Control arm swap - with pics - 'project Orange roadkill'

Upon reviving our Orange LS I quickly noticed it had some major handling issues, variable alignment (depending on if braking, or if accelerating) and a host of odd 'clunking' noises up front. It had a noticeable pull to the left under normal driving, until the brakes were applied then it would pull hard to the right. So it was messed up, a quick check of the wheels and it was obvious it needed new ball joints, and bushings. New Dorman arms with the BJ's and bushings installed came to less than $60 with shipping.

What I found was well worn out bushings on the drivers side, so much the arm just slopped around in the rear bushing. The passengers side was redone at some point, but was installed incorrectly, the bolts were just more than hand tight! So the bushings looked ok, but the arm was moving around causing just as many problems.

This job took all of about 20 minutes to swap the arms following the GM tis document, so I really don't have any enlightening tips. What worked for me was lining up the rear bushing, and installing the rear bolt and nut, then lining up the front bushing bolt. I needed to raise the trans about 3/4" on the driver side to get the bolt out.

The car now handles and drives like new, very solid up front with no noises of any kind. The brake pads were new looking so I did not need to touch the brakes.

All in all this is a very easy job when swapping the whole arms, and takes a bunch less time as it's just remove and replace. I normally press my own bushings, but since these were so cheap, I just did the whole arms. The time saved is worth the extra few bucks.

Awesome post with great pics ! Where did you buy your parts?

Rockauto.com for just about everything.

I also use Rock Auto for a lot of my bigger repair projects, they seem to be very competitive with my local auto parts stores. I don't like it if and when they have to split my order and then add the extra shipping to it, so I try to watch for that. Other then that...... I like the cool fridge magnets they send out with my order. LOL

Jesus H Christ buy some jackstands. That very Harbor Freight jack nearly got me killed once.

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Originally Posted by Thud Slamrod

Jesus H Christ buy some jackstands. That very Harbor Freight jack nearly got me killed once.

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To Funny ! Did you have it right side up? HF likes to place the decals on the bottom side of things! LMAO :p

Nice, thanks for sharing the pics.

@ Bg, Yeah it got old finding nothing in stock local, only to wait a week and a half for 'special order's, pay the store's shipping costs, and three times the price. When I can just order them myself and get them faster, for less money. If it's in stock I do get MANY parts local.

@ Thud - no worries, got six sets of them, this shot was taken (after I had test drove the car) just to show the new arms installed, since I forgot to get the camera out while I was actually doing the job. But good observation!

I like to keep my business local, but at the same time we have this Oil Boom thing going on in the western to central part of the state. So you can guess what that does to the price of things.:(

I do try to be a staunch supporter of local businesses (since I have been one myself) - but when all they (parts stores) do is act as 'broker' then mark the price up two times, pile on shipping costs - just for having a store front, I see no value in that really. Then over half of them I was supporting all shut down (or sold out to chains) in the past seven years due to the economy tanking, so seems like a lost cause anymore when they bail anyway. At some point you have to give up and just get it done already lol

Over the last few years I have built up quite an inventory, I stock most all filters, plugs, gaskets, brake pads, shoes, nuts/bolts, and some hard parts just so I can bypass the hassle of hunting them down when I need them.

I think you hit the nail right on the head with your comment about the 'auto industry' making it harder for the DIY'er to repair these cars. But that is a whole other topic, and one I hope to bypass as well in time.