Adjustable Rear Control Arms install

i purchased my adjustable rear control arms from Terry at www.maximalperformance.com. can't beat low prices, great products, and free shipping!

basically, all adjustable control arms are the same. the length of the control arm is made of metal tubing with right hand thread on one end, and a reverse (left hand) thread on the other. there is a bolt (which pivots on 3 axes, but only pivoting on 2 axes is necessary) on one side and a 90 degree ball joint on the other. the ball joint connects to the wheel hub (outside), and the bolt connects to the subframe (inside). there ball joint can be greased (denoted by the grease nipple) which helps to increase its lifespan. however, these ball joints on the rear control arms really don't undergo much motion at all, as they are pretty much fixed. only movement is the up and down travel by the shock, and that is only a few inches. so, since the metal tube has a right hand thread on one side and reverse thread on the other, the control arm, when assembled, can be adjusted to increase/decrease is length by simply twisting the tube. there are nuts on each end that, when tightened, lock the control arm in place after its desired length is attained.

as for installation, first assemble the adjustable control arm (if not pre-assembled): thread the ball joint and pivot bolt in their respective ends. NOTE: one has a left hand thread and the other is a reverse thread, so they will only fit on the correct end. remove the stock control arm (NOTE: don't worry about making note of the position of the camber/toe alignment bolt as you won't be able to reuse on the new control arm. plus, the alignment shop will take care of the fine adjustments later). adjust your new control arm to the approximate length of the stock arm, install new control arm. do this for both camber arms (or all 4 if you got toe arms too). grease the ball joints (you'll need a grease gun for this). then drive your car right to the alignment shop.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/control21.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/control1.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/control3.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/adjcontrolarms.jpg

I'LL UPDATE THIS WITH MORE PICTURES LATER.

sorry for the delay. i ran into a few problems upon installation, and then another problem with the shop aligning the car. but i have solved everything, and i have some pretty pictures to help illustrate my dilemmas and solutions.

first of all, i could not remove one of the stock toe arms (toe arm is the shorter of the two control arms, camber is the longer one). the bolt on the toe arm is mounted through a metal sleeve on the bracket of the rear cross member. the bolt was rusted in this metal sleeve. no amount of PB Blaster, hammering, or prying on my part would remove the bolt. however, as a result of hammering on the bolt, i mushroomed the threaded part. i didn't think this would be a big deal b/c it would soon be removed and i could replace it with the adjustable toe arm. but since i could not get the rusted bolt out, i had to leave it as is.

i drove (very carefully b/c my right toe arm was connected only by rust, no nuts holding the bolts in place) to a nearby shop and had them work their magic: air hammer did the job...air tools, ftw...gosh i want some air tools bad, but i gots no room to store them. sorry i don't have a picture of the rusted bolt that was removed. let me just tell you that it wasn't pretty.

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my second dilemma arises when i go to the alignment shop. after waiting a ridiculous amount of time (it always happens that way, doesn't it?), i'm told that the technician needs to see me about my car. i walk out into the bay, and the tech says he can't align my car. i'm thinking "WTF?! i just put ADJUSTABLE control arms on there, the magic word is "adjustable," should i get a dictionary?" so i politely ask him to explain. its not making sense to me, so i tell him "i'm prepared to get my hands dirty, just tell me what to do." he smirks (not sure if he thought i was serious, joking, or just frustrated that i didn't understand him), and motions me to come under the car and shows me the problem.

now keep in mind, a vehicle's wheels must be aligned when the car's weight is on the wheels, that is you cannot jack the car up by the frame. so the car is driven up onto a platform, sensors are attached to the wheels, and a computer measures the camber, toe, caster, included angle, and all that other jazz. (FYI, caster is not adjustable on our cars, only camber and toe).

recall the picture above of the adjustable control arms. there is a jamb nut on each side of the rod. deez nuts (ha ha HA, i couldn't resist) must be loosened in order to adjust the rod (effectively changing the length of the control arm). then when the rod is adjusted to the desired length (to get the camber/toe into spec), the nuts must then be tightened. if the nuts aren't tight, the rod could twist, get out of alignment, or even worse, the threads could be damaged. the tech told me all this. it made sense, but i didn't think it was that big of a deal. then he went on to tell me how much load (tension) is on these control arms when the car's weight is upon them. its enormous. he didn't have an exact number for me, but think about it: the car weigh over 3,000 pounds, say 50/50 weight split, rear weight distribution is around 1,500 pounds, half that for each rear wheel, 750 lbs, half that for each control arm, so around 375 lbs for each control arm. also, remember that the control arms are mounted at an angle, so they experience tension in multiple directions. and this is a very conservative rough estimate of the load on one control arm when the car is SITTING STILL. when driving, the loads are even greater, and much greater still when turning.

so considering this, it would be a good idea for these jamb nuts to be tightened. herein lies the problem. for the rear camber arms, when the car is sitting at ride height, the jamb nut on the inner part of the adj. control arm is inaccessible. this jamb nut is between two metal plates that make up the bracket on the rear cross member. the space in there is so tight that there is no room to even put a wrench so you can loosen/tighten the jamb nut.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/DSC02843.jpg

this was obvious, after he explained it to me. i told the tech he could simply jack the car up, loosen the jamb nut, adjust the rod length, tighten jamb nut, put car back on alignment platform, and voila. however, this method is rather a "guessing game" because the alignment measurement can only be taken when the car is sitting on its wheels. so you have to take the measurement (lets say we have -2.0* on each side), jack the car up so that the inner camber arm jamb nuts are accessible (one inner nut on each camber arm), loosen nut, adjust rod to the length that you GUESS would be required to bring camber to 0*, tighten nut, lower car, take alignment measurement.

the tech said that "this is not part of the alignment process." this kinda pissed me off b/c i just paid a lot of money for a 3-year alignment deal with National Tire and Battery. so i thought the tech was being lazy. however, his complaint is perfectly plausible and makes sense why he would refuse the guessing game: it would be easily take a few hours to get it aligned perfectly (and i wanted it perfect b/c the adj. control arms will allow this).

so i thought about simply taking my grinder to the bracket, cutting out a little portion so a wrench could access the nut, then call it a day. well as the tech warned, this would not be a good idea b/c i would endanger the structural integrity of the bracket (remember the great loads of force the control arms experience!!!). so i thought i could just weld a 3rd side on the two parallel plates to reinforce the bracket, then notch it out. he thought it might work, so i said i'll take care of it and bring it back.

well here is where i wish SOOO badly that i could weld. i've wanted to learn for a long time. but the tools are expensive, yada yada yada. basically, i need my car aligned soon b/c i don't want the tires to wear unevenly. so i took it to a shop that builds race cars (they do a bunch of custom stuff, basically anybody that can weld metal can fabricate anything you need, and these guys are good). i saw them working on some chrom-moly roll cages in a BMW Z4 and an M3 for a new Grand Am race car class. kinda sweet. so i left the car with them, got it back the next day. it wasn't cheap ($325 for 5 hours of labor), but i know they did a top quality job. then i brought my car back to the alignment shop, and they aligned it like any normal ...sports....car....with intrax springs and adjustable control arms :iceslolan.

here are some pics. they welded on a 3rd side of the two parallel metal plates. a notch wouldn't be the best idea b/c the control arm can be adjusted and nut will have to travel up and down the length of the threaded part. instead of cutting out a notch, they cut out 1/2 of one side of the bracket, and then welded on a piece at 90* for reinforcement.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/DSC02832.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/DSC02834.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/DSC02841.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/DSC02840.jpg

the first time at the alignment shop, the tech and i were talking some more about the adjustable control arms. he said the ones i got were just a bad design, and that there are probably 50 designs out there. well i did some searching on google, and only found a few variants. basically, the toe arm design is fine, but its the camber arm that is problematic. the inner jamb nut is inaccessible. so there are some designs that only involve jamb nuts in the center of the control arm, as opposed to the ends. i've emailed Terry at Maximal Performance about the situation, and he agreed its a PITA to align these cars with adj. control arms, and he wants to be kept in the loop on this. hopefully, he or some other 3S aftermarket producer will change their design. here are some pics to give you guys an idea on different designs.

3SX adj. control arms, same design, though, as Maximal Performance and probably other 3S shops, too.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/control-arms-na-2-500.jpg

different designs. notice the adjustable point is in the center.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/FMAUTB.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/adjarms2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/Linebckr49/3000GT/Adjustable%20Control%20Arms%20Install/adjarms1.jpg

i offer this solution and design info in order to make it easier to work on our cars. granted, they are already a pain in the ass, as it is. but it should be easier. now you may say that the tech at the alignment shop was just being lazy, but i work on cars too, and if there is an easier/quicker way to do it, then most everyone would rather take that route, assuming its still a good/safe way to perform the task.

Sucks that it was such a PITA, but glad you found a solution. Hopefully somebody will be able to redesign this. I guess nobody on 3si has stepped up to the plate yet?

Damn, nice write-up Linebckr. Thanks for posting it.

Given all the problems of the install and all though....was it really worth it? I guess once everything gets done then yeah but wow, that was a lot of work.

sure it was worth it. now my tires will wear evenly and last longer (hopefully) than my last set. i gotta take the lead out of my foot and not be so aggressive in the twisties.

but what i did was make it easier for technicians to align my car in the future. i could have said screw it, and just gone to another National Tire and Battery until i found someplace that would align my car. but i saw an opportunity to improve upon a poor design, and make things easier for everyone. since i do so much work on my own car, and other 3S cars too, i'm always looking for an easier/better way to do things. and it may cost a little money for a better tool, but in the end its worth it.

again, what i did is NOT required for cars with adjustable rear camber arms. however, it will make the shop's job much easier when aligning the wheels.