M1842 Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 (edited) Working on the driver side brake and while under the car noticed what looked like mud on the bottom of the control arm where the shock absorber bolts on. As part of my brake job I want to replace the front shocks. Tried knocking the mud off and I saw that the buildup it is metallic. Further investigation shows that a large part of the plate that the shock absorber bolts to has cracked off and is missing. Looks like the last person to look at the shock decided to weld it to the lower control arm since one of the bolt holes was gone. So I am in the market for a lower control arm now. I will take a picture of it later. Edited November 29, 2021 by M1842 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailheadBob Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 The front lower control arms are the same from 1954 thru 1956 All series, French Lake auto parts Annandale MN (320-274-8497) has either side in stock for $50.00 each , if you let me know where your located I can see if any are closer to you. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 Thanks. I went on eBay and found one from a person I have dealt before in New York. I just can't imagine who welds a shock absorber to the control arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 On 11/28/2021 at 7:29 PM, M1842 said: I just can't imagine who welds a shock absorber to the control arm. Oh, just let your imagination go. 1 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 The redneck engineering people will do to keep a car on the road never ceases to amaze me. That said, I once started teardown on a young friend's Chevy 327 and found some yahoo had welded the harmonic balancer to the crankshaft. So a simple refresh turned into a parts hunt. If that engine had not been original to that Camaro I'd have chunked the whole works. Some people should not be allowed near a welding rig.👨🏭 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted December 1, 2021 Author Share Posted December 1, 2021 I am going to have to get that shock out before taking the control arm off. I am going to try a sledge hammer first, hoping the quality of the weld is not good. I don't have a cutting torch so my next step will the angle grinder to cut the welds out. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete O Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 On 11/28/2021 at 7:29 PM, M1842 said: I just can't imagine who welds a shock absorber to the control arm. Did your car spend any time in Cuba or South America before you obtained it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 Welding when you should not is not new. A friend's folks ran a service station on US90 near San Antonio and back in the early 1960's. A ragged 54 Skylark (the first and only one I saw until car shows much later) pulled in with left rear flat tire. The tire had worn through to the inner tube and the edge of the rim (wire wheel) had some edge damage. Looking closely the wheel had been welded to the brake drum and hub. A used replacement tire and tube was installed with the car on a lift. The driver was moving from California to Florida and said that the wheel came off in Arizona and had to have an emergency repair since no lug bolts were available. Driving away there was obvious wobble and hop on that wheel. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted December 1, 2021 Author Share Posted December 1, 2021 That would be scarry!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted December 8, 2021 Author Share Posted December 8, 2021 So I have my new control arm now and I am wondering if I should go ahead and replace the lower control arm bushings before I install the unit. The arm came from a junk yard in Wisconsin and is very clean and but there is noticeable play of the shaft inside the bushings. When the lower shaft is parallel to the floor I can left the shaft upwards inside the bushings. I can't move the shaft forward or backward through the bushings. The shaft will turn through about 120 degrees of rotation and then stops. Lube it up and install or buy a new shaft and bushings first? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 4 hours ago, M1842 said: buy a new shaft and bushings Best. Remove the bushings and check wear on the shaft. If worn replace all. Other wise just swap bushings to get a different wear area. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 much easier to replace those worn parts now although I imagine once the pressure is on them from the spring they may not be much trouble. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Replace the bushing now. Save headache, heartache and muscle aches taking it apart after discovering the bushings are toast. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 On 12/1/2021 at 2:29 PM, old-tank said: Welding when you should not is not new. Just a light touch of weld sealed the end of a folded over brake line to make a really nice plug. I screwed it into the rear junction block to avoid running a new line to the wheel cylinder, probably took equal work. But seemed like a good idea at the time. Back in 1974 I used to pull "brand new" brake lines off the rearend pile at the junkyard to have some stock on hand. Ran out that week. My wife/girlfriend never even knew we spent a weekend in the Adirondacks with brakes on only one side of the car. Fifty years later she knows I still have a tendency to "compensate". 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 On 12/9/2021 at 7:19 PM, avgwarhawk said: Replace the bushing now. Save headache, heartache and muscle aches taking it apart after discovering the bushings are toast. I finally got the lower inner arm shaft taken apart. I had to find my vice and mount it to my work table then had to go buy a 1 1/4" socket. Used my 24" breaker bar and the bushings came out with a little muscle. Both bushings have a worn spot on the outside threads, it is parallel to the bushings, about 3/16" wide and crosses all the threads almost down to the bottom of the thread. I am assuming this is wear and not some kind of intentional machining. The shaft looks good on both ends as do the inner threads on the bushing. Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 Cleaned up the two old bushings and each of them has 4 areas of wear distributed around through the outside threads, wonder if that means they have already been swapped around once? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Possibly. If you can source quality new parts now's the time to do it. Check with Craig (mobile-parts) here on the forums. He deals in such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 I finished up my work on the new lower control arm. I put it back together with new bushings, grease seals, and new rubber bumper. I should have taken pictures of my setup to get the shaft back in. I used two bar spreader/clamps to move the ends of the arm apart. Put a bolt through one of the shaft bolts with about an inch sticking up. Then placed a large socket on the end to allow the shaft to move down as far as needed. Used a clamp on the bolt and socket to move shaft enough to clear the other end and get both ends of the shaft into the bushing holes. After that, it was easy to add the bushings and torque to 100 ft/lbs. Then add zerk fittings and grease the bushings. It worked well and in a controlled fashion, too. Impressed the wife and demonstrated that i need and use my tools. Sometimes in unorthodox manners! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Thought I would post a picture of the offending shock absorber where it is welded onto the control arm. Welds look too solid to me to break off with a cold chisel so I am back to the angle grinder with a metal cutting disk. Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 The welding wire sticking out of the turd on the right says it all... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 48 minutes ago, EmTee said: The welding wire sticking out of the turd on the right says it all... Didn't notice that until you pointed it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 I would like to see a picture of that shock once it is out. The bracket is real interesting. My early years were spent with many from a generation proud to announce : "We Have Done So Much with So Little for So Long, that Now We Can Do Anything with Nothing" Looking back I realize that today I am the culmination of all the people I did not want to become. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 18 hours ago, M1842 said: Thought I would post a picture of the offending shock absorber where it is welded onto the control arm. Welds look too solid to me to break off with a cold chisel so I am back to the angle grinder with a metal cutting disk. Mark That is the original shock mounting hardware held to the control arm by 2 bolts that probably broke trying to remove. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 I have started to cut the welds on the shock. The one side of the shock was easy and I could cut through the bracket away from the weld. The other bracket is covered in weld, I have it about halfway cut out now. Wonder if it would have been easier to cut the plate on the control arm since it is getting replaced too. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted June 26, 2022 Author Share Posted June 26, 2022 A good day working on the Buick, finally got the welded shock cut out and off the car. As expected the shock was inoperable, just like the other side. I compressed the coil spring and unscrewed the outer lower pin. The I realized I needed to disconnect the tie rod end from the steering arm. Should have a tool coming tomorrow to disconnect the tie rod. Also reinstalled the front sway bar with new bushings and links 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted June 28, 2022 Author Share Posted June 28, 2022 Got the tie rod end separated and it is dry as a bone and offers no resistance to movement. So guess I will add that to the list of parts. And plan on doing the other side, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 Finally got the car lifted enough to get the spring out. See the pictures if the old control arm vs the new. Seems like an accident waiting to happen. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 Today I installed the new control arm, next will be fitting the coil spring and installing the lower pin in the steering knuckle. Nice to be putting stuff back together. I won't have any time to work on the car until Monday at the earliest, though. An hour a day will get me there. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1842 Posted July 22, 2022 Author Share Posted July 22, 2022 On 2/28/2022 at 10:06 AM, 60FlatTop said: I would like to see a picture of that shock once it is out. The bracket is real interesting. My early years were spent with many from a generation proud to announce : "We Have Done So Much with So Little for So Long, that Now We Can Do Anything with Nothing" Looking back I realize that today I am the culmination of all the people I did not want to become. This picture shows the 2 front shocks, one as it should be, the other that was welded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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