Coil spring upper control arm clearance problem

[Boris61]

Hello all. Need some advice. Winter project was suspension rebuild on my 84. Reassembling (using rebuilt control arms from one of our vendors) and found the passenger side coil spring is scraping against the upper control arm while lifted and hanging. Jacking up from below on the lower control arm to add load doesn’t improve it much. The drivers side has adequate clearance, though. Neither sides nuts are tightened to spec since I’m waiting to do so when laden. Nor is either sides ball joint to CA nuts (they are, however, tightened enough to seat in the spindle. Also most of the alignment shims/washers were removed from the pivot bolt mounting studs. Just left one fat one on the rear stud on both sides. Was about to finish up but figured I should address it at this stage. Anyone ever experience this issue or have suggestions? -Thanks!

[Boris61]

Well after further inspection I didn’t have the lower CA ball joint stud seated enough after all. Now I’m stuck trying to turn the nut without spinning the stud. I tried letting the spring tension hold it and jacking it up too. Also tried a pry bar under the spindle ear to add pressure. No luck.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Are you trying to loosen the ball joint nut again, or just tighten it? To tighten it, I usually use a regular nut (not a nylock nut) to get the stud reasonably tight, then back that off, put on the nylock nut, then tighten to spec. The idea being that the regular nut will be easier to spin down on the threads without turning the stud.

To loosen the nut, if there is a way you could get an impact wrench in there with an angled drive, that would do the trick. Or, if there is any part of the stud threads showing, you could gently hold on to the stud with pliers as you use a regular wrench to loosen. Use care not to damage the threads.

-Bryan

[Boris61]

I was trying to tighten the nylon nut. I ended up using a couple of thick alignment shims to add some pressure and that worked. However once tightened the upper control arm once again hits the spring. So I’m back to my original problem. Any ideas on that issue? Also, when both ball joint nuts are torqued, the spindle has way more resistance to steering pressure than the drivers side has and I can hear the upper ball joint grease boot crinkling.

[toyfiats]

I can't even remember if this is even possible, but are you sure you have the control arms on the correct sides?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

It's also possible to install the upper A-arm upside down. While it may look "right", it obviously isn't. This is how the upper arm should look in the car: https://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-4763- ... l-new.aspx

-Bryan

[Boris61]

No they are both in the correct orientation (flatter edge towards front) and on the correct sides. The control arms were rebuilt ones so ball joints came installed. Turns out the lip nearest the spring is bent down. Or perhaps I bent it hitting the spring. In any case clearance is minimal but after installing shocks and tightening everything to spec it appears adequate. I guess I’ll let the alignment shop techs weigh in on it. Thanks for the help! Now on to installing brakes...

[Boris61]

Sorry, important correction to above post so as not to mislead future DIYers. It is the rounder side of each control arm that is pointed toward the front or the car NOT the flatter side. On to the anti-sway bar install today. From reading past posts on this, I’m not looking forward to it!

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Sorry, important correction to above post so as not to mislead future DIYers. It is the rounder side of each control arm that is pointed toward the front or the car NOT the flatter side. On to the anti-sway bar install today. From reading past posts on this, I’m not looking forward to it!

Thank you for that correction. For the anti-sway bar installation, a bottle jack (with a small cradle at the top) can be very helpful to push the bar into the right positions for the various bolts.

-Bryan

[Boris61]

Thanks for the tip, Bryan! I’m lucky enough to have a max-Jax lift in my garage and I’ve been using a transmission jack for tasks like that while rebuilding my suspension. Although, I may try doing it on the ground as I’ve heard that solves some of the usual problems. I’ve learned so much here over the years so here’s an idea I think might help some folks. We all know that bushing bolts should be torqued while laden. So I did a test. Using iPhone bubble level app I measured the angle on a flat section of each lower control arm while hanging, on the ground and laden. The values (degrees from level) were +8.4, -2.2 and -7.5. So it is no wonder that bushings fail if tightened in the air!
Ok, here’s the trick. It is very difficult to get a torque wrench on these bolts while laden. So I sent my volunteers on their way and lifted the car and put a tall transmission jack under a tire and lifted it until I reached the laden angle measured above then torqued everything to spec. Did one side at a time and was careful to make sure that the frame remained planted on the lift. Can anyone think of a reason that this wouldn’t work?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Ok, here’s the trick. It is very difficult to get a torque wrench on these bolts while laden. So I sent my volunteers on their way and lifted the car and put a tall transmission jack under a tire and lifted it until I reached the laden angle measured above then torqued everything to spec. Did one side at a time and was careful to make sure that the frame remained planted on the lift. Can anyone think of a reason that this wouldn’t work?

I think this should work fine, and it's certainly better than torquing when the wheels are hanging free. One question: When you say "laden", how "laden" is this? One person in the car? Two plus large (but friendly) dog in the back seat? Or at least a kid glued to their iPhone?

-Bryan

[Boris61]

Two people totaling ~375 lbs in the seats. No weight in trunk though. I drive it alone 80% of the time, so I went lower than the spec laden weight.

[iphaul]

Here the correct mounted suspension arms before and after

[iphaul]

[imgE381F4A3-6F4A-4362-8351-7CC8BAB97D3F by Ph Mech, on Flickr][/img]

[iphaul]

[imghttps://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51948418121_6b707ff856_b.jpg[/img]B867EC9F-5927-4B96-8935-A95401A709E7 by Ph Mech, on Flickr[/img]