Another upper control arm bushing thread...
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On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2017
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Another upper control arm bushing thread... So I'm sitting here in my garage baffled at how to fit a torque wrench up in there. I have the whole shebang jacked up about an inch above where ride height should be, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get a torque wrench in there. At this point, I'm about to go and torque it by feel til I can't get it any tighter.
You aren't going to be able to get both. If you can't get it with the wheel on and car at ride height the next best thing is at least getting it at the correct ride height. Measure hub center to fender height, then lift the car and jack the lower arm up until the hub is at that same height and tighten the arm. You might be able to do it with the spring and damper in place, otherwise they will have to be pulled as well. Really depends on spring rates.
I ran into this a few months back when I had my front end apart and I'm not entirely sure how they could of done it properly even from the factory unless there was some special alignment tool or measurements to use without the shock installed (I've seen this for Honda upper control arms in a similar scenario). There's pretty much no access to the upper control arm bolts with the shocks installed. Landstuhltaylor's method would be one way of doing it.
When I was dealing with this I was already replacing the control arms and mounting plates. I ended up laying down the original control arm and mount flat on the ground (upside down) still assembled and pre-loaded, measuring the maximum height at the tip of the control arm. I then took the new parts, laid them out in the same fashion, braced the upper control arm at the same height and torqued the bolts. The angle of the control came out roughly the same with the new parts as they did with the old. Probably not a perfect method, but it was all I could do at the time. I wonder if GM have an official procedure for doing this?
When I was dealing with this I was already replacing the control arms and mounting plates. I ended up laying down the original control arm and mount flat on the ground (upside down) still assembled and pre-loaded, measuring the maximum height at the tip of the control arm. I then took the new parts, laid them out in the same fashion, braced the upper control arm at the same height and torqued the bolts. The angle of the control came out roughly the same with the new parts as they did with the old. Probably not a perfect method, but it was all I could do at the time. I wonder if GM have an official procedure for doing this?
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 196
Likes: 1
I ran into this a few months back when I had my front end apart and I'm not entirely sure how they could of done it properly even from the factory unless there was some special alignment tool or measurements to use without the shock installed (I've seen this for Honda upper control arms in a similar scenario). There's pretty much no access to the upper control arm bolts with the shocks installed. Landstuhltaylor's method would be one way of doing it.
When I was dealing with this I was already replacing the control arms and mounting plates. I ended up laying down the original control arm and mount flat on the ground (upside down) still assembled and pre-loaded, measuring the maximum height at the tip of the control arm. I then took the new parts, laid them out in the same fashion, braced the upper control arm at the same height and torqued the bolts. The angle of the control came out roughly the same with the new parts as they did with the old. Probably not a perfect method, but it was all I could do at the time. I wonder if GM have an official procedure for doing this?
When I was dealing with this I was already replacing the control arms and mounting plates. I ended up laying down the original control arm and mount flat on the ground (upside down) still assembled and pre-loaded, measuring the maximum height at the tip of the control arm. I then took the new parts, laid them out in the same fashion, braced the upper control arm at the same height and torqued the bolts. The angle of the control came out roughly the same with the new parts as they did with the old. Probably not a perfect method, but it was all I could do at the time. I wonder if GM have an official procedure for doing this?
On a less sarcastic note, I guess all of that free time between classes spent at the gym are paying off, I managed to crank down pretty good on them with a trio of wrenches. One jammed into the body to hold a bolt in place, one on the bolt I'm tightening, and the third for some beautiful double-wrench action
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On my car, when I changed out the bushings, I installed "Nylock" nuts, and just got them "good and snug". The suspension pivots on these bushings, so why not let them pivot somewhat freely, instead of binding?
You just rest the suspension on the lower A-arms without the wheels on, and tighten the one of the two bolts you can reach (you can leave the under-hood shock tower bolts/nuts off). Once you do that, it will hold at the correct angle. Jack the car up off the suspension again and swing the upper A-arm back out. You can separate the upper balljoint if this helps. Once it's back out of the car, tighten the other side, making sure not to twist it out of the angle you locked in with the first side. You should be able to get both sides to the correct torque spec in this position. Once complete, reassemble.
