Rear Control Arm - DIY project??
kdog_x
07-05-2005, 11:33 AM
My 95' Aurora was T-Boned yesterday as I was coming through an intersection. The minivan that hit me, managed to hit almost directly on the passenger side rear tire. There was almost no body damage, aside from a small crease in the rear door, but after hearing some clunking sounds I decided I had to slide under and see if there was any other damage.
To my dismay, I found that the rear control arm was broken in half by the impact, so now I've got a new project I need to take care of. My question is, has anyone replaced a rear control arm on one of these cars before? I took a look at the service manual, and it said that the entire rear suspension support needs to be removed -- including the exhaust, and all brake and suspension components from both sides. If this is necessary, I'm going to need a trans jack to support the whole rear support assembly (which I don't have) and I'd also have to get the car pretty high off of the ground to get the jack under there in the first place. From the looks of it, I would think that I could just remove the spindle/hub assembly, shocks, and springs, and I would be able to remove the control arm. But reading the service manual is making me think I could be wrong. Has anyone replaced one of these before, and did you need to remove the whole suspension system as shown in the manual?
thanks
Kevin
To my dismay, I found that the rear control arm was broken in half by the impact, so now I've got a new project I need to take care of. My question is, has anyone replaced a rear control arm on one of these cars before? I took a look at the service manual, and it said that the entire rear suspension support needs to be removed -- including the exhaust, and all brake and suspension components from both sides. If this is necessary, I'm going to need a trans jack to support the whole rear support assembly (which I don't have) and I'd also have to get the car pretty high off of the ground to get the jack under there in the first place. From the looks of it, I would think that I could just remove the spindle/hub assembly, shocks, and springs, and I would be able to remove the control arm. But reading the service manual is making me think I could be wrong. Has anyone replaced one of these before, and did you need to remove the whole suspension system as shown in the manual?
thanks
Kevin
tjm
07-06-2005, 10:32 AM
Sorry to hear about your accident; 'hope everyone is ok.
I'm sorry I don't have any info for you but I have been able to do all work on my Rora so far. However, with your recent input of manual knowledge I too may be reluctant to do that job. Exhaust disassembly is usually a pain without heat and a rack.
Can I assume you want to pocket insurance $$? It's a good idea if you can do the work yourself. Just don't get stuck with the car disassembled in your driveway and no way to finish the job.
I'm sorry I don't have any info for you but I have been able to do all work on my Rora so far. However, with your recent input of manual knowledge I too may be reluctant to do that job. Exhaust disassembly is usually a pain without heat and a rack.
Can I assume you want to pocket insurance $$? It's a good idea if you can do the work yourself. Just don't get stuck with the car disassembled in your driveway and no way to finish the job.
kdog_x
07-06-2005, 12:12 PM
Sorry to hear about your accident; 'hope everyone is ok.
I'm sorry I don't have any info for you but I have been able to do all work on my Rora so far. However, with your recent input of manual knowledge I too may be reluctant to do that job. Exhaust disassembly is usually a pain without heat and a rack.
Can I assume you want to pocket insurance $$? It's a good idea if you can do the work yourself. Just don't get stuck with the car disassembled in your driveway and no way to finish the job.
If I were just trying to pocket some insurance money I'd leave it to a mechanic for sure. But I was at fault for the accident -- so no insurance money to collect. I don't know how I didn't see the guy coming, I remember looking in the direction he was coming from, but he must have been right in that blind spot behind the windshield pillar. He didn't really put any effort into stopping, but he had the right of way, so that's pretty much all the insurance company cared about.
Oh well, at least no one was hurt. But I am surprised how well the car took it though. He must have been doing at least 30mph when we hit, and there's only a small crease in the door and a little crinkle on the inside of the door frame. They definitely got something right with the chassis.
I pulled the wheel off last night to see why the manual says you need to drop all that stuff to remove the arm. It looks like you can't remove the bolts that hold the arm on due to lack of clearance, so it is accurate about the work involved. I'm going to try and remove the exhaust today -- it doesn't look like it'll be that bad. The exhaust is one welded piece all the way up to the header, so there's only two bolts and a bunch of hangers to remove. Hopefully all goes well with the two bolts, cause it'll cost me a fortune if I have to pay a mechanic to do all this work.
Wish me luck
:)
I'm sorry I don't have any info for you but I have been able to do all work on my Rora so far. However, with your recent input of manual knowledge I too may be reluctant to do that job. Exhaust disassembly is usually a pain without heat and a rack.
Can I assume you want to pocket insurance $$? It's a good idea if you can do the work yourself. Just don't get stuck with the car disassembled in your driveway and no way to finish the job.
If I were just trying to pocket some insurance money I'd leave it to a mechanic for sure. But I was at fault for the accident -- so no insurance money to collect. I don't know how I didn't see the guy coming, I remember looking in the direction he was coming from, but he must have been right in that blind spot behind the windshield pillar. He didn't really put any effort into stopping, but he had the right of way, so that's pretty much all the insurance company cared about.
Oh well, at least no one was hurt. But I am surprised how well the car took it though. He must have been doing at least 30mph when we hit, and there's only a small crease in the door and a little crinkle on the inside of the door frame. They definitely got something right with the chassis.
I pulled the wheel off last night to see why the manual says you need to drop all that stuff to remove the arm. It looks like you can't remove the bolts that hold the arm on due to lack of clearance, so it is accurate about the work involved. I'm going to try and remove the exhaust today -- it doesn't look like it'll be that bad. The exhaust is one welded piece all the way up to the header, so there's only two bolts and a bunch of hangers to remove. Hopefully all goes well with the two bolts, cause it'll cost me a fortune if I have to pay a mechanic to do all this work.
Wish me luck
:)
tjm
07-06-2005, 12:30 PM
a little propane torch will help lots with the exhaust bolts. try to be gentle so you can re-use the studs if thats whatcha got.
kdog_x
07-14-2005, 10:22 AM
a little propane torch will help lots with the exhaust bolts. try to be gentle so you can re-use the studs if thats whatcha got.
Yeah, I ended up doing this job a few days ago. I used this stuff called "PB Blaster" on all the rusted bolts. This stuff is amazing, it just eats through rust like no other -- I highly recommend it if you have to deal with any stuck bolts.
It took about 10-11 hours to drop the whole suspension support, replace everything and get it back up -- I thought it went pretty smoothly. Unfortunately when I went to get an alignment done I got another surprise. I replaced the rear tie rod link, because the original was bent up, but what I didn't notice was that someone ground the bushing down about 1/4" on the replacement one I got from the junkyard. Anyway, when I tightened down the nut that holds it in place, the frame piece it mounts to bent in a little bit. The shop told me they couldn't align it because of that.
I took it to a frame shop and they told me they can fix it, but they're gonna have to re-drop the whole support and then heat it and bend it back into place. They quoted me around $700 for the job
I don't know if I'm gonna do it though, I've already got 110,000 miles on it and I'd have to go through about 4 or 5 tires before it'd be worth the cost. :(
Yeah, I ended up doing this job a few days ago. I used this stuff called "PB Blaster" on all the rusted bolts. This stuff is amazing, it just eats through rust like no other -- I highly recommend it if you have to deal with any stuck bolts.
It took about 10-11 hours to drop the whole suspension support, replace everything and get it back up -- I thought it went pretty smoothly. Unfortunately when I went to get an alignment done I got another surprise. I replaced the rear tie rod link, because the original was bent up, but what I didn't notice was that someone ground the bushing down about 1/4" on the replacement one I got from the junkyard. Anyway, when I tightened down the nut that holds it in place, the frame piece it mounts to bent in a little bit. The shop told me they couldn't align it because of that.
I took it to a frame shop and they told me they can fix it, but they're gonna have to re-drop the whole support and then heat it and bend it back into place. They quoted me around $700 for the job
I don't know if I'm gonna do it though, I've already got 110,000 miles on it and I'd have to go through about 4 or 5 tires before it'd be worth the cost. :(
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