Front Lower Control Arms

LCALDERA98 said:

im still lost/ confused on how yall took off the lca without taking off both torsion bars

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No need to cut any bolts, the video above seems to do it since it collides with the drive axle? Mine didnt do that.

Best one, if rust is not an issue:
Drop the LCA to remove tension (remove everything and let it drop toward the ground).
Knock the bar forward.
Then remove the LCA with the bar still inside the LCA.

My bars was stuck inside the LCA, so I unscrewed the LCA with the bar still attached and then went medieval with a sledge hammer on the LCA trying to move bar and LCA forward.
It is possible to flex the bar enough to move the LCA free from the frame (the same for installation of the new LCA). After a while the bar released from the rear key and I had the LCA+bar loose.

The second side I did I just cut the bar out of the LCA and let the bar hang still attaced to the rear cross member.
But I was replacing the LCA, so significant damage was acceptable..

I changed ball joints and control arm bushings by prying the control arm down while still attached to the torsion bar.

Pain in the tuckus, but do-able. Out-of-focus red blob is the handle of my pry-bar. Pushed the control arm down far enough to melt-out the rubber, clean up the shells, and cram-in the Polyurethane bushing inserts.

The Astro LCAs arrived yesterday and appear to fit perfectly on my 2500. My only problem is there’s no hole or fitting for the sway bar end link to bolt to, would one just drill through the LCA and make one? Normally I’d just go for it but this seems to be a pretty important piece of the suspension what with cornering and all…

Whut?

Mine had a perfectly placed hole for the sway bar. Sure you are looking at it the right way up?
Pictures?

TommyJ1980 said:

The Astro LCAs arrived yesterday and appear to fit perfectly on my 2500. My only problem is there’s no hole or fitting for the sway bar end link to bolt to, would one just drill through the LCA and make one? Normally I’d just go for it but this seems to be a pretty important piece of the suspension what with cornering and all…

Click to expand...

Rustbucket79 said:

Whut?

Mine had a perfectly placed hole for the sway bar. Sure you are looking at it the right way up?
Pictures?

Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct! Found this “issue” late last night, and glad to see that my brain had retired before the rest of me!

Rustbucket79 said:

No need to cut any bolts, the video above seems to do it since it collides with the drive axle? Mine didnt do that.

Best one, if rust is not an issue:
Drop the LCA to remove tension (remove everything and let it drop toward the ground).
Knock the bar forward.
Then remove the LCA with the bar still inside the LCA.

My bars was stuck inside the LCA, so I unscrewed the LCA with the bar still attached and then went medieval with a sledge hammer on the LCA trying to move bar and LCA forward.
It is possible to flex the bar enough to move the LCA free from the frame (the same for installation of the new LCA). After a while the bar released from the rear key and I had the LCA+bar loose.

The second side I did I just cut the bar out of the LCA and let the bar hang still attaced to the rear cross member.
But I was replacing the LCA, so significant damage was acceptable..

Click to expand...

Rustbucket79 said:

No need to cut any bolts, the video above seems to do it since it collides with the drive axle? Mine didnt do that.

Best one, if rust is not an issue:
Drop the LCA to remove tension (remove everything and let it drop toward the ground).
Knock the bar forward.
Then remove the LCA with the bar still inside the LCA.

My bars was stuck inside the LCA, so I unscrewed the LCA with the bar still attached and then went medieval with a sledge hammer on the LCA trying to move bar and LCA forward.
It is possible to flex the bar enough to move the LCA free from the frame (the same for installation of the new LCA). After a while the bar released from the rear key and I had the LCA+bar loose.

The second side I did I just cut the bar out of the LCA and let the bar hang still attaced to the rear cross member.
But I was replacing the LCA, so significant damage was acceptable..

Click to expand...

Just found said bolt that was hitting the drive axle, it’s now in two pieces and I’ll be shopping for another tomorrow. this is the passenger side LCA, no problems with this one, it was the other side that was cracked. Given how hard these were to find I imagine someone might be interested in it. Is there a swap area or is that a no no on this site?

TommyJ1980 said:

Is there a swap area or is that a no no on this site?

Click to expand...

There is a classifieds section, but you need to have full access membership to gain access. Which means you need to have been a forum member for six months and made 100 posts. At that point your account will automatically be upgraded to full access.

Hi everyone! I wanted to give a huge thank you to wb292. I was going down the path on my 98 k1500 of needing to do a front end rebuild and kept neglecting it until I decided to install the Rough Country hidden winch mount and a 12k winch. My tires were cambered pretty hard and caused a ton of tire wear bald on the outsides and dang near full tread on the inside. I began to develop a "popping" sound when turning and then noticed most of the rubber falling out of the upper control arm bushings and said it's time. What went from just ball joints and bushings at $400 in parts turned into close to $2200 (some of that was my fault in damaging a few things). Sorry for the long intro but the back story was needed I thought.

I am really glad I didn't do this job sooner as I didn't know how bad my control arms really were rusted and I couldn't get them out. This turned into having to cut both torsion bars out and then went down that rabbit hole. When I saw this forum post I jumped on it! I ordered the Mevotech arms and replaced the lower ball joints with the upgraded TTX versions. The issue here that I did not take into account is that wb292 had a 1st design control arm, which in turn, 1st design knuckles. Since I had the second design arms and knuckles I ended up having to grind a decent amount of meat to get the same amount of steering angle.

First off I ordered the MEVOTECH CMS50146 front left lower control arm for a 2002 Astro AWD. Then right was MEVOTECH CMS50147. Just my luck the rubber bump stop was long gone and they aren't cheap even on rock auto pricing! GM GENUINE 15592548 is the identical part for both a truck and the AWD astro and nobody else makes them. Only the RWD astro has $4 replacements.

Here are the side by side photos.




I spent quite a while measuring and comparing and the sizes just kept matching up. The shock angles looked correct along with the slight angle of the ball joints. It did take some prying to get the control arms onto the frame of the truck. I used a 2 inch scotch wheel on a die grinder and cleaned the surfaces as best as possible and then used some copper anti seize to help the arms slide in. I placed a floor jack under the control arm and then used a combo of a soft orange dead blow hammer, and multiple pry bars with some 2x4 blocks to help pry it into place. The bushings do appear to stick out further than the stock arms but I didn't press them in. Once the control arm was in, I torqued the bolts to factory spec and it fits perfect. I ordered new torsion bars and keys and that made the install go pretty easy. Rough Country makes a very nice torsion bar removal tool that's a U shape using two nuts instead of the C shape tools and it's something like $80. I replaced the factory mevotech ball joints with the TTX version TXK6291 which fits 88-95 trucks and the Astro from 1990-2005... The irony is I contacted Mevotech and they told me the arms don't work because the ball joint angle is wrong and you can't align it properly and for them to make a new truck control arm they would need a brand new OEM arm which are discontinued. Well I re-read this post and said why not I'll give it a shot anyways. Since the steering angle was severely limited I am posting the photos of what it took to get the full lock-to-lock steering back.

More photos...

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