Control arms

[twoseater]

Hello - ordered a new set of upper control arms. On one arm I cannot turn the shaft by hand -I can move it if I put a screw driver in the mounting holes but its tough. The other moves freely - I'm guessing its not straight, which is why I'm replacing them to begin with.

Should it move freely - these are new through Ecklers?

(should note its a '65 but this group sees more traffic - not sure it matter though)

Thanks

 

[bill81vette]

its not cross threaded is it?????

 

[twoseater]

its not cross threaded is it?????

No, not even installed. The shaft slips into the pressed bushings- it doesn't move like the others.

Ended up Calling ecklers and they are swapping it out. However, now I've lost the weekend and holiday week next week to get it back together.

frustrated....

i did thread a bolt into the and of the shaft and struck it with a hammer - still didn't free up...

TOTALLY BUMBED OUT!!!!! Hey what do you want for a grand!

 

[SVO]

The ends of the cross shaft is drilled and tapped for a large washer and bolt. With the end bolts and washers removed from the ends, the cross shaft should move stiffly by hand, depending on how tight the bushings fit the cross shaft ends. If binding badly with the end bolts and washers removed, I would suspect that the bushing ears got bent while pressing in the bushing. The Chevrolet shop manual called out a special tool that would act as a spacer to prevent the arm from being bent & damaged while installing new bushings.

Back to the cross shaft end bolts and washers....When installing your new control arms, you will want to leave these loose until the suspension is re-assembled and the car is sitting back on it's tires. You need to bounce the car several times and allow the suspension to settle to it's normal ride height and then tighten them to the required torque setting. To not do so, you can end up with the front end at a nose high rake.