"Bad" Control Arm & Camber

I took my '69 Bird in to get new tires and an alignment, and the Sears guy said that they couldn't do the alignment because the LH lower control arm was "bad". Now I'm no expert on suspensions, but unless it was bent or cracked, I can't imagine a control just being bad. The wheel is sitting with A LOT of negative camber, my estimation is 5-10 degrees. The tire squeels like I'm running from the cops on gentle 5 mph turns. I know the front end is messed up, but is it really a "control arm" problem, or does it make more sense to be ball joints, bushings or springs? All of which tend to be a lot cheaper than an new control arm.

Reply to
luminous22
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Did you ask the service writer or the tech why it was bad?

Beleave it or not, Control Arms do fail for reasons other then cracks or bends. Metal will or can wear away at the ball joint mount, and at the bushing mounts.

I have seen them rusted to the point they snap. I have seen non-pressed lowers (S-10 4X4) trashed because someone drove it with a bad ball joint until it wore thru the bottom of the ball joint, and the control arm.

If the Front end is "Messed up" Why are you going for a alignment? your first priority should be diagnosing the bad suspension and steering parts, them replacing them, all before doing an alignment. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

I was getting new tires put on because the old ones were down to threads, so I was just going to have an alignment done to see if they could fix the camber while they were at it. It was then that the techs told me the control arm was bad, but they wouldn't say why. As soon as I get some time, I'm going to set the car up and pop off the ball joints, and I'll see if the arm is rusted through there, but it looks good otherwise so I'm thinking the arm is ok.

But I guess an elongated hole would let the ball joint slide outward, causing the wheel to camber in at the top like it is, so maybe you're right on that one. Now that I think about it, the wheel isn't always cambered after parking it, so maybe the lower ball joint is sliding in and out of position... Thanks for the thoughts man.

Sam

Charles Bendig wrote:

Reply to
luminous22

My advice always has been to inspect all steering and suspension parts before getting new tires. Usually when a car has a condition like you described, something very bad has happened, or something is ready to fail. A lot of people don't even have the stuff checked out until it's hard to keep the noise and the tail from swapping ends.

If you have a good Assistant to help you, checking ball joints, steering part deflection, even doing almost perfect alignments can be done at home. If not, or your not up on doing such, take her to a good shop, have them inspect things, check out the sub frame alignment as well, and give you detailed list of the problems. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

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