Quick Front upper control arm question, Camaro.
Nobody ran into this issue??? Everyone says to put a load on the suspension. If I can't smoke the bolts and nuts down enough, I guess I can load it, paint a line to show the angle and take it all apart. Put the upper arms at the angle and torque it down then. That's all I can think of if I can't put enough torque and that will be a guess. Is it really that important that I put the 72 ft lbs torque on this hardware?
I had the upper arms out of my car a couple of times, once to install poly bushings, and once to take them out, as they were too firm for the crappy roads where I live. When I re-assembled the arms to their respective mounting brackets, I used "nylock" nuts, and snugged them so the arms would move somewhat freely, then I put them back on the car. I initially noticed a little "clunk" when backing out of my driveway, as I have one of those poured concrete gutters, between the street and driveway.
That told me the nuts and bolts weren't as tight as necessary, so I snugged the nuts a tad more, the clunk went away, and I was good for a long time. (the nuts and bolt heads CAN be accessed with everything assembled, using box/open ended wrenches)
Most likely not, and I didn't intend to. For some reason, GM intends the elasticity of a really torqued down bushing, to be part of the suspension "tuning". Instead, I tightened them to be snug, but to still allow the a-arm to pivot, and let the shocks and springs control the suspension movement.
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Interesting. I tried to put the recommended torque on the spring assembly's lower bolts and nuts and the hardware broke. I got new hardware and just smoked it on using "German torque". Did you do the same thing with the other hardware in the front suspension?
One thing to keep in mind, is the manual provides both English torque numbers, as well as Metric numbers, AND in some cases, the torque value is in INCH pounds, rather than FOOT pounds, so you have to be very careful not to mix it up....
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The only items I am going to do the "German torque" on are the upper a-arm hardware and the bottom hardware for the shocks. Everything else is getting the proper torque. I just haven't gotten around to it because my back has been having muscle spasms for a while. The muscle relaxers I am on don't let me do ****. 
When you load the suspension, how much do you raise the suspension? Until weight is off of the jack stands or just raise it a couple inches? I still have my tires and wheel bearings off and would like to torque everything before I put those items on.
When you load the suspension, how much do you raise the suspension? Until weight is off of the jack stands or just raise it a couple inches? I still have my tires and wheel bearings off and would like to torque everything before I put those items on.
.......... I just haven't gotten around to it because my back has been having muscle spasms for a while. The muscle relaxers I am on don't let me do ****.
When you load the suspension, how much do you raise the suspension? Until weight is off of the jack stands or just raise it a couple inches? I still have my tires and wheel bearings off and would like to torque everything before I put those items on.
When you load the suspension, how much do you raise the suspension? Until weight is off of the jack stands or just raise it a couple inches? I still have my tires and wheel bearings off and would like to torque everything before I put those items on.
With respect to jacking the car, once you lift it off the jack stands, you've got pretty much all the weight the front end has, assuming you're lifting it with a jack under the lower a-arms.
I'm sure that I'll get a lot of "flak" for this, but.....
I had the upper arms out of my car a couple of times, once to install poly bushings, and once to take them out, as they were too firm for the crappy roads where I live. When I re-assembled the arms to their respective mounting brackets, I used "nylock" nuts, and snugged them so the arms would move somewhat freely, then I put them back on the car. I initially noticed a little "clunk" when backing out of my driveway, as I have one of those poured concrete gutters, between the street and driveway.
That told me the nuts and bolts weren't as tight as necessary, so I snugged the nuts a tad more, the clunk went away, and I was good for a long time. (the nuts and bolt heads CAN be accessed with everything assembled, using box/open ended wrenches)
I had the upper arms out of my car a couple of times, once to install poly bushings, and once to take them out, as they were too firm for the crappy roads where I live. When I re-assembled the arms to their respective mounting brackets, I used "nylock" nuts, and snugged them so the arms would move somewhat freely, then I put them back on the car. I initially noticed a little "clunk" when backing out of my driveway, as I have one of those poured concrete gutters, between the street and driveway.
That told me the nuts and bolts weren't as tight as necessary, so I snugged the nuts a tad more, the clunk went away, and I was good for a long time. (the nuts and bolt heads CAN be accessed with everything assembled, using box/open ended wrenches)
my experience from having a new rear axle installed on my '99 ss years ago, by a shop under aftermarket warranty, everything was stock and they torqued the rear lower control arm and panhard to whatever probably using an impact gun... going up my street i swear the rear end bounced off the ground it was like a solid suspension. know how you can push down on the rear spoiler and bounce the back end, or at least move it? well i could not push the rear end down. and it was because they torqued the **** out of the fasteners for the rear LCA's and PHB which prevented them from moving.
with my 2002 either the oem lca/phb or the umi adjustable i have, mine are tightened just enough to prevent clunk when going over rough road but enough using your pinkly you can move the bar up and down. and i have the bushings greased with either the clear superlube grease or some other kind of brake (rubber friendly) grease and that gives the most comfortable and quietest ride.
there is no reason to torque the bolts on either the front or rear control arms because the bolts are in shear, you need the control arms only snug enough so there is no noise and no unacceptable play. and of course use some means of preventing the nut from backing off and there are many ways to accomplish that besides torquing it to stretch the bolt.
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Quick Front upper control arm question, Camaro. With front wheels removed, you can lower the front of car onto jack stands positioned under the lower a-arms where the shock lower ends bolt on (probably should have the rear at the same height)
( place some polyurathane jack stand protectors if you dont want to scratch paint from the a-arms )
( or even a stack of wood blocks positioned strategically and safely )
without wheels this gives plenty of room to swing wrenches.
( place some polyurathane jack stand protectors if you dont want to scratch paint from the a-arms )
( or even a stack of wood blocks positioned strategically and safely )
without wheels this gives plenty of room to swing wrenches.
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All worked out. Thanks everyone for the replies, advice, and help. Front end is mostly built up. Ran into another hang up as one of the wheel bearing bolts won't hold torque and free spins (luckily got it out). Going to have to make another trip to the hardware store...tomorrow.