control arms

sweet124 · Post by **sweet124** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:21 pm

Will I just finished rebuilding my front suspension new springs,bushings,balljoints,and all steering linkage's question is I know I need to torque the control arms with the vehicle weight on the ground and two passengers in the car how about the lower control arm that mounts to the cross member does this also need to be torqued with the same principles as the control arm bushings or can I just torque this like normal fiat manual says to torque it with the specified weighted so How to you get a torque wrench in there .

sweet124 · Post by **sweet124** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 6:16 am

So I guess no one installed lower control arms to the cross member.I just would like to know if I can torque the two nuts that hold the control arm to the cross member to spec. with out the weight of the vehicle.Seeing that there is no bushing just shims.

ventura ace · Post by **ventura ace** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 8:10 am

Yes, those nuts can be torqued regardless of control arm position or vehicle loading. It is the bolts/nuts that hold the rubber bushings that need to be tightened with the vehicle in its normally loaded neutral position on level ground.

Alvon

sweet124 · Post by **sweet124** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:08 am

Thanks for the quick response I wish I new this before I assembled the front end I don't think a torque wrench would fit guess I can get a crows foot in there.

ventura ace · Post by **ventura ace** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:37 am

Sometimes there is no room for a torque wrench. In this case, I get the fasteners as tight as I can with the car loaded in the neutral postion, then create room for the torque wrench while keeping everything as neutral as possible for the final torqueing (i.e. put jack under control arm so that car is at the normal height, and weight is on the control arm, remove wheel to give you room). When doing so, don't let the item with the rubber bushing move very much between the initial tightening and final torque. In other words, don't jack up the car under the cross member, with the front wheels hanging down, until you have given in the final torque to spec.

Alvon

sweet124 · Post by **sweet124** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:26 pm

Great tip I'll give that a try.Thanks

sweet124 · Post by **sweet124** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:22 am

Her are some pics of my front end rebuild.[url]
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc51 ... ure001.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc51 ... ure002.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc51 ... ure003.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc51 ... ure004.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc51 ... ure005.jpg

ventura ace · Post by **ventura ace** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:36 am

Looks very nice! Looks like you have done a very thorough job. You've probably already considered it, I'll mention a few things to be safe: you'll want to wait to torque the bolts at the control arm bushings until you get the rest of the weight of the car sitting on them (engine, etc.), on a level plane. You might also find that you need to repostion some of the tie rod clamps and bolts eventually, so that they won't bang into the exhaust downpipe -- this is something that I ran into, anyways.

Also, you may want to keep the center link ball joints just lightly tightened for now, as you may prefer to remove it when you install the engine and transmission.

Great job!

Alvon

sweet124 · Post by **sweet124** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:59 pm

Thanks No I haven't tighten any of the bushing to spec.I'll do that later in the project when every thing is back together.