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Old 03-21-2011, 10:20 PM   #1
PQ
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Drives: 2010 Supercharged SS
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Mobile, AL
Posts: 36,716
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Has anyone broke one of these yet? (Rear Lower Control Arm Endlink Tab)

I was under the car the other day and decided to inspect the entire underneath. Well, I found this broken braket peice that is basically the control arm. It is the peice welded onto the control arm that the end links to the sway bar connects to.

Pete, at Pedders, has gracefully offered me one he's had at the shop from early testing. So I didn't have to go buy one but I'm curious if anyone else has had a problem with this piece.

As you can see, the end link tore through the braket. Also pictured is the other side that seems to be good.

There is a split in the other side braket and I don't know if it's a crack or is it supposed to be that way?

Anyway, any feedback would be cool.







UPDATE: Repaired........

Ok, last night I replaced the LCA and puet Pedders end links and sub-frame bushing inserts on the car. I'll do the CA bushings today.

As you can see, it’s NOT a good idea to break one of these. The end link was completely outside of the LCA and had separated the whole ball joint.



Here you can see material from the LCA bracket between the end link nut.




Another pic of the damage from the top. Is it my imagination, or does the new arm bracket look a tad thicker?



More damage. You can clearly see how it broke through.





The ball broke clean from the assembly. Lol




No doubt this is tight. LMAO, I torque this with my body weight pretty much.




Here you can see where my old end link had come lose before and I moved it to the inside. (stiffest) And yes I moved the other side then as well. Lol



I attached the Pedders end link before I installed the LCA.




My professional work area.




I set the end links to the shortest setting possible. The set nuts could be tighter but I did the best I could. They like to separate on the other one when tightening the first one.




As it turns out, when the finish is worn away, there IS a joint here. Can’t imagine why but I confirmed it on both arms. The coating disguises it but it’s definitely there. THIS IS NOT A CRACK. It’s an absolutely PERFECT joint. WAY to perfectly straight and true to be a crack.




Pedders most definitely more ‘Robust’ as Pete put it.




Ok, so inspect my work………. Lol




Front sub-frame insert.




Rear sub-frame insert. See that pin at the top? That was a BITCH to get to go back right. The struts were not wanting to align with the LCAs and the front cradle joint was up so I had to wedge something between them to hold it down to balance it backward and zip tie the struts to a position in the LCAs to get them to guide in place………… OMG, that was a pain.





Nother Update:

Second arm is failing......

















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Last edited by PQ; 04-03-2011 at 11:50 PM.
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