LCA doesn't look right

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And if he ends up managing to get it installed, a feat by itself, The forward bend will sress the crap out of the Strutrod bushing and make the T-bar install extremely difficult. But if he manages that, there will be so much stress on the LCA bushing who can say how long it will last. Then there is the matter of the twisted BJ receiver.
Now, when he drives it to the alignment shop, it will be impossible to have the caster even remotely the same from side to side. The camber maybe. But what's gonna happen when he steps on the brake, with the one strutrod jammed forward? How's it gonna react with the one T-bar operating under that stress?
It's all messed up and we can SEE that, we don't need the alignment machine to tell us that.
 
Actually, the t-bar shouldn't be a problem. That is not where the arm is bent. We put control arms on a '69 Charger R/T a couple of months ago. Both were bent rearward.

I have moved a tab (early) to a different control arm. It's a bit of a pain to cut the tab off, but welding it on is easy..
 
The biggest problem will be getting enough caster on the side where the bent control arm is. Since the ball joint end is bent towards the rear of the car, that decreases caster even further, as if it needed THAT. lol I agree with replacing it now while it's apart.........OR I would not even be afraid to load it up in a press and try to straighten it. It's already fubared. What have you got to lose?
 
I really appreciate all the discussion. It is all food for thought...and a great learning experience for a 69 year old newbie:(. Given my age and inexperience, my best option is to just go with one of the spare (i.e. STRAIGHT) LCA's that I have in the attic. I have already removed the sway bar tab from the bent arm and will install it on the "new" pre-72 arm.

I had to remove the old bushing from the LCA I will use, and that was a bear. After breaking off two washers and eating up almost all of the steel lip on the old bushing in the process, I decided that I would have to do something to get more weld area into the game. VOILA! My new "bushing pushing" tool.

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I welded 4 flat bar strips into the ID of the bushing. It's a little touchy getting down inside the bushing to weld the edge of the strip, but it doesn't have to be pretty. Once I got all 4 of them in, I sqeezed them in to contact a nut and welded the nut in place. The bolt threaded into the nut was the point that the press rod contacted. Since I figured that the heat of welding had swelled the bushing somewhat, I filled the cavity from the T-bar size with crushed ice and let it melt down several times. I don't know if that actually helped to contract the bushing at all, but I wasn't about the go at this thing a third time if I could help it. First push...popped right out.
 
Now another question. When I install the'72 model sway bar clip on the pre-72 LCA, how precise do I have to be with the position, orientation of the clip? I took pretty good measurements of its location on the old LCA before I cut it off, but there is not much on the control arm to measure from.
 
charliec said:
Now another question. When I install the'72 model sway bar clip on the pre-72 LCA, how precise do I have to be with the position, orientation of the clip? I took pretty good measurements of its location on the old LCA before I cut it off, but there is not much on the control arm to measure from.
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UMMMM...Anyone???
 
charliec said:
Now another question. When I install the'72 model sway bar clip on the pre-72 LCA, how precise do I have to be with the position, orientation of the clip? I took pretty good measurements of its location on the old LCA before I cut it off, but there is not much on the control arm to measure from.
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The sway bar tab doesn’t have to be super precise. You’re just attaching the end link to it, and that’s bushed anyway. I mean, you don’t want to be off by a lot, but a 1/4” one way or the other won’t be a tragedy.
 
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72bluNblu said:
The sway bar tab doesn’t have to be super precise. You’re just attaching the end link to it, and that’s bushed anyway. I mean, you don’t want to be off by a lot, but a 1/4” one way or the other won’t be a tragedy.
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Precisely...it doesn't have to be precise...
 
I've welded pieces of angle iron on for sway bar tabs before. Simple and effective.
 
str12-340 said:
Can you straighten a bent LCA???
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Jim Lusk said:
I suppose that you could, but getting it back to where it needs to be might be extremely difficult as you have to bend two attached pieces .
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I'm with Jim. Can you straighten a bent LCA? Well, it depends on how badly it's bent, where it's bent, what kind of tools you have available to you and how long you're willing to spend on it compared to just buying a straight one.

Yes, it can be done, but it's not going to be a blanket "all bent LCA's can be straightened". Some can, some probably shouldn't be, and some are just toast. We're talking about parts that are 50 or close to 50 years old.
 
charliec said:
I am installing my new bushings and pivot into the LCA's and putting them into the Kmember.
View attachment 1715209042
Bushings and pivots went in ok, but when I put the assembly into the Kmember, it just doesn't look right. The passenger side looks great, but the driver side looks like it is not at the proper angle relative to the Kmember. It looks like it is slightly cocked toward the front. I know these are not precision machined components and are generally very sloppy, but I can't imagine that this is OK. The one on the passenger side is straight and true. The one on the driver side looks like its been beat to hell and seems twisted.
Am I screwed, or will all come into place once all the rest of the suspension parts are in place?
View attachment 1715209041
View attachment 1715209043 View attachment 1715209044
Difference between passenger side and driver side is noticable.
Passenger:
View attachment 1715209045
Driver:
View attachment 1715209046
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Hi Charlie,

I am curious, did the spare LCA prove the other was bent? I just saw this thread but I think the best way to unbend the old LCA would be cutting loose the retainer tab from the top of the bad LCA and then straighten it before you weld it back again. It all depends on how the bushing will align, it must be at 90 degree.

I have a similar issue with my Dart... Looking to the front end of the LCA struts where the rubber bushings are, the left side nut is tightened till the end and the bushing does not look compressed as the one on the right side.
Took all suspension parts off to rebuild it and the LCAs look quite straight.
Still trying to figure it out. I guess after I press the bushing and put back the LCA I will find out if I need to replace it.

Suspension and frame work, cracked LCA, advice welcome
 
DLJ said:
Hi Charlie,

I am curious, did the spare LCA prove the other was bent? I just saw this thread but I think the best way to unbend the old LCA would be cutting loose the retainer tab from the top of the bad LCA and then straighten it before you weld it back again. It all depends on how the bushing will align, it must be at 90 degree.

I have a similar issue with my Dart... Looking to the front end of the LCA struts where the rubber bushings are, the left side nut is tightened till the end and the bushing does not look compressed as the one on the right side.
Took all suspension parts off to rebuild it and the LCAs look quite straight.
Still trying to figure it out. I guess after I press the bushing and put back the LCA I will find out if I need to replace it.

Suspension and frame work, cracked LCA, advice welcome
Click to expand...
I never got to the point of installing strut rods with the old LCA. It looked bad enough just pinned through the K member that I didn't want to use it. So, I have no answer to what you're seeing with the strut rod bushings.
The trouble I had with a bent LCA was that it didn't really look bent until I got the pin stabbed through the k member and tightened down. At that point, I could see a real inclination toward the front of the car. The LCA was not going to rotate in a plane perpendicular to the track of the car; it was always going to have a severe toe in. When I installed the spare LCA I had, it lined up like it should. I still can't look at the bad LCA and tell where the deformed part is. It's just subtle until it's installed. That being said, I wouldn't begin to know how to straighten it; can't even tell where it's bent!
 
charliec said:
I never got to the point of installing strut rods with the old LCA. It looked bad enough just pinned through the K member that I didn't want to use it. So, I have no answer to what you're seeing with the strut rod bushings.
The trouble I had with a bent LCA was that it didn't really look bent until I got the pin stabbed through the k member and tightened down. At that point, I could see a real inclination toward the front of the car. The LCA was not going to rotate in a plane perpendicular to the track of the car; it was always going to have a severe toe in. When I installed the spare LCA I had, it lined up like it should. I still can't look at the bad LCA and tell where the deformed part is. It's just subtle until it's installed. That being said, I wouldn't begin to know how to straighten it; can't even tell where it's bent!
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Well, at least you know the problem was the LCA once the replacement part solved the alignment issue, well done! I am trying to figure out what is happening with my Dart's front suspension as far as parts alignment. The car had some sort of accident with the PO and the space between the strut washer and the K Member where the rubber bushing is placed is smaller on the left side than on the right, which makes me think the left LCA is bent towards the front of the car, bot it sure does not look like it is. I did many measurements and still could not figure it out. Both LCAs look straight, now I am replacing the bushings on both and installing them to see if that helps. I suspect that maybe the K member could be bent a bit as the result of the impact but all indicate the impact was mostly on the front left wheel and not on the frame, anyway, if I had good spare LCAs it would be easier to tell, but you will know only after pressing the new bushing in...
Good thing about your car is that your K Member was straight. I am welding large washers around the K member tubes where the LCA shafts are installed because many reported it is a notorious place to crack. The pic below was taken before I changed the bushing. Thanks for your input and have a great new year!

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