I'm in the middle of rebuilding the front end of my 86TT and have a few questions:
1. When I got the car, the PS upper bushings were toast so I remove the upper control arms and had new bushings pressed in. That was about a year ago. Today, when I remove the arms to clean them up and replace the ball joints, I noticed the front bushing on the PS had popped out of the arm. No biggies, I'll remove the nut and press it back in but I was thinking it shouldn't have popped out in the first place. On further inspection, I noticed two things:
- The bushings are only .380" or so from the arm vs. the spec in the manual of .5" +/-.02".
? Is this .5" spec critical?
- There is a washer on the arm on the front side. With this washer the bushings are under move outward pressure. I
? Is this washer found on most G body's?
With this washer and the bushings being pressed in too far, no wonder the bushing popped out.
2. The replacement upper ball joints don't sit flush with the arm. If I look at the originals (yeah, 17 years later), the bottom of the ball joint plate has a slight arc to it to match the slight arc in the top of the mounting location. The replacements leave a gap at the edge because they are truly flat on the bottom. I'm concerned the bolts will come loose if the ball joint doesn't sit flush against the arm.
? Can I take a BFH and flatten the arm so the new joints sit flush?
3. Should I tack weld the bushings on all of the arms to keep them from popping out? I've *never* had this happen on any of the other arms I've replaced bushings on (not G-body), but after seeing that loose bushing on top, I'm worried the others will pop out. Maybe the lowers aren't susceptble to popping out since they have two places holding them in rather than one.
Any thoughts?
Terry
1. When I got the car, the PS upper bushings were toast so I remove the upper control arms and had new bushings pressed in. That was about a year ago. Today, when I remove the arms to clean them up and replace the ball joints, I noticed the front bushing on the PS had popped out of the arm. No biggies, I'll remove the nut and press it back in but I was thinking it shouldn't have popped out in the first place. On further inspection, I noticed two things:
- The bushings are only .380" or so from the arm vs. the spec in the manual of .5" +/-.02".
? Is this .5" spec critical?
- There is a washer on the arm on the front side. With this washer the bushings are under move outward pressure. I
? Is this washer found on most G body's?
With this washer and the bushings being pressed in too far, no wonder the bushing popped out.
2. The replacement upper ball joints don't sit flush with the arm. If I look at the originals (yeah, 17 years later), the bottom of the ball joint plate has a slight arc to it to match the slight arc in the top of the mounting location. The replacements leave a gap at the edge because they are truly flat on the bottom. I'm concerned the bolts will come loose if the ball joint doesn't sit flush against the arm.
? Can I take a BFH and flatten the arm so the new joints sit flush?
3. Should I tack weld the bushings on all of the arms to keep them from popping out? I've *never* had this happen on any of the other arms I've replaced bushings on (not G-body), but after seeing that loose bushing on top, I'm worried the others will pop out. Maybe the lowers aren't susceptble to popping out since they have two places holding them in rather than one.
Any thoughts?
Terry
