TPIC427

Heading home from cruise night last week right before I got on the highway I heard a pop and the car jumped to the left a bit. The upper control arm retaining bolt worked its way loose and the control arm shifted forward eating the bushings in the process. I was lucky it happened at 20mph instead of 60. I removed the upper control arm and was able to install new bushings and re-install the repaired arm in about 2 hours start to finish. I found a youtube video that showed how to install the bushings using a 2"x2" pipe nipple with a cap and a section of 1 1/2" pvc pipe as a spreader-worked like a charm. I spent the rest of the day checking/removing/loc-tite all of the other suspension parts. This was a reminder to me that These parts should be checked as part of the regular maintenance routine-A lesson learned for me!

ChattanoogaJSB

I'm glad it wasn't worse!

00fxd

Last month I was off for a day trip, thought the car was feeling weird. Got home, the wife says she found a bolt and washer in the driveway.

Good god, I know what that is ...

Hiway drove around Wa. like that for 5 hours. Visiting friends, a little car show/swap meet etc. The fat sway bar prevented the bushing from backing all the way out. Checked all the others, tight as could be. Looked on the net to determine correct bolt length and I think I checked here. Varying size recommendations - 7/16nf x 1 or 1 5/16. So I went and got 1 1/4's and 1 1/2's [grade 8] . No star/shake proof washers avail so I used conventional lock and locktite. Replaced the 1" with 1 1/4's, 1 1/2's are too long. I have urethane bushings in the lower control arms and it survived.... Torqued with the weight on the wheels.. again ...

oldgold49er

Before driving the 67, we went through and checked the hardware. Noticed a lock washer on the upper arm was not compressed flat. It was loose. A closer inspection revealed that all 8 were loose! Everything was new with few miles. It seems that the surface area of the large washers can "grip" on to the new rubber bushings, and the radial force of up and down motion can actually cause the washer and nut to back off. I coated the mating surface with releasing agent, and torqued the bolts/nuts. I am also sure the bolts were not correctly torqued previously as there was no evidence of "teeth" marks from the bushing on the inside of the large washer that occur when properly compressed/torqued. Intake manifold bolts were all loose also.
I always look over my old car before driving. A habit I got into when I drove shuttle busses at the University. Pre flight check so to speak.
It seems like I spend at least 2-3 hours working on the car for every 1 hour of driving. Worth every min. Great forum.

Blue Ridge 67

I have found that using urethane bushings in the control arms cause the bolts to back out as the arm moves up and down. Have had customers in our shop with the bolts half out. Just an observation.

JohnZ

That's typical of what I call the "kindergarten engineering" that accompanies most polyurethane bushing conversion applications.