Can you press LCA PST pivots shafts in too far?

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hula

hula

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Pressed in my PST greaseable pivot shafts with poly bushings into my factory lower control arms. Mocked them up and it looks like when I go to tighten them they will pull the control arms in towards the crossmember and it may be too close. Did I compress the poly bushing or is there a finite stop for these? From control arm face to end of shaft looks to be about 4 5/8" on both sides.
 
The pivot shafts should have a shoulder on them that presses all the way up against the poly bushing. And the poly bushing is retained by the old outer bushing shell. You would have a very tough time permanently compressing/deforming the poly bushings, so, I serious doubt you did that.

Got pictures?
 
Here’s a picture of my Dart- poly LCA bushings and Firm Feel greasable pivots. You can see the shoulder on the pivots are up against the bushings and the whole mess is right up against the K. You can’t see the bushing pressed up against the LCA, but it is. The pivot mounts have been reinforced on this K but that doesn’t change the depth of the pivot.
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Looks like a 1/4 inch til shoulder on shaft touches bushing in crossmember and 1/8 inch til swing arm touches crossmember. just wonder if I squashed the poly bushing.
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hula said:
Looks like a 1/4 inch til shoulder on shaft touches bushing in crossmember and 1/8 inch til swing arm touches crossmember. just wonder if I squashed the poly bushing.
View attachment 1715168897 View attachment 1715168898 View attachment 1715168899 View attachment 1715168900
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Wow! Looks like you actually pressed the shoulder of the pin into the poly bushing. So, yes, I would say it’s pressed in too far at this point. The shoulder is just supposed to be pressed until it hit the bushing, no need to go further than that.
 
Seems like if I back them out too much then I won’t be able to get the C clip on the torsion bar.
 
hula said:
Seems like if I back them out too much then I won’t be able to get the C clip on the torsion bar.
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Highly unlikely. There’s at least good 1/4” or more extra space available between the torsion bar and the clip with the torsion bars installed completely into the LCA sockets.

And again, just press the pivot into the bushing until the shoulder is flush against the bushing. You shouldn’t have any issues if you install them that way.
 
if you rotate the control arm up so it's closer to what it would be at ride height, i think you can slide the pivot further into the k-member...
 
cookietruck said:
if you rotate the control arm up so it's closer to what it would be at ride height, i think you can slide the pivot further into the k-member...
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Also true, in addition to overpressing the LCA pivots. The stock LCA's will hit the K frame if they're allowed to hang down like they are in the picture. Lift up on the LCA and it will slide all the way in.

rednesss said:
Couple of thick fender washers.......
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Huh? If your plan is to put those on the pivots to take up the space, that is a HORRIBLE idea.
 
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Backed out the pivot shafts maybe 1/8 inch and lifted arm and snugged the nut and looks good.
 
hula said:
View attachment 1715169251 Backed out the pivot shafts maybe 1/8 inch and lifted arm and snugged the nut and looks good.
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Perfect. When you install the strut rods and torque the pivot nut down it should take care of any play there. Well, assuming your strut rods are the right length. Are you using factory strut rods? Because I use adjustable strut rods with any kind of poly or Delrin LCA bushing.
 
Control arm went in fine and I forgot to put the adjustable strut rod in first. There was no way I could back the control arm out with the PST pivot shafts because they were extremely tight so I weasled the strut bar in. Tapped on the back of the torsion bar to get it in. The angle looked like where the torsion bar hex entered the control arm the aft end of the torsion bar needed to come up. Tried a bottle jack back there and no luck so tapping worked. The LCA is clocked to where the bump stop is about 3/4 inch from the frame and the adjuster bolt is engaged with the adjuster arm and has 2 inches of adjustment available. I hope I have the upper control arm washers the right way to give it plenty of caster when I drive it in to be aligned. Thoughts? Left pic is driver front.
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i think the front adjuster in the 12'oclock position and the rear all the way in like you have it is probably a good spot to get it to the alignment shop.
make sure it is not too toed in as well, that will make it drive crazy.
 
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