Control Arm Repair at Chassis Mount

[xirdneh]

This is how i did it, primative as it is.
Pictures are in reverse order so start at bottom

[dlb]

wow, nice work regardless of welding skills. what was it that caused the damage in the first place? was the control arm simply not bolted in snugly?

[xirdneh]

wow, nice work regardless of welding skills. what was it that caused the damage in the first place? was the control arm simply not bolted in snugly?

I am not sure what started it
I had to re tighten the bolt several times over the last five years
So I knew trouble was coming

[dlb]

i had quite a bit of trouble doing the alignment on my green tercel a year or two ago. after doing a bunch of front end work, including replacing the control arm bushings, and having a full alignment done at a shop, i found the car always pulled to the passenger side a bit. i checked the toe in and found it was out a bit so i corrected it. still had the same problem. messed with the toe in a bunch but couldn't seem to fix it. then petros mentioned on here one time about how the control arm should be in it's resting position when the bolt is torqued up. i have no idea what position it was in when i torqued it up so i wonder if that had been part of the problem. do you think that could that have been related to this damage?

[rer233]

yep- always tighten the control arm bolt with the arm in it's normal riding position- ie wheels on, car off jacks. i've found the easiest way is to drive the car up on ramps (if you have 'em- i don't.) so i just drive the offending wheel up on the curb, slide under and tighten the bolt up. works for me!

[ARCHINSTL]

Both the control arm and the sway bar should be in the resting position, per the FSM.
Tom M.

[splatterdog]

All suspension bushings should be tightened at ride height. Many urethanes one float making it less important. But stock ones are fully bonded and only have a minimal flex zone. Can make for some twitchy operation and reduced bushing life when they are always at their limit.