Cheap tubular control arms for replacements?

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So, did you get a set? I'm confussed...The Ebay add list these a-arms as fitting A,B,M/etc. bodies. I thought the a-arm on an A body was unique. Do you clarify what body you have at order-entry time or ?

yeah their description is wrong. I think thats the list of cars the upper bj fits. No clarification needed because their auction is sloppy. They are A body (and I think 60s B-body)
 
So I bought those new arms, installed the PST balljoints and bushings into them, and finally-after months of working an hour here and there-was able to get the car towed to the alignment shop. They did the alignment and as I pulled out of the shop parking lot I get this wretched grinding from the front wheels. I made it about 100 yards and had to pull over, and get towed back to the shop. The Upper control arms were touching the inner rims and grinding. Now they have to set a 3-4 degree negative camber to clear the rims.

What a disappointing situation..
 
Well that sucks out-loud. Do you think the difference that caused the rub had anything to do with the new a-arms, or the spindles. What wheel/tire are you running? Did you change out the bushings with the offset bushing like how robertob suggested? I know it bummed you out, but it sounds like you are almost back to being road-worthy...hang in there.
 
Before you do that, have you tried burning out the bushing, then cutting the sleeve, fold it in on itself.
your right thats how its done.cheap tubular control arms,i would be leary of.key word here is cheap
 
So I bought those new arms, installed the PST balljoints and bushings into them, and finally-after months of working an hour here and there-was able to get the car towed to the alignment shop. They did the alignment and as I pulled out of the shop parking lot I get this wretched grinding from the front wheels. I made it about 100 yards and had to pull over, and get towed back to the shop. The Upper control arms were touching the inner rims and grinding. Now they have to set a 3-4 degree negative camber to clear the rims.

What a disappointing situation..

So, what's the deal here? Were the arms actually A body arms? Was there a rub when you loaded it on the trailer to take to the alignment shop? Why didn't the "professional" at the shop notice the problem before hand and investigate? He or they could have at least said, "Hey man, you might be getting a rub on the front". Are you up for figuring this out? Could save you further grief and other members trouble down the road.

I have a pair of E body upper arms in the garage. Crackedback had a pic of an arm in an earlier post. I will see if I can compare later when I get out there.
 
I guess I could see how the angle would change. But that is still odd. What control arms did you ha e before? And what rims? something is fishy, because the ebay control arms are shaped exactly like the facory ones I have..
 
After a little grinding on the upper lip of the control arms the rub is gone and the shop re-aligned it for free. My Cragar 15's sit within millimeters of the new control arms so taking off just 1/32" of extra lip solved the problem of the awful grinding. The new bushings and ball joints make a huge difference. So looking back on this entire venture, I should have just forked out the extra $$ and bought some PST or Magnum force control arms with the ball joints and bushings installed. But what fun would that be?

Side Note: Those Arms on Ebay are exactly the same size and shape as the OE's but come with really poor bushings and balljoints. They use Moog numbers but they are definitely not the same.
 
Let me explain I have a 1968 ply val it had 9"drum on ft / I changed it over to disc bought everything except upper arms only to find out the spindel takes a bigger ball joint so now I'm stuck cause the new joints are to big for my control arm need help any ideas? Can I shim the shaft ? Can't find a ball joint I think the donor car may have been a 73 duster anyway I need so help to get this fixed ( help me ray )
If your interested, I have a set from a 71 Scamp, New PST polygraphite bushing (installed) and new ball joints (installed). I put these on my car and drove it maybe a couple hundred miles before I parted that car out. They have just been sitting around since then. I could let you have them for $125 to your door. These are clean, rustfree colorado parts.

Nevermind, looks like you figured it out.
 
Just a thought;I know you want to get aftermarket arms now but maybe throw the old control arm in a bucket of diesel for a couple months. You may be surprised how easily that bushing will come out afterwards.

The second option and one I have used is to chew out the centre of the bushing by burning etc and then collapse the sleeve thats left with a chisel etc.
 
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