Rustman Corvette

I didn't see this coming but I am in so deep I cant turn back. Rebuilding the front end, I noticed some non-original welding on the lower control arm shaft gusset and then I noticed a slight bend in the lower control shaft. I bought a new lower control arm shaft that is straight just to help check some of this out. If the new shaft bolts up ok which includes the 2 front mounting holes in the chassis. can I assume the control is sitting correctly with the frame ??? What else can I check to see if the lower control arm is in the correct place ??? HELP !!!! THANKS !!!!!

Mooser

You can compare it to the other side to see if it's way out (you'll be needing an alignment anyway)
Measure from the mounting bolts (front and rear) to the grease fitting on the ball-joint. Anything else and you're introducing other errors such as frame straightness etc
You could also try for a long measure from the ball-joint to something on the rear spindle (plumb-bob) but again you might be looking at something other than the a-arm being off

M

derekderek

lower control arm mount points. measure the X from left rear to right front and RR to LF. i would think they should be the same measurement.

68blvert

Put it together. Take to an alignment shop that knows what they're doing. Measurement will tell if anything is wrong. Setback and SAI specs compared to Caster/ Camber will tell if frame is tweaked or arms are bent.

CanadaGrant

If the lower control arm is bent it will show up when you try to do an alignment. Caster will be way off compared to the other side. As long as you can align it and the control arm itself is structurally sound you should be ok.