YukonXLMan
Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2019
- Posts
- 86
- Reaction score
- 89
I was checking my tires and noticed I lost 3/32 tread on my rear tires and was wondering what the heck happened in the last 1000-1500 miles. I crawled under my truck and found my wife or I had hit something that bent the lower control arm in the right rear.
I checked on-line to find the part number, then called around to locate the part locally and found one.
I am having trouble uploading files to help with the story, so I'll just describe the replacement.
Putting the two pieces side by side, the one on the Auto had a quarter inch bend in it and one side of the U shaped control arm was bent way out.
taking the two bolts off that held it in was not a problem..... Putting them back in with the new piece was a challenge. this is how I was able to get it back in:
I put the forward most bolt in and put a nut on it very loosely. I raised the rear portion into position and discovered the bolt hole was approx 30% out of alignment. After much moving of the piece back and forth with my hand I was able to get the smallest of bites with the bolt thread into the hole. I use the socket to start it with difficulty and basically wound it in as far as it would go. Once at the exit hole there again was that 30% overlap, and this time, I could not overcome the force of the rubber stopping me. I tried jacking the car up and down in multiple positions attempting to change the hole location, but the it would travel along an arc around a watch face from 9 -12, but never to the center. I finally came upon the idea, that since the bolt was too far to the 9 o'clock position in relation to the hole, I could put a rubber chock behind the wheel, put the car in reverse and push the tire hard against the chock. I reset the parking brake, crawled under the car, and voila! it slipped in with zero effort! Tightened them up to approx 130ft-lbs while I await an answer to a request for what the torque should be, and test drove the car.
I'm AMAZED how such a minor deflection could create a geometry issue so large as to scrub rubber off my tires so quickly. Just goes to show how the slightest issue in you suspension can have major effects on other parts of your vehicle.
Hope this helps the next person attempting a similar task.
I checked on-line to find the part number, then called around to locate the part locally and found one.
I am having trouble uploading files to help with the story, so I'll just describe the replacement.
Putting the two pieces side by side, the one on the Auto had a quarter inch bend in it and one side of the U shaped control arm was bent way out.
taking the two bolts off that held it in was not a problem..... Putting them back in with the new piece was a challenge. this is how I was able to get it back in:
I put the forward most bolt in and put a nut on it very loosely. I raised the rear portion into position and discovered the bolt hole was approx 30% out of alignment. After much moving of the piece back and forth with my hand I was able to get the smallest of bites with the bolt thread into the hole. I use the socket to start it with difficulty and basically wound it in as far as it would go. Once at the exit hole there again was that 30% overlap, and this time, I could not overcome the force of the rubber stopping me. I tried jacking the car up and down in multiple positions attempting to change the hole location, but the it would travel along an arc around a watch face from 9 -12, but never to the center. I finally came upon the idea, that since the bolt was too far to the 9 o'clock position in relation to the hole, I could put a rubber chock behind the wheel, put the car in reverse and push the tire hard against the chock. I reset the parking brake, crawled under the car, and voila! it slipped in with zero effort! Tightened them up to approx 130ft-lbs while I await an answer to a request for what the torque should be, and test drove the car.
I'm AMAZED how such a minor deflection could create a geometry issue so large as to scrub rubber off my tires so quickly. Just goes to show how the slightest issue in you suspension can have major effects on other parts of your vehicle.
Hope this helps the next person attempting a similar task.
