Any tips on freeing up a tight B-body lower control arm?

I have some '70 B-body lower control arms and after pressing in the new lower control arm bushings, the pivots (where the torsion bar slides into the back of the arm and the adjuster arm moves up and down) are very tight and nearly impossible to move by hand. Are there common ways to free them up so that the arm pivots freely again?

hi

put some atf and mineral spirits mixed on it and worke it .



should free up quickly

"after pressing in the new lower control arm bushings"

Sounds like they were free before you pressed in the bushings and now they are tight? If so they were not supported properly when the bushings were pressed in and got bent.

I agree.

However when installed and adjusted the pivot does not move in relation to the arm. It only moves when making adjustments.

If the bend isn't effecting the arm's geometry but the weight of the car can move the adjuster you can still use them. I have seen them really tight and still work fine.

One LCA was pretty free before pressing in the bushing and the other was fairly tight.

As for the bushing not being properly supported during the press-in process, I don't agree with that assessment. I used a deep 1" impact socket (size 1-3/16", I believe), which allowed the pin to extend through the socket and press plates and pressed the bushing down against the socket and into the LCA. The press ram was pushing against the hex side of the LCA.

Fairly tight is fine then. Use it as it is. It only moves with the adjustment bolt against the T bar.

You can bolt it back into the K frame to hold the pin, and with out the adjuster bolt - nut. Then you can move it up down with lube to loosen it up. But the side plates could be just tight on yours.

More important is if the holes in the K frame for the pin is wallowed out. That taper on the pin close to the bushing should fit snug into the K frame taper hole.

The YouTube video below is pretty interesting. He fixes loose lower control slop, but I imagine the same techniques can be done for fixing ones that are too tight.


https://youtu.be/Nwes-SP8u4w

Thanks for the video link. I had watched that video last night and I'm thinking that I may need to pry a bit around the adjuster to free it up a bit, along with adding some oil, too. Any other thoughts?

IMHO, tight is better. It would have to be pretty much seized to cause any problems. The weight of the car will make it move.

Thanks for the thoughts. The frame on the car is in great shape. No rust issues in this part of the country. It appears that the LCAs are just very tight around the adjuster pivot.