Control arm changeout?

[2001 GT Coupe]

Hi,

Anyone out there ever changed one of these out before? What is the difficulty level? I ditched my car into a curb a few weeks back and have looked at the damage. Apart from the rim being destroyed, I can see that the arm (driver side) is bent, causing the wheel to be way out of alignment. I have a replacement arm out of an '02 GP GT and want to put it in. How hard is this going to be.

The car:

2001 GP GT coupe
3.8 SII, auto-tranny
58,600 miles

Thanks, before hand, for any suggestions

Lou

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by 2001 GT Coupe

Hi,

Anyone out there ever changed one of these out before? What is the difficulty level? I ditched my car into a curb a few weeks back and have looked at the damage. Apart from the rim being destroyed, I can see that the arm (driver side) is bent, causing the wheel to be way out of alignment. I have a replacement arm out of an '02 GP GT and want to put it in. How hard is this going to be.

The car:

2001 GP GT coupe
3.8 SII, auto-tranny
58,600 miles

Thanks, before hand, for any suggestions

Lou

The first step is get the driver's side jacked up and get what's left of your wheel off. Be sure to use a jackstand, if possible or good floor jack to hold the side up at a decent elevation.

Un-snap the plastic retainers that hold the wheel sensor wiring harness to the lower control arm.

Then undo the nut and bolt holding the sway bar and bushings on. Next remove the cotter pin securing the nut on the ball joint and then remove ball joint nut. At this point take a hammer to the old control arm around the area of the ball joint and beat downwards. The object is to get the ball joint separated from the steering knuckle. Once you get that off then remove the control arms bolts fastening the control arm to the sub-frame assembly. You'll have to rock the right hand side of the control arm and then pull out. The control arm should be off in your hands at this point.

Assembly is reverse of above.

Other helpful hints:

WD40 all bolts that need to be removed above first and let sit for a few hours.

You can rent a ball joint separator tool.

And some people rent strut coil spring compressors and tighten down to relieve the downward tension of the strut on the steering knuckle and hub. I found it wasn't necessary.

Once replacement control arm is on it may be hard to get the ball joint to align with the hole in the steering knuckle. You may need a friend to help pull up on the control arm to help align it or you can use a small hydraulic jack to apply upward pressure.


Difficulty level on a scale of 10 IMO is a 5 but its definitely DIY. Good luck!

BTW - Don't forget to have alignment checked afterwards but it may be OK if no other parts were damaged like a tie rod, etc.




Thrasher CAI, DHP v1.0 PCM,
3.25 SC pulley, CAIT GMAF, Hi-Flow CAT,
u-bend delete, 160 TS, ZZP Stage 1 TB,
TB spacer, MSD 8.5mm wires, Autolite 104s,
Goodyear Gatorback Serp. & SC Belt,
Nitto NT555R Drag Radials

[2001 GT Coupe]

Thanks, bnaylor3400, for such a quick reply. It sounds like I can do it. One more question though. Do I need to grease any connection points before installing the new arm?

Lou

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by 2001 GT Coupe

Thanks, bnaylor3400, for such a quick reply. It sounds like I can do it. One more question though. Do I need to grease any connection points before installing the new arm?

Lou

I used molybdenum (moly) grease on all the control arm bolts and made sure it got into the bushing bore during re-installation. Same for the ball boint. I put a grease fitting on the ball joint since it didn't have one.

You should do fine. Just take your time and be careful. Good luck!




Thrasher CAI, DHP v1.0 PCM,
3.25 SC pulley, CAIT GMAF, Hi-Flow CAT,
u-bend delete, 160 TS, ZZP Stage 1 TB,
TB spacer, MSD 8.5mm wires, Autolite 104s,
Goodyear Gatorback Serp. & SC Belt,
Nitto NT555R Drag Radials

[2001 GT Coupe]

UPDATE:

Well I got the old arm off last night and began installation of the new one today. Got the ball joint and rear sub-frame connected but was having trouble getting the forward sub-frame to line up for the bolt. That's when my heart sank in my chest. Just underneath the rear sub-frame connection housing I saw what looked like a hump in the steel there. There is no hump on the other side. So it looks like the sub-frame is damaged also (why didn't I see this right away???). It looks as if this repair is now out of my hands. Can this be repaired or should I just call insurance and declare the car junked? Any thoughts are welcome at this point.

Lou

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by 2001 GT Coupe

UPDATE:

Well I got the old arm off last night and began installation of the new one today. Got the ball joint and rear sub-frame connected but was having trouble getting the forward sub-frame to line up for the bolt. That's when my heart sank in my chest. Just underneath the rear sub-frame connection housing I saw what looked like a hump in the steel there. There is no hump on the other side. So it looks like the sub-frame is damaged also (why didn't I see this right away???). It looks as if this repair is now out of my hands. Can this be repaired or should I just call insurance and declare the car junked? Any thoughts are welcome at this point.

Lou

What a bummer! Thats not good news. :

However, it is repairable but you'll need to get it to a collision/body shop that also has a good general automotive mechanic. Get estimates from more than one shop. Sub-frame replacement is about an 6 - 8 hour job at $35 - $50 per hour labor rate. A sub-frame from a junkyard may run approx. $150 - $200. New from GM around $500. In a worse case scenario the total for parts and labor shouldn't exceed $1K but you'll have to weigh it against your deductible on your collision insurance coverage and then make your decision to have insurance take care of it or pay for it yourself.

Depending on how severe the damage to the sub-frame itself, it may be repairable and they could put it on a frame machine. Was the damage on the sub-frame on the firewall side or the radiator/front end side? I've seen the forward part of sub-frames heated up and pulled.

Although the sub-frame is a replaceable item the work is very tedious. The body shop will hoist the body and then drop the sub-frame from underneath. Stuff like the rear motor/tranny engine mount has to be loosened, both control arms removed, the front motor mount, rack n pinion loosened, cabling undone, brake lines, and various mounting bolts,
etc. It is not a DIY job.

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck!




Thrasher CAI, DHP v1.0 PCM,
3.25 SC pulley, CAIT GMAF, Hi-Flow CAT,
u-bend delete, 160 TS, ZZP Stage 1 TB,
TB spacer, MSD 8.5mm wires, Autolite 104s,
Goodyear Gatorback Serp. & SC Belt,
Nitto NT555R Drag Radials

[2001 GT Coupe]

UPDATE:

This took awhile as I needed to save up some cash but finally got the replacement sub-frame for the car. I then had to have the car removed from the garage and put onto a tow truck (on 3 wheels,... very tedious as well as a nail biting experience). The end result is that the car is now fixed. By fixed I mean that it is driveable. I don't yet have a replacement rim so it's on the donut for now and I'm not driving it much. They did an excellent job though. The following is the costs involved thus far:

1 control arm out of a 2002 GT
$80.00
1 subframe or K-frame out of a 2001 GT
$270.00
tow expense
$50.00
1 new hub and bearing
$300.00
repair shop bill
$367.00
rim and tire (plain jane, will become spare later on)
$160.00 (estimate) for now, this will have to do
matching rim and tire
$300.00 (estimate) down the road
body work
$450.00 (estimate) definitely down the road

That puts the grand total to $1977 +- taxes and such. I guess the object of this lesson is to NOT DITCH YOUR CAR INTO THE CURB AT 35MPH which I have painfully learned. However, the worst part is over. In a few more months, my car will be good as new. I will keep you up to date on that as well as some pics of rim, before and after shots, etc.,.

[BNaylor]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to see you got it going. Its a painful learning experience but it could happen to anyone. Interesting to see the pics. Good luck!





Thrasher CAI, DHP v1.0 PCM, SLP Headers,
3.25 SC pulley, CAIT GMAF, 2.5 DP/Hi-Flow CAT,
u-bend delete, 160 TS, ZZP Stage 1 72mm TB,
TB spacer, MSD 8.5mm wires, Autolite 103,
Goodyear Gatorback Serp. & SC Belt,
Nitto NT555R Drag Radials
1/4 ET: 13.210 sec. @ 104.490 mph
0 - 60 ft: 1.945 sec.