Thread: Es control arm replacment

I know what to do with the items I'm replacing, but out of habit I always post to get input from others. The one question I do have on my mind when doing this is. Should I Jack up both sides on stands while just working on one side? Or just the side I'm dealing with at the time? I ask it because the sway bar will be disconnected. How will that effect the car being on one stand and the other side not. Will it put me in a bad spot with the car. Just checking before I go and take it all apart. I don't remember seeing anything in the arhcives. Just want to be safe. Got the pass side up while pb blastEr is working. Thanks

Not exactly sure what you're asking. You can do it with both sides in the air, or with only one side in the air as long as you are staying safe by using jack stands and all the usual precaution. Undoing the sway bar like you said is a good idea (but not entirely necessary) if you aren't raising both sides up into the air.
You run into a little bit of a problem if you leave the sway bar connected and only raise one side into the air. With that situation the sway bar will put a load on the side of the suspension that you've jacked up. The load will tend to try and raise up the side that will now be at full droop while it's in the air. If you're removing the lower control arm on that side, one of the things you'll do is remove the sway bar linkage. As you do that, the sway bar may spring up violently once it's disconnected because it's under load. I guess this is the problem you're worried about and should be able to avoid by either removing the sway bar linkage before you raise the car or do it with both sides in the air.

That's what I thought. The pass side is already on a stand. So I will Jack up and stand the driver side to take the stress away so the bar won't fly up and knock me out. I don't see any other way of doing this with the bar connected. I just thought of this too. Should I put a stand under the Axel for extra suport? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.

The strut alone will be plenty strong enough to hold up that side of the suspension while you replace the lower control arm. I wouldn't bother supporting the axle. If anything, support the steering knuckle itself.

Got everything off of the pass side today. Three trips tp harbor freight for tools. All of the old parts are off the control arm. Now for a new question. I see a metal ring inside the sleeve part of the arm assembly. Same as I did when I replaced the motor mounts and those rings came out with the rubber. Do I need to cut it out? Having difficult time pressing in the new bushing.

Yes, you have to get that ring out just like for the engine mounts.

I knew it! I guess I'll hack saw that sucker out tomorrow. Hey thanks for your input.

No problem.

Well finally got the right side put back together. I had to get new tie rod ends and they showed up today. Got them greased and eyeballed them on. Let the car down and I know from doing my RMs and kybs that the alingment would be off. But holy crap! The top of the wheel is pointing in and opposite at the bottom end on the floor. Really dread driving it out of the shop to the tire place when all is said and done. Anybody else have the same battle? Not many outer tie examples on either of these forums.

Yeah, even if you count turns and the such, it's gonna be waaay off by the time you're done. I've driven cars to be aligned with it like that. Just take it slow and easy and it will be alright.

If you really want, you can eyeball it and get it pretty close using a yardstick or 2x4 as a makeshift toe plate. That will make the trip to the alignment shop much more pleasant.