Rear Lower Control arms. How To:

[Boomdeeze]

These look so nice, wish I had them on my car.

 

[dsmmack]

Thanks for posting good info! It was very helpful when I built a set of arms for my car. I found many sizes of high strength lightweight threaded aluminum tubes that fit just like the steel swaged tubes. The color almost matches the Koni's too!
Using aluminum tube saves an additional half pound per arm, aluminum heims saves .25 pound per heim. The upper arms are built with teflon lined HD aluminum heims at both ends.

Looks good! I had though of using the alum for less weight as well but figured with my car still a street car I'd stay safe and keep the steel heims and tubes for extra strength. What external diameter are the aluminum tubes?

We should get a vendor to start making these.

Vendors do already make these(uppers) and they cost more than what the parts cost to thread them together yourself. This is why I put all the part numbers out there in the write up so you can do it yourself and save the $ for both upper and lowers.

 

[Doubleot]

Awesome write up. I will be looking into doing this very soon.

 

[pneumo]

Looks good! I had though of using the alum for less weight as well but figured with my car still a street car I'd stay safe and keep the steel heims and tubes for extra strength. What external diameter are the aluminum tubes?

I'm using 1" OD lower tube and 7/8" upper tube. My car is mostly for drag racing and it's around 400 pounds lighter than stock, so I figured the car doesn't need the ultimate strongest arms. I compared the strength of different heims. The 3/4-16 standard steel heim is rated at 14,290 psi, the HD 5/8-18 aluminum heim is rated at 14,880 psi. As far as I can tell, DOM steel is 1020 alloy, which has similar strength as 6061 aluminum.

 

[talondave]

Do we even need the rear sway bar, for a mostly drag car?

 

[bostonhatcher]

Do we even need the rear sway bar, for a mostly drag car?

Yes. An upgraded rear sway bar is even better. You don't need the front.

 

[talondave]

Yes. An upgraded rear sway bar is even better. You don't need the front.

Ok cool, thanks! I'm going to rip out the front one tomorrow!

 

[dsmmack]

I'm using 1" OD lower tube and 7/8" upper tube. My car is mostly for drag racing and it's around 400 pounds lighter than stock, so I figured the car doesn't need the ultimate strongest arms. I compared the strength of different heims. The 3/4-16 standard steel heim is rated at 14,290 psi, the HD 5/8-18 aluminum heim is rated at 14,880 psi. As far as I can tell, DOM steel is 1020 alloy, which has similar strength as 6061 aluminum.

Good to know.

 

[ceedawg]

Would these work on a 2gAWD rear end,I sure could use these since my car has been lowered.

 

[swade]

I have one question. In the original description you say to use a 14" tube for the top but the PN is for a 14.5". Which did you use successfully?

Thanks
Swade

 

[96awd]

So, I just want to double check everything. I order two of everything just for the lower. But If I want the upper ones as well, I order 4 of everything but only two of the 14" and two of the 17" bars right? Sorry for the noobish question just wanting to double check.

 

[pneumo]

So, I just want to double check everything. I order two of everything just for the lower. But If I want the upper ones as well, I order 4 of everything but only two of the 14" and two of the 17" bars right? Sorry for the noobish question just wanting to double check.

Yes that's correct.

 

[96awd]

Does it matter between 3 bolt or 4 bolt? I don't see why it would since parts are interchangeable but could be a question to ask.

 

[pneumo]

Does it matter between 3 bolt or 4 bolt? I don't see why it would since parts are interchangeable but could be a question to ask.

Yes, no worries. The arms are the same for all 1G AWD.

 

[Stapl3]

Yup. Top was first. I would have done the bottoms if it was easier to mount the swaybar.

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The diameter of the bolts holding the new rod end spacers to the subframe are too large. I assume you just ran different sized bolts/nuts. My only question is I see the subframe bolt holes are oval. Should washers be welded to the subframe to keep the bolts from sliding out of place over time?

For cutting the spacers correctly:

Uppers need to be 50mm across total.
Lowers need to be 55mm across total.
The rod end without spacers is 22mm.
Each spacer is 31mm.

For the sway bar, I dropped the entire rear subframe as complete as I could. The only thing that didn't come down with it was the brakes and shocks. Once on the floor, the endlinks were unbolted from the lower control arms, and new mounts were made and welded on the spindles. Completing the new mounts before unbolting everything has me confident they are correct.

 

[96awd]

So what should each spacer be cut down to in order to mount these correctly? I'm doing upper and lower.

Putting my subframe back together now and noticed they were bigger than the actual whole.

 

[Stapl3]

So what should each spacer be cut down to in order to mount these correctly? I'm doing upper and lower.

Read the post before yours.

 

[96awd]

Woah, I completely missed that.

 

[honda_burner]

Would these work on a 2gAWD rear end,I sure could use these since my car has been lowered.

i am curious too. will it? does anyone know if the 2g suspension is the same, or atleast close enough to do this?

 

[snowborder714]

Check out this thread for someone who's done them for a 2g.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/handling-tech/320763-spherical-bearings-2g-2.html#post152122187

Keep in mind the car has not been driven, so no actual testing has been done.

 

[honda_burner]

Check out this thread for someone who's done them for a 2g.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/handling-tech/320763-spherical-bearings-2g-2.html#post152122187

Keep in mind the car has not been driven, so no actual testing has been done.

awesome! thanks man!

definitely not as simple as the 1g design in this thread though

 

[JohnTSI]

On a side note don't tie the car down with them. We usually use axle straps around our lower control arms to tie it down on the trailer or hold it on the dyno. Big mistake with these, snapped both rear control arms on the dyno.

 

[turbotalon1g]

^Had a local in MN do the same thing. scary times.

 

[okcpopeman]

Just to confirm, the part number thats listed in the GVR4 post for the swaged tube is for a 14.5" piece. The actual 14" piece offered by afco is smaller diameter. 36184 vs. 19514-1 will that half inch matter or is the smaller diameter tube needed?

 

[dsmmack]

On a side note don't tie the car down with them. We usually use axle straps around our lower control arms to tie it down on the trailer or hold it on the dyno. Big mistake with these, snapped both rear control arms on the dyno.

Ouch. Good to know.

Just to confirm, the part number thats listed in the GVR4 post for the swaged tube is for a 14.5" piece. The actual 14" piece offered by afco is smaller diameter. 36184 vs. 19514-1 will that half inch matter or is the smaller diameter tube needed?

The GVR4 link lists the part required for the uppers. I copied and pasted from there. If the guy who listed it originally as a 14 inch instead of 14.5 I think its more of just a typo. If you went with the smaller Diameter stuff you'll need different part number rod ends as the threads are not the same.

I have not built the uppers myself as I still have my old Ingalls arms on the car, Not a huge priority for me to spend the $ to replace the ingalls arms at this point in time yet. Eventually will for the weight.