Front Lower Control Arms

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wb292

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Sorry for they delayed update. It's been about 6 months now. The truck still drives perfect. No pulling to either side. I bought 5 new Goodyear Dura Tracs and I'm very happy with them and the truck. It was well worth the effort. I requested the alignment to get as close as possible to 0 on the camber so my new tires would wear evenly. I realize GM wants +1.5 but the tires wear unevenly like that. It's my daily driver and I drive it about 140miles each day round trip. So I have close to 17,000 miles since this repair. The tires haven't worn much and I rotate all 5 every other oil change.
 

Caman96

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Sorry for they delayed update. It's been about 6 months now. The truck still drives perfect. No pulling to either side. I bought 5 new Goodyear Dura Tracs and I'm very happy with them and the truck. It was well worth the effort. I requested the alignment to get as close as possible to 0 on the camber so my new tires would wear evenly. I realize GM wants +1.5 but the tires wear unevenly like that. It's my daily driver and I drive it about 140miles each day round trip. So I have close to 17,000 miles since this repair. The tires haven't worn much and I rotate all 5 every other oil change.
That is awesome wb292. You defied the odds. And won! :hail:
 

RCSB_jonny

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Lol, this great to know, but I just finished painting my LCAs and torsion bars (rusted together) after first having to fight to get them out of the truck, then to get the bushings and ball joints out. I probably spent more money doing all that too...
 

Rustbucket79

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I just want to thank you, living in Sweden close to the sea and with salty roads half the year I softly laughed when someone in the beginning said "They're not wear parts. You don't replace them".. given a very well maintained truck with one owner and frequent washes and good undercoatings that _might_ be true here.

I go the astro way and hopefully save me the trouble of changing bushings and ball joint in my original LCS (now probably about half of the original weight ;) ).
 

454cid

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I just want to thank you, living in Sweden close to the sea and with salty roads half the year I softly laughed when someone in the beginning said "They're not wear parts. You don't replace them".. given a very well maintained truck with one owner and frequent washes and good undercoatings that _might_ be true here.

That was me, and I stand by what I said. I live in Michigan where we salt the roads before it snows, after it snows, and seemingly just for the fun of it. I know what rust is. If a control arm is that rusty, then the entire frame needs to be carefully looked at.
 

Rustbucket79

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That was me, and I stand by what I said. I live in Michigan where we salt the roads before it snows, after it snows, and seemingly just for the fun of it. I know what rust is. If a control arm is that rusty, then the entire frame needs to be carefully looked at.
Couldnt agree more.
But my experience is that a couple of sloppy owners and everything close to the wheels is bare metal and after that it gets ugly fast, the lower control arm seems to be one of the most exposed part off the chassie, at least by the look of it on mine.. (Im not counting the part of the body thats currently MIA, wheel wells etc.)

Im in the process of changing/restoring everything thats connected to the front wheels. And the old control arms would stick out like a sore thumb, with the added bonus of possibly be a saftey hazard.
At least bad enough to make the yearly inspection guy hit that part harder with the hated little hammer. :)
 

Rustbucket79

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Short update and some questions.

Tried the Astro LCA on for size today. Did not fit. Started measuring. The metal part of the LCA itself seems ok, but the inner distance measured bushing to bushing (between the legs of the "A") is 3-4mm to large, 0.1-0.15" for the conservatives out there.. Too much to hammer in place in my opinion.

By chance the metal collor (the one with part of it gone to fit the torsion bar) of the rear bushing is not flush with the LCA, by approx. 3-4mm. Should it be?
Its the bushing seen in the top left part of this pic:

Seems odd that both new arms has badly pressed bushings. So I wounder if the collor should be flush?

Options:
-Try to press the bushings the remaining distance. Worst case should be broken press or bushing right?
-Remove busings and replace with a known quality bushing.
Any input?
 
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