Upper & Lower Control Arm Removal

4168 Views 16 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Gordy, Mar 7, 2010

Al Olmo

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2005

After removing the two 17m/m bolts at each side, what is the trick to remove the arm asambly? Thanks. '70 GT

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

bear

· #2 · Oct 1, 2005

Al run a search for front suspension disassembly. The upper arm is connected to the front spring by the upper balljoint through the axle spindle. That sucker has a lot of tension on it. You gotta be real careful or damage, to yourself or the car can occur.

kwilford

· #3 · Oct 1, 2005

Al Olmo said:
After removing the two 17m/m bolts at each side, what is the trick to remove the arm assembly? Thanks. '70 GT

Two bolts? there is a SINGLE long bolt that goes through both UCA (Upper Control Arm) bushings and the sleeve in the front suspension cross member. Once you get that bolt out (and it "usually" seizes into the sleeve, or into one or both of the bushing sleeves), just remove the two small bolts that attach the upper ball joint to the UCA (note which way it faces, as it is off-set) and remove the UCA. The transverse spring isn't an issue when removing the UCA, only the LCA.
HTH

GTJIM (R.I.P.)

· #4 · Oct 2, 2005

Safety First!

kwilford said:
Two bolts? there is a SINGLE long bolt that goes through both UCA (Upper Control Arm) bushings and the sleeve in the front suspension cross member.

The transverse spring isn't an issue when removing the UCA, only the LCA.
HTH

Too remove the Upper Control Arm ( "A-arm") safely by the method Keith describes you MUST keep the weight of the car on the Lower Control Arm. With the wheel off, put a wooden block under the outer end of the Lower Arm and lower the car onto the block - securely!
Then the Upper A-arm can be removed in the way Keith describes. The long bolt through the inner "legs"; which have the rubber bushes in them, through which the long bolt goes; is fondly known as the "Bolt from Hell" The passenger side one is usually rusted into the cross member and can take up to three days to get it out! Sometimes it is actually easier to remove the whole front suspension from the car so that this bolt can be more brutally attacked .... read the Posts! Look for "Bolt from Hell" in this forum.

kwilford

· #5 · Oct 2, 2005

GTJIM said:
Too remove the Upper Control Arm ( "A-arm") safely by the method Keith describes you keep the weight of the car on the Lower Control Arm. With the wheel off, put a wooden block under the outer end of the Lower Arm and lower the car onto the block - securely!
Then the Upper A-arm can be removed in the way Keith describes. The long bolt through the inner "legs"; which have the rubber bushes in them, through which the long bolt goes; is fondly known as the "Bolt from Hell" The passenger side one is usually rusted into the cross member and can take up to three days to get it out! Sometimes it is actually easier to remove the whole front suspension from the car so that this bolt can be more brutally attacked .... read the Posts! Look for "Bolt from Hell" in this forum.

Hmm, maybe Jim is right about that. It is certainly how the FSM describes its removal (except it recommends using the leaf spring compressor). But when I removed my UCA the first time, I thought that the spring motion was limited by the range of the LCA, particularly the leaf "perch". But maybe not, so follow Jim's advice and have the LCA supported.

Paul

· #6 · Oct 2, 2005

I bet the shock attached to the LCA will limit the travel. But, taking some weight off the spring with a floor jack, will unload the UCA enough to remove it.

Al Olmo

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 2, 2005

I've got the uper arm out, I compress the spring, got the absorber out but now the lower arm won't come out, the "bolt from hell" is out but the arm dose not drop, is there any thing else that need to come out?

bear

· #8 · Oct 2, 2005

Al, the lower balljoint, spring perch, spring eye bolt, all need to be disconnected from the LCA and it "should" come right out. Note which holes are used in the spring perch, it will raise or lower that side of the front end if you don't use the same holes during assembly. You need to tie up the steering spindle and caliper too, or remove them. HTH.

kwilford

· #9 · Oct 3, 2005

Al Olmo said:
I've got the uper arm out, I compress the spring, got the absorber out but now the lower arm won't come out, the "bolt from hell" is out but the arm dose not drop, is there any thing else that need to come out?

Be VERY VERY Careful here! How have you "compressed" the leaf spring? Is it held up with a jack with the car on jack stands, or have you used a proper spring compressor. There are a couple excellent threads here (one by me, the other by Stanley P) on methods to remove the spring. Unrestrained, it will travel another foot (12 inches!) downward, and resembles (in a macabre fashion) a hunting bow. When you remove the two bolts that straddle the spring at the LCA pivot (the "perch" that Ron describes), the perch will no longer stop the leaf travel, and it will want to move far, and fast. And you also have to remove the "spring eye" bolt, that connects the end of the leaf spring to the end of the LCA. You also need to disconnect the tie rod end, but that should be obvious, as well as the lower ball joint as Ron says. The FSM suggests that you loosen the lower ball joint nut and (with the nut in place) hit the stud with a hammer. I had to use a tie rod puller to get mine loose.

HTH

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bear

· #10 · Oct 3, 2005

Keith, now you know why I put that warning in my first response. Al, you gotta read all those threads on the front suspension. That spring can be a killer, not literally, but actually. It deserves a whole lot of respect and caution, big time.

alolmo

· #11 · Oct 3, 2005

Ron and Keith, thank you for taking the time to answer me, I'm aware of the risks that the spring is capable of, I removed the spring eye bolts by compresing the spring with a spring compressor that I made by joining two 2 by 4's with a thread it bolt down the middle that attaches to the engine cross member, with it I can safely compress the spring. At this point I have the upper arm, absorber, tie rod removed, but the lower arm wont come out.

bear

· #12 · Oct 3, 2005

Al, sounds like the sleeves and bushings have bound up in side the LCA. Do you have the spring decompressed so the LCA will pivot up and down by hand, and did you remove the spring perch? It will hold up the spring and put pressure against the LCA. It's been a while since I rebuilt mine, so I'm kinda hazy about all the steps needed to remove everything. I don't remember if I had to pry the LCA away from the crossmember or not.

Al Olmo

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 3, 2005

Ron, the spring is decompress, and the LCA does pivot freely up and down, I was able to remove the bushings at both sides, but it looks to me like there is a sleeve to which the bolts bolt on and that's what's bound in place and it wont let the LCA drop. Nothing is putting pressure on the LCA.

bear

· #14 · Oct 3, 2005

Al, after looking at Willit? and my Illustrated parts breakdown (Parts Cross Reference Guide), it looks like the spring perch bolts have to come out, if you haven't taken them out yet. They are directly under the pivot point for the LCA. Maybe that's what's holding everything in check. Like I said it's been a while.

Al Olmo

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 3, 2005

Thanks Ron, thats exacly what's holding me up, I just though that it would come out just like the UCA but it takes a little more work. Thank you again.

bear

· #16 · Oct 3, 2005

Al, I mentioned it in an earlier post, but don't forget which hole in the perch the bolts went through. Using the hole other than what was used originally will change the height of the of the car on the side you took the bolts out of.

Gordy

· #17 · Mar 7, 2010 (Edited)

I'm putting my 67 Kadett front suspension back in the car after sandblasting, painting, and replacing all ball joints , bushings, and tie rods etc.
I did this one a little different than I had done my GT's in the past. On the GTs I had the lower control arm mounted with the leaf spring run thru the lower control arm and then with a floor jack and block of wood raised the unconnected side of the leaf spring up and lined up the spring eye hole and put the spring end bolt thru.
This time on the Kadett, I attached one side of the spring to the left lower control arm and had that all bolted in place. Then I attached the right spring end to the right lower control arm before it was attached to the crossmember and raised the whole right unit up as I lined up the 2 bolts that come down vertically thru the crossmember and thru the spring saddle. By raising it slowly with the floor jack as I tapped the bolts so they went down thru the lower control arm mount bracket it went very well. I will post a couple pics tomorrow but this seemed like it went a lot smoother than past installs and although I feared getting those bolts to line up and come down thru the lower control arm without it being a real PITA, the fact that the spring eye bolt was already connecting the spring to the LCA that made it so the control arm came up exactly where it should be and the bolts went right in! :veryhappy

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