I hopped a curb last week when my tire popped in the rain. It was my fault in the end, I should have replaced my tires and driven slower.

I looked under the car when I got it towed back and nearly puked .

The lower control arm literally ripped from the front crossmember.
After the initial shock, I did some research and found it that this actually does happen and is repairable; and thankfully, my father is a welder and once we push the crossmember and bracket back in place he can weld it back up. Worse comes to worse, I will cut the a-arm mounting bracket off the crossmember and buy a new bracket to put on.

I have never worked on a front suspension, and cannot find the information I need. I searched for hours, but I still cannot wrap my head around how to get it out.


1) Can I remove the bolts holding the A-arm to the crossmember, keeping a jack under the spring, then lowering it out of the way, without wrecking havoc?

2) If I can't do that, how do I remove the hub/knuckle? My guess is remove the tie-rod end with a pickle fork, and then the lower ball joint, at which point the wheel hub should be free? The sway bar is already out. Watching videos of other cars, it seems they somehow got the wheel out of the way, with the ball joints still in the car.

I really appreciate everything and anything. No matter how I search, it seems that the designs are different from the 1978 corvette, and therefore not applicable. I have the manual for 1969-1984 corvettes, but that does not go in depth on how to take out the arm either.

 

Most likely you will remove the wheel, tie rod from the steering kunckle, remove the shock absorber, then seperate the lower ball joint from the kunckle. When you seperate the lower ball joint you should support the lower arm and possible support the spring, it will pop once the ball joint lets loose. Once the ball joint is seperated you can remove the spring to remove the lower a-arm bolts and the arm. Without removing the spring there is no way to safely work with the suspension. That spring can kick without warning.

 

It's really straight forward with the correct tools.

Read up on replacing the front springs. Once you have those out everything else it just nuts and bolts.

Rent or buy a pickle fork and a inside spring compressor.

Then the a arms can be unbolted. PLEASE make sure to chain the spring as it can kill you.

While you have it all apart replace the ball joints and any other wear items.

 

Get it in the air and safely supported, pull the front wheel. I'd remove the shock just to get it out of the way. Jack under the lower control arm with just a slight amount of pressure. Remove the cotter pin from the lower ball joint and back the nut off, but don't take it off completely. I'd use a pickle fork and break the ball joint stud free from the lower end of the knuckle. Once it pops, raise the jack a little more and remove the nut. Lower the jack- the spring will come out as the control arm comes down. Would not hurt to run a small chain thru the spring so if something suddenly pops free the spring can't come get you. Note the orientation of the spring- top/bottom, and where the lower end sets in the control arm.
Once it's down, it should be much easier to weld the lower support back in the correct place.

 

Hi IM,
All the advice and methods are workable.
Take the time to chain the spring in place. If something goes wrong early on, the fender, your head, and the garage roof, won't stop the spring.
Regards,
Alan

 

Except that I would remove the nut completely and then put it back on. If you don't remove it completely, you run the risk of it seizing from rust and the ball joint just spinning in the socket. By removing it then replacing it you can be sure that the nut won't seize to the ball joint spindle.

 

I have a trick I use to remove springs. I have a three foot piece of threaded rod. I have a nut and a pair of washers at one end and a metal plate, one washer and a nut at the other. I remove the shock, then run the threaded rod through the hole in the lower control arm out through the top of the spring pocket. The two washers and nut go at the top, and the plate across the shock mounting section of the lower control arm. then you can just tighten the bottom nut to compress the spring while you disassemble the tie rods, ball joints, etc. This method removes the possibility of the spring getting away from you.

 

I'm with Drawmain. I started using this trick years ago. Much easier, quicker. IMO, much safer than most "consumer" level spring compresser tools.

 

I do something similar to the above procedure, but use a spring compressor.

First I remove the shock. Then I take the removable end off the compressor. I then attach the compressor to the spring, and run the threaded end of the compressor up thru the upper shock mount hole. I put on a large washer, and tighten down the nut. This pulls the spring up, and compresses it into the upper pocket. the lower a-arm can then be lowered, and the compressor loosened, and spreing removed.

The above also works well when installing the spring. Simply compress the spring up and hold it there, then install the a-arm, and then remove the compressor. The only thing to remember, is to make sure to start a couple of turns up from the bottom of the spring, so you can remove the compressor, after the a-arm is installed.

*Note* some of the loaner spring compressors, the rod is to large to fit thru the upper shock mount hole, but the cheap one at advance auto works great.

 

Thanks a lot for all the help guys! I ended up putting a jack under the spring-shock hole (with the shock off) and unbolted the control arm from the xmember, lowering it down with the spring chained to the a-arm.

 

I knew a guy that died from that. Spring to the head - it's NO joke.

 

Since I'm one of the few that has seen and coil spring unwind from it's cage and live to tell about it, let me offer some advice to put in front of anything you read here, NOT that you are getting bad info here either. Before you do ANYTHING that has to do with the coil spring compression, SAFETY WIRE IT COMPRESSED. Use mechanics wire or bailing wire wrapped several times 180 deg apart on the spring in two areas before uncompressing the springs. Your welcome. I had a spring compressor arm pin snap on a big block Chevelle spring many moons ago after I had just got the lower a arm off. Even though I had a proper spring compressor compressing the spring, I didn't have the spring safety wired when it was compressed. When the pin on the spring compressor popped, all hell broke loose and fast. The spring bent the front fender, flew by my head and tore a hole in the side of the shop building. So yea. Even if I have a Snap On coil spring compressor I ALWAYS safety wire the springs. Of course this is only an opinion, but one well worth taking into consideration. Also, back then tools like spring compressors were made out of better metal than they are today. So much for opinions....