FAQ: Lower Control Arms & Bushings 1995/1996/1997/1998/1999

after rereading this thread on page 9 I see that Carl Alexander-- The Roadmaster-- in Detroit looks like he found someone to make this back in 2011.... but then stopped posting-- whatever happened with that line. any updates or contacts I could get a hold of.

What's the consensus on the Dorman front left and right LCA's?

Part number for the driver side is - 520169
Part number for the passenger side is - 520170

Rockauto has these for $53.79 each. If they're any good, I'll pick them up. I don't see the difference between the Dorman, Mevotech, Raybestos, and the ACDelco besides the price.

concerning the 1997 Riviera front lower control arms. the forward round bushing.

So after many weeks and getting my arms back from Rare Parts - whose solution was to bore out the arms and put some bigger bushing it-- very expensive-and not the best answer in my mind.

I tried contacting Moog... never got any response.

soooo I contacted a friend of mine who is a machinist and gave him my control arms and 2 round bushings for 1995-96 rivieras. He made up a pair of aluminum sleeves that pressed into the aluminum arms and then pressed in the 95-96 bushings into the sleeves...... looks fantastic and seems like it will work as well as stock, and does not change the wheel position in the wheel well as happens with using the Regal steel control arms, also can reuse the stock control arm bolt.... was very inexpensive and i asked him about making a run of them..... any interest out there for these?? ?if there is he will have his shop do a formal estimate--off the cuff he thinks $20.00-$25.00 a pair for the sleeves. which anyone with a regular garage press could install.

Anyone running the Prime Choice on '95/'96 models?

Yes, I actually just installed a prime choice lower control arm on the passenger side of my 95 riv. The ball joint was a pain to remove, but the control arm seems to be oem quality. Be prepared to lubricate the ball joint ahead of time and stick a pickle fork inbetween the ball joint and the knuckle and smack it loose with a large ballot. I spent hours on mine.

RidzRiv wrote:

Yes, I actually just installed a prime choice lower control arm on the passenger side of my 95 riv. The ball joint was a pain to remove, but the control arm seems to be oem quality. Be prepared to lubricate the ball joint ahead of time and stick a pickle fork inbetween the ball joint and the knuckle and smack it loose with a large ballot. I spent hours on mine.

They don't show compatibility with the 95-96 Aurora, but I know the control arms are the same. Prime Choice wouldn't 'confirm' compatibility either. So, you dropped in a different ball joint then what comes on it or you are just talking about breaking the existing ball joint from the knuckle?

Good news for us 95/96 guys. While the part numbers may be different, the design for our LCAs is the same as the GPs, meaning we can grab those nice shiny ZZP control arms. There's a 96 Rivi at the local junkyard as well as a handful of GPs, so I might go tear into them to see for sure. A lot of people are listing them as the same part, while GM does not. Maybe somebody who has access to the parts could see for sure?

http://www.fme-cat.com/application.aspx

This is by far the best e-catalogue for parts like your looking to compare. Easy to use and the best part is it's free.

I meant getting the ball joint to come out of the knuckle. I got a pair of lower control arms from prime choice for $85 on ebay and they came with all of the bushings and ball joints installed.

To clarify Matt's post, after searching online it appears that the 97-2008 control arms on the grand prix match the 95/96 riv control arms.

AIR CHISEL OFF THE RIVETS THAT HOLD THE BALL JOINT IN PLACE ON THE BOTTOM ON CONTROL ARM. THEN USE A BJ PRESS TO REMOVE, RE-INSTALL NEW BJ'S, AND TIGHTEN BOLTS (USUALLY REPLACEMENTS ARE BOLT IN). IF THAT'S WHAT YOUR ASKING. SORRY FOR CAPS AT WORK ATM.

I wasn't asking anything, just commenting on the difficulty of removing the ball joint from the knuckle. That info is good to know though!

Sorry was only trying to be helpful.

It was a pain in the butt for me to locate a replacement lower control because for some reason on my 97 rivi the design is totally different.. I was told ac delco stopped making the part, i even looked online everywhere with no luck. I had to settle with one from a 91 buick and it's skinny and stamped cast iron! All i needed was a bushing for my original aluminum one and had no luck locating that either! I have the original until I can locate a bushing, i really want it installed back onto my car. 😢

If i knew how to upload pics i will show you my original one.

Haha I don't know where my post went. To anyone wondering this is about swapping '97 aluminum control arm to 95/96 with steel control arms that have a one vertical and one horizontal bushing. It looks the same as the 95/96 except aluminum. It seems the front vertical bushing in NLA though.

Could anyone here tell me where/what year this control arm is from? " />

'97. Like I said one vertical and one horizontal bushing just like 95/96 but aluminum.

What is the I.D. on that vertical bushing recess?

I tried and tried everytime I looked for the 97 one they were totally different..

I will check. one sec

Yeah they show two horizontal bushings. I guess they were early 97s. As some 97 Auroras have the one vertical on horizontal and others have the two horizontal.

If I can find two of those control arms, I will find poly bushings haha.

Sorry for crappy quality my tablet camera sucks.." />

Lol. I just need that bushing and I've had no luck locating it anywhere..I had my car in the shop for 3 days and eventually had to settle for a crappy stamped metal one from a 91 buick. I just need too know where the hell these come from. lol

would love to get my hands on 2 of those complete arms like that. my 96's bushing are shot and i cant find a complete arm anywhere.
Tried both those stamped numbers in google and got nada.

Too bad rockauto doesnt have pictures of the complete arms to tell if they are infact different from the 98+ arms on all 97 rivs.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1022050,parttype,10401

Exactly Mr. Riviera. If he can give me accurate measurements I will scour for some poly replacement bushings. I am sure I can find a pair of junk ones somewhere to press new in.

I have came up short searching for them new. NLA from GM. The mevotech you link are two horizontal bushing from a google image search. I saw them earlier and searched. I found a thread where someone used an audi bushing machined down 0.5mm and pressed into the front mount here on this forum.