of a wear point , but it's not a press fit there , A replacement arm is probably in your future , nothing is repeopped .

Im not sure how many miles it really has. The car was turned into a racecar a few owners before me, so the speedo hasnt been hooked up in how long. All i know is the strut rod bushings were so bad that it caused one of the upper control arm mounting points to crack off the frame rail from moving foward and backward so much. Im guessing thats why the lower arm is worn so bad there.

Posted By: Jim_Lusk

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 04:31 AM

That's not uncommon, especially on the arms that don't have a lip on the main parts. It seems some later arms are just like that one (and so is the one I used in the video). I believe a lot of arms left the factory with slop. I'll get the video uploaded within a few days and you can see the difference in early/late arms there.

Posted By: 340SHORTY

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 11:15 AM

The bushing presses tightly into the hole that it goes into. The part it presses into is made to pivot.

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 02:13 PM

Quote:

The bushing presses tightly into the hole that it goes into. The part it presses into is made to pivot.

Exactly , the thread is title incorrectly , there is noting wrong with the bushing .

Posted By: bigsbigelow

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 02:18 PM

I have dealt with two A body front ends recently and all four LCA's were like you describe. I figured that is just they way they are.

Posted By: Jim_Lusk

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 03:06 PM

Got the video uploaded. If you don't want to watch the whole thing go to about 1:50 to see the difference in the main body of the arms (lip/no lip).

http://youtu.be/Nwes-SP8u4w

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 04:52 PM

Great video Jim .

I was just thinking while watching that if a person wanted to salvage fix the one without the lips one could machine up a couple of rings that slip over the pivots and weld them to the side of the arm .

Posted By: Jim_Lusk

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/02/12 05:35 PM

Quote:

Great video Jim .

I was just thinking while watching that if a person wanted to salvage fix the one without the lips one could machine up a couple of rings that slip over the pivots and weld them to the side of the arm .

Sure could...

Posted By: challengermike

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/03/12 02:42 AM

Quote:

Great video Jim .

I was just thinking while watching that if a person wanted to salvage fix the one without the lips one could machine up a couple of rings that slip over the pivots and weld them to the side of the arm .

I was thinking the same thing. But finding an arm shouldnt be to hard. I thought about taking a huge washer and hole sawing it out but that seems like a pain.

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: A body lower control arm bushing - 07/03/12 02:42 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Great video Jim .

I was just thinking while watching that if a person wanted to salvage fix the one without the lips one could machine up a couple of rings that slip over the pivots and weld them to the side of the arm .

I was thinking the same thing. But finding an arm shouldnt be to hard. I thought about taking a huge washer and hole sawing it out but that seems like a pain.

That would be a pain since it needs to be a specific size on the OD so finding something thick enough and then being able to hole saw it out in the center would be a bear of a task , I have a lathe at work I can use and could whip something out on my lunch break.

Finding an arm shouldn't be too hard , save the swaybar mount off your old arm so you don't restrict your search , plus arms without swaybar tabs should be dirt cheap ...