Sosborne

I recently damaged my lower control arm. It was severly bent. Not only was the arm damaged but the rear bracket was bent. It doesn't appear to have damaged the frame. I was planning to pull and replace the lower arm. I was told by a mechanic that I can bend the bracket back into place. Once I do this I was planning to add the Downey LFS brace to reinforce it and to aid in the proper repositioning. Does this sound like a good plan? Should I weld on a piece of steel to support the bracket once I reposition it?





Thanks
Scott

mt_goat

Yeah you bent it up good. What did you do, ram into something? Those braces are good for sure, if you can fit it into place after all that damage. What happened to your cam adjusters, did you already remove the nuts and cam washers?

Sosborne

Yeah its half way apart. I am going to have to replace the back cam bolt. I wrecked it getting it out.

This occured in.....(sigh) a parking lot. It was snowing and it wasn't plowed. Forgot that the 4wd wasn't on. I slid into a 10inch concrete curb.

Also I am going to replace the lower ball joint on this side. Should I do the same to the other side?

I guess its a good thing I didn't get my relay rod fixed yet.....FREE DEALER ALIGNMENT!

leebee

might be a good time to look at replacing both lca's and do the bushings at the same time. get some nice engery suspension bushings in there instead of the oem's, would go nicely with new steering rod and alignment.

lee

91muddog

ITS AMAZING THAT YOU BENT THAT.

my 91 p/u was smashed into a pole by the previous owner. the pole hit inside of the right tire on the a arms hard enough to shove the whole front end into the engine and bend the frame pretty badly, which isnt easy, and the a arms are fine.

as for a brace, i would go for it since you have a great opprotunity, its not nesecarry but will add strength for later.

Jdizzydub

Man that looks similar to what I did when it first started rainin hard for the rainy season up here, took it into a guard rail and curb bent the tire under the rig and had to replace the whole LCA. I'm not much of a welder, but if it doesn't cost that much just replace it..sounds like you have good plan though, good luck!

Sosborne

Got a used arm from TAP recycling in Califorina. $30 plus shipping.

Why should I do the other LCA??? I agree with the bushings...But man they are hard to get out

leebee

if you are lucky enough to find a doner rig with low mileage, chances are they will be in better shape. the bushings can be pressed out and in when the lca's are off much easier. then its just a matter of reinstalling them and having the relay rod and alignment done.

just my .02.

lee

Sosborne

Just ordered some Rust Bullet. I will see how that stuff works. Has to hold up better than the Krylon I have been using. Kinda expensive at $120 a gallon. Hopefully I can thin it out in the paint gun a bit.

Ok I think I will go ahead and order those bushings. Is there anything else I should change while I have this disassembled? Should I change out the other lower Balljoint? Its got about 200k miles on it.

Thanks
Scott

drew303

Previous owner told me my truck got 'backed into' by a large SUV. At the time he had a 4" Rancho lift and it crushed the lower A-arm (I saw the broken A-arm) and bent the lower bracket.

However, it not only bent the bracket, it rolled the frame there to.

I took this picture when i was rotating my tires to really show how bad the damage really was.

The Driveway is level and the jackstands are of equal height. It's pretty severe. The Pass side brackets are pushed 'up' and bent inward. Kinda think of it this way. A big giant hand had his thumb on the lower Pass. A-arm bracket and the other fingers ontop of the truck and pinched real hard. =P


My truck is essentially totalled but its driveable. But not enjoyable. So I got a donor frame and I'll be doing the swap this summer.



It was a long time before I figured out all the quirks of the messed up IFS and the hardest to figure out was the frame being bent because its difficult to look "straight" down the rail to see its twisted. =(

Sosborne

Whoa. I am glad my bracket took the bulk of the damage. My damage was caused by a impact at only about 10mph. Its hard to imagine how hard that truck was hit.

drew303

Well over the years I've put together a lot of different possible scenarios.

The pass side door and fender were replaced but there was no damage to the cowl so the impact was more or less all on the tire with just body damage to teh door and fender where they meet which wouldnt be fixable.

If the tire got hit at the top it would have enough leverage from a large SUV to cause this kind of damage at a slow speed (like in a parking lot as he said it was). The trucks weight couldnt produce this IMO but a larger vehicle could.

I know the truck had a 4" rancho lift with 30" tires (that MT sitting next to the frame on the left).

Heh, I remember going back to their house a year later to get some parts or something and the dad commenting how much better the truck looked than what his son had ever done with it. =P

Sosborne

I would coat that entire frame with either POR-15 or Rust bullet. I know I spend a heck of a lot of time fighting the frame rust. Might be from all the salt they put on the road.

What should I use for removing those LCA bushings? Can it be done with a clamp and some pipe or should I have someone do it? What type of places usually have the means to press and remove stuff?

I was going to get the bulk of the work done today but right now were getting a snow storm......In April

mt_goat

Just about anyone with a press could probably do it. It would be nearly impossible to do it with a clamp. I did it with a huge vice and a 3 ft cheater bar on the vice handle but I'm lucky the vice didn't break. I've heard of some guys burning them out, lol, but I don't know about that.

Sosborne

I just tried with a 18 inch C-clamp and a jack handle.....I broke the turning rod right off....I guess I will try a shop.

Dont think I will be burning a 2lbs chunk of rubber in my garage,....But thats just me

Sosborne

Here's a thought I had. You know those holes in the LCA that the sway bar bushings fit into? Those are holes into the internal of the LCA. Do you guys think it would be a good idea to plug those up? I have no intentions of ever running a sway bar again, And i will drive this truck until there nothing left so I am not worried about selling it.

Seems like those holes would allow road salt to get inside the part

SteveO

You can get a beefy LCA brace for the rear of the Lower Control Arms from Schaefer. I don't know if he is still making those, they they are strong and will keep the frame in place.

Sosborne

Is that something that is different from the Downey IFS truss brace?

Thanks
Scott

SteveO

No, same idea, but way stronger. If you intend on keeping the IFS, get the strongest you can get. I would go with Schaefer's setup over the Downey. However, if the cost is twice as much, I dunno. Its your money.

Sosborne

I will probably keep the IFS...Barring a lottery hit. I like stong parts but then again I really do minor stuff. The extent of my offroading is a bit of construction site "hotdogging" and the occasional trip to Paragon or Rausch. So I need to find the point of diminishing returns. But I will contact that memeber.

Thanks
Scott