play in upper control arm

aaks38

New Member
I just replaced my front upper control arms (got some replacements from rock auto)on a 96 LS, after torquing the 14mm arms 2 bushing nuts down to about 30lbs, i can grab the arm and feel a play as i push in and pull out the arm. I tried torquing it tighter but it didnt help, the arms move up and down freely but im not sure if this is how the stock ones behave. Im hoping this doesnt affect alignment but not sure if this is common

heres a pic of the arms and the bushing areas

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=1027726


Any ideas? Thanks
 
Last edited:

Black teg

Catch me if you can
Their should be no play anywhere when you bolt them to the car. I never Tq. them, I always use a impack gun to tighten them, and never have any problems. Even when I do it with hand tools and never do.

If their is play in them they need to be tighter or they are bad and need to be replaced.
 

aaks38

New Member
i bought these brand new and cant see any damage to the bushings. what im suspecting is that there is just slop in the bushing bolt as it passes through the sleeve. I read in a DIY, the bushing bolts are torqued to 20ftlbs and i have them around 30 because of the excess play.

Im only worried that my toe could change and cause the car to dart around..
 


TegMeister

New Member
NEVER over tighten your control arms!...
Especially the front uppers,... they are quite flimsy, and you may end up bending them!...

I replaced the upper control arms, on my friend's Integra with some that are similar to the ones you showed us!... Right out of the box, you could see that there was a gap between the anchor bolt bushing and the control arm itself,... I didn't like this for the same reason that you expressed concern!...
So, I ran down to the hardware store, picked up a few stainless steel washers, and used them to take up the aforementioned slack (gap)!... I was curious to see how long my solution to this little dilemma would hold!... I figured, "What the hell!", worst case scenario, I would have to take them back off and use some hardened steel shims!... But, being that those bolts are only supposed to be torqued to 40ft.lbs,... I didn't see the need to have to spend the extra money for the "specialty" pieces (hardened steel shims)!...

It's been over a year now and my friend has never even brought up anything having to do with those control arms!... So, I figure that my "quick fix" worked, since he's had me do lots more work on his car since then!... You would think that if he thought of me as doing crappy work,... he wouldn't bother bringing his car to me anymore, right?... ;)

If you try this, let me know how it works for you,... unless, you've already found some other viable solution!...
And, if that's the case,... let us know what it was!...
I'm always eager to see how other people solve their problems!... :)
 
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