Re: Front lower control arm replacement

["David Teitelbaum" <jtrealty@xxxx>]

A very informative post. Just 2 quick questions, did you weigh the
origional and the S/S arms to see what the difference is? and how did
the alignment set up (you did go to a front end shop and have the
alignment checked didn't you?) I would also keep an eye on the bushing
that went in loose. Maybe a spot of paint or nail polish as a witness
mark so you can see at a glance if anything moves. If the paint cracks
you know it is moving! Place the paint across the joint where the
bushing meets the arm so the paint actually bridges the gap. Now if
the bushing moves the paint bridging the gap will be broken signifying
movement. This is a "trick" used commonly in aircraft where vibration
can move things and you inspect things constantly.
David Teitelbaum
vin 10757



--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "ksgrimsr" <knut.s.grimsrud@xxxx> wrote:
> As some of you may know, I suffered a catastrophic lower control arm 
> failure some time back (see message #31584).
> 
> I decided to install the stainless front lower control arms from 
> Pierce Design, and thought I would share the experience with the 
> group.
> 
> The stainless control arms from Brian Pierce are simply gorgeous. 
> From the construction and quality of the welding, it is clear that 
> highly skilled labor went into their construction. Where accessible, 
> the welds are ground flush with the surrounding material and the 
> arms are nicely polishied, reflecting the quality and care of 
> workmanship.
> 
> As advertized, the control arms are constructed of stainless steel, 
> and the material used is much more substantial than the original 
> stamped control arms. The steel the arms are constructed from is 
> substantially thicker and more robust than the original soft-steel 
> control arms. The overall impression is that the control arms are 
> much more robust and rigid than the originals.
> 
> During assembly, I encountered a minor issue in installing the inner 
> bushings into the arms. The first bushing pressed nicely into the 
> first control arm with reasonable pressure. The second bushing, 
> however, was not as firmly in place as I would prefer. Upon closer 
> examination I discovered that the two new bushings I had were of 
> different styles, and it's likely that the second bushing was 
> slightly undersized compared with the first one. Since the first one 
> was already pressed home it was not feasible for me to compare their 
> dimensions with the calipers, so I cann't be sure what the looser 
> fit was attributed to. I readily fixed this by squeezing the bushing 
> slightly out of round and pressing it home with a little dab of 
> locktite for good measure. I suspect this issue was with the bushing 
> I had and not due to any dimensional tolerance problem with the 
> control arm.
> 
> I similarly encountered a minor issue when pressing the lower ball 
> joints home. The reinforcement sleeve on the new control arms are 
> much more substantial than the soft steel sleeve of the original 
> control arms. Also the sleeve through which the ball joint is 
> pressed is also substantially harder than on the original control 
> arms. This combined to make it excessively difficult to press the 
> ball joints into the arms. I believe the control arm dimensions are 
> actually correct for the Pierce control arms and that the difficulty 
> in pressing the ball joints in stem from the harder sleeve material 
> that the friction grooves in the ball joint don't as readuly cut 
> into. A sufficiently large press (bigger than I've got) probably 
> would have pressed the ball joints home, but I didn't see a need for 
> such measures. Using a flat file I merely shaved down the friction 
> ridges on the body of the ball joints a little in order to allow 
> them to be pressed home with reasonable pressure. A couple minutes 
> filing down the ridges on the ball joints a little was all it took 
> and then the ball joints pressed home nicely. The arm dimensions 
> matched up precisely so the snap ring on the ball joint lies flush 
> with the top surface of the control arm.
> 
> The final issue I encountered when installing the arms actually did 
> appear to be a minor dimensional tolerance variance with the control 
> arms. The width of the control arms at the point where the shock is 
> attached was 50/1000th too narrow on both of the control arms. On 
> the original soft control arms, such variance is not a problem since 
> the arms are so soft that you can just spread the sides a little. 
> The Pierce control arms, however, are much beefier and much more 
> rigid. This again was not a real problem since it was just a matter 
> of shaving off 50/1000th of the width of the lower shock mount which 
> was readily accomplished with a few strokes of the flat file.
> 
> I'm very impressed with the stainless control arms. They are 
> beautifully crafted, and they are clearly substantially more robust 
> than the originals. Nice work by Brian Pierce in providing another 
> quality component to help support our cars.
> 
> Knut