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

Update.

I have some friends at GM looking into the front control arm bushings. They believe they have found the front one for the front lower control arm. They are double checking it. They should know for sure early next week. (It wasn't them that sourced the bushing origionally,...it was the now defunct Amcast).

If I do in fact get them,..I'll do a little write-up with pics,..and post the part number, source, price, etc.

Rickw wrote:

Or a Mitutoyo, that goes both ways.

or Brown & Sharpe
Or Starrett.

I did get a new Titan digital one. I don't completely trust it though. For more important things I go back to my mechanical dial caliper (Mitutoyo),...or a real micrometer if it really, really matters.

Measure twice,...hammer once.

Stuart,
It's great that you have contacts at GM that can help with these kinds of things.
Looking forward to the results, write up, P/N's, etc. Mainly the part numbers for parts that are currently not available to us.
Thanks

i need to change out my LCA bushings and probably the ball joint too. the replacement parts for the 96 are $30 for bushings and $60 for the ball joint...
gmpartsdirect has the entire LCA for $160. i may as well just replace the whole damn thing and forget trying to press in new bushings/drill out the old ball joint.

I plan on ordering the aluminum LCA from the 98 riv (i have a 96 with steel LCA's) any reason it wouldnt fit? the rest of my front suspension is from a 98 as well.
will this replacement LCA have everything already pressed in and a new ball joint?
anyone know of a cheaper source?

My preference is the whole arm. Saves you a buttload of labor.

If your time is valuable to you then i would replace the whole control arm also.
For the 98 the exact replacement parts aren't available anyway - so new Aluminum Arm Assembly is the way to go.

I hope you are correct about the 98 fitting your car.?????
Derek, do you still have one of the old control arms he can use for a test fit before buying new.
And when you bought yours didn't you find that monsterpartsonline.com was the least expensive.?

My old control arms are long gone. I did find MPOL to be least expensive.

they are 177+20shipping at MPOL
they are 160+30shipping at GMPD

hopefully i will save some weight too by switching from the hollow steel to cast aluminum parts

update: i ordered a singe side set of replacement bushings from rockauto (moog) for $35. i figure if it fixes the noises then i'll do the other side too. if not then at least i didnt spend $400 on 2 control arms to still have a clunking noise up front.

Please take some pics while you're dealing with these, ahem, unique control arms.

sorry i didnt take any pics, but i can get some later when i have the wheels off for the other side.
i will say it is a royal PITA to get the old one pressed out. It took every bit of an hour of pounding with a BFH , prying and wedging to get it out. new one went in relatively easy with some hammering.
i only replaced the vertical bushing b/c the horizontal one looked to be in pretty good shape and i was tired from removing the "easier" one.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

sorry i didnt take any pics, but i can get some later when i have the wheels off for the other side.
i will say it is a royal PITA to get the old one pressed out. It took every bit of an hour of pounding with a BFH , prying and wedging to get it out. new one went in relatively easy with some hammering.
i only replaced the vertical bushing b/c the horizontal one looked to be in pretty good shape and i was tired from removing the "easier" one.

Boy, that was fast! I didn't know you were going right to work.

It's a victory, considering that I don't believe the vertical one was ever supposed to be "serviceable".... You did the whole thing with just a hammer and a vise??

vise?
i had a hammer and hand tools...
to be honest i though i was going to have to break out the dremmel and grind away the old one, but it eventually gave way.

I would've been scared $h!+less of cracking/breaking the cast aluminum arm...
Do you think a machine shop with a stand-up "bottle-jack" press could've pushed it out from the back side?

on the 96's the arm is made of steel. it doesnt even flinch when i whack it with the hammer. you might be able to press it out but the metal is such a thin surface around the rubber you would have to find something the perfect size or else it would just push out the rubber or hit the outer edge.
this is the part is replaced btw:

Matthew,
What are the P/N's for the pair of bushings.?
You replaced the Vertical one, correct?
And still have the Horizontal to do, when needed.
Are the two bushings identical or different from each other. I can't remember the last time I looked at mine.
Also, what are the symptoms that you experienced before identifying that the bushings were bad.?

Rick, yes i replaced only the vertical one, the horizontal one is different in that it is all rubber on the edge so it makes it harder to pound out with a hammer.
i ordered the set of 2 moogs from here:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1022038,parttype,7532

As for the symptoms... i have been hearing a lot of noise coming from the front end of my car since i swapped everything over to 98+ stuff and i've been trying to figure it out. my front LCA verticle busing had some pertty serious dry-rot cracks so i suspected some of the noise was from that.
some of the noise is probably from all the poly bushing i have on the sway bars, and some of the clunks may be from the lowering springs. everything else is brand new now...

I'm confused again. Exactly which parts have you swapped out to '98?

knuckle, spring, struts, top mounts, all the bushings and parts in between.

so..is the difference night and day now?

robotennis61 wrote:

so..is the difference night and day now?

between my current setup and the 96 setup? or between worn LCA bushing and new on one side?

if you are referring to the bushing replacement, i'm not sure it made much of a difference. there might be less noise/movement, but its hard to tell b/c i'm still hearing other things from the front.

motor/transmission mounts?

Albertj

front trans mount is poly, side mount is in great shape and has poly fill. rear trans mount is shot, but not failed. side trans mount is in ok shape w/ minor dry-rot.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

front trans mount is poly, side mount is in great shape and has poly fill. rear trans mount is shot, but not failed. side trans mount is in ok shape w/ minor dry-rot.

How can this mount be Shot, and Not Failed.????
That's confusing, either it's good or it's bad.
I know when i say Shot, it means no good anymore, needs replacing.
If there is excessive movement / play and the rubber is all dry rotted then it needs replacement and can be a source of noise.
If it is allowing the engine/trans to move up and down (back & forth), like when the front mount goes bad, it should be replaced.

the rear one is broken, but i filled what i could with poly so it doesnt move much. not 100%, but not failed.
the noise is defiantly coming from the front suspension.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

they are 177+20shipping at MPOL
they are 160+30shipping at GMPD

hopefully i will save some weight too by switching from the hollow steel to cast aluminum parts

What is "MPOL" and "GMPD" ? GMPD sounds like GM parts direct or something,...but I couldn't find MPOL on the net,..and it doesn't come up on a search of this site either.

If i could find the Amcast alum control arms for a '97 for $170,...I'd be all over it. I could even drive the Riv again. As it is,...it's just ,...collects leaves and bird poop.

Thanks.