Upper control arm mounts/shock tower

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Moparblake33

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Hi all just curious if anyone has and recomendations on how to go about replacing shock tower/upper control arm mount mine are rotted like crazy but the frame is decent any info would be helpful. Has anyone used these

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I used those years ago, both sides.
Rebuilt stock suspension for a number of years, recently went with QA1 uca/lca.
Both versions, no issues with alignment, steering, tread wear, etc.
Car tracks straight and true.
 
I haven't used that particular replacement part, but as far as how to go about replacing them you're going to need to take a lot of very careful measurements.

You're going to need a very flat area to work on. Then level the chassis, and use a string with a weight on the end to drop reference points onto the floor. You'll also want to locate the control arm mounts from several different land marks that aren't going to move during the replacement process. All that has to be done before you remove the old towers.

Once that's done you'll need to remove the old towers/mounts while not moving or disturbing the rest of the chassis. Then clamp the replacement parts into place, confirming your measurements from your previous landmarks and checking the reference points on the floor with the string/weight.

Cutting out the old metal and welding in new stuff is easy. Taking all the measurements and confirming them will take the most time, and it's just tedious. But you want to be able to align the car afterward. If you haven't done that kind of work before, just go slow and take lots of measurements. You know, "measure twice, cut once" as they say.
 
matthon said:
I used those years ago, both sides.
Rebuilt stock suspension for a number of years, recently went with QA1 uca/lca.
Both versions, no issues with alignment, steering, tread wear, etc.
Car tracks straight and true.
Click to expand...
Did you have issues with inner fender sitting on top I'm replacing those as well
 
No issues with inner fenders, I actually removed fenders and inner fenders.
I also had to straighten the driver front frame rail, it had minor damage in the first few inches.

Yes, take multiple measurements multiple times, then measure again, test fit, repeat.

Keep in mind not all old cars are perfectly square and even, either from the get go or after 50 years.

I have no recollection of where the parts came from, but that pic looks like them. They were quality pieces.
 
With everything sitting to my measurements my inner fender is about an inch to high. Do you remember having to get rid of the factory rest inside the frame to get it to sit low enough in the rail?
 
matthon said:
Keep in mind not all old cars are perfectly square and even, either from the get go or after 50 years.
Click to expand...

Very true! The tolerances on these cars were pretty darn loose, even at the suspension points. The factory didn't care as long as they could get the alignment within their fairly generous window for alignment specs.

And that was before 50+ years of wear, tear, and rust.
 
matthon said:
No issues with inner fenders, I actually removed fenders and inner fenders.
I also had to straighten the driver front frame rail, it had minor damage in the first few inches.

Yes, take multiple measurements multiple times, then measure again, test fit, repeat.

Keep in mind not all old cars are perfectly square and even, either from the get go or after 50 years.

I have no recollection of where the parts came from, but that pic looks like them. They were quality pieces.
Click to expand...
These are from classic industries also
 
Moparblake33 said:
These are from classic industries also
Click to expand...
I would map out the whole car much like 72bluNble suggested. That will give you the whole and real picture of what you are dealing with. You can't assume anything on these old cars or new cars for that matter.
One thing this map will not tell you is height. Datum is the word. Uneven heights can change lengths an width measurements. They all have to be taken into consideration. L,W, and height.
 
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Moparblake33 said:
With everything sitting to my measurements my inner fender is about an inch to high. Do you remember having to get rid of the factory rest inside the frame to get it to sit low enough in the rail?
Click to expand...
My uca mounts were rotted, as well as the 'bathtub' in between them.
I call the top section of the frame that holds all of the debris and water the 'bathtub.'

That replacement piece includes the entire top of the frame rail, bathtub, which I needed to replace.
If I did not have to replace the top of the frame rail, I don't know if I would cut that off the new piece or out of the rail.
I'm leaning towards leaving the new piece intact and removing material from the frame.
Those parts were way better than I expected, and appeared to be orientated correctly, possibly why they include the top of the frame rail.
I think removing everything from the new piece may bring more issues trying to install it, but I could be wrong.

Inner fender is an inch too high how/where?
Is it still on the car?

Iirc, my inner fenders did not match up perfectly with the shock mount, but on these a-bodies the shock mount is integral to the uca mounts and frame, not the inner fender.
There were spot welds, do not recall how many, holding the inner fender to the shock tower, but it wasn't full on welded to it, like the b-bodies.
I know unmolested cars that when you look at the shock sticking through the inner fender it does not look centered exactly.
 
The best way is buy a front clip and install the whole unit. Believe me If the shock and control arm mounts are rotted the rails inside are usually not that far behind. We have done many

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