Has anyone broke one of these yet? (Rear Lower Control Arm Endlink Tab)

[PQ]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

Great post. Thank you PQ.

And thank YOU for the speedy delivery of the arm.

This afternoon I'll be working on it to replace the LCA and end links, as well as some other stuff, and I'll be taking really detailed and close pics of the failure and the other LCA braket.

I'll post them up this evening. Still at the office now til 5ish.

[motorhead]

Is this problem only happening with modded cars or has it been seen with Stockers too?

[GTAHVIT]

I think, one person in this thread may have had this happen to a stock car...

Most seem to be either lowered or regularly "raced"

[PQ]

Originally Posted by motorhead

Is this problem only happening with modded cars or has it been seen with Stockers too?

Only ones I've heard of other than mine were in this thread. And all on moded cars except one. Dealer actually fixed that one under warranty.

[themossman]

Originally Posted by PQ

And thank YOU for the speedy delivery of the arm.

This afternoon I'll be working on it to replace the LCA and end links, as well as some other stuff, and I'll be taking really detailed and close pics of the failure and the other LCA braket.

I'll post them up this evening. Still at the office now til 5ish.

The new arm has a stealth 'altitude detection unit' installed from Pete...it will auto-post in this thread with speed, height, and distance of jump. then we can properly estimate the failure point of the LCA mount point.

[PQ]

Originally Posted by themossman

The new arm has a stealth 'altitude detection unit' installed from Pete...it will auto-post in this thread with speed, height, and distance of jump. then we can properly estimate the failure point of the LCA mount point.

Hope I don't break his transmitter........

[LightningSS]

Originally Posted by PQ

And thank YOU for the speedy delivery of the arm.

This afternoon I'll be working on it to replace the LCA and end links, as well as some other stuff, and I'll be taking really detailed and close pics of the failure and the other LCA braket.

I'll post them up this evening. Still at the office now til 5ish.

Try to get some quality photos of the busted bracket. Close-ups showing the grain of the metal. I'm curious to see what kind of failure this was. Two possibilites: shear tear-out due to a serious over load or fatigue failure due to repeated loads higher than anticipated.

In the pics the round bar shows what fatigue failure looks like and the cartoon sketch shows shear tear out.

[Huggerorange73]

Originally Posted by LightningSS

Try to get some quality photos of the busted bracket. Close-ups showing the grain of the metal. I'm curious to see what kind of failure this was. Two possibilites: shear tear-out due to a serious over load or fatigue failure due to repeated loads higher than anticipated.

In the pics the round bar shows what fatigue failure looks like and the cartoon sketch shows shear tear out.

My money is on fatigue failure....loose nut vibrating and moving around finally busted the mount.

[Dynabyte]

I'm glad I found this thread - thought when this happened to me it was just a freak thing. Eibach sways and springs had been installed for prolly 4K miles - the end links were factory. This was with my 2010 V6 when I had it -

[Darth_Emma]

Spohn makes control arms. Now I need to decide if I should get those, wait for the Pfadt pieces, or just see if my control arms fail. It looks like this isn't just a freak thing at all.

[Rob@WretchedMS]

Originally Posted by Dynabyte

I'm glad I found this thread - thought when this happened to me it was just a freak thing. Eibach sways and springs had been installed for prolly 4K miles - the end links were factory. This was with my 2010 V6 when I had it -

looks like it had been loose.

[jsharp]

Originally Posted by LightningSS

Son of a b!!!

I just went out to look and mine, and look at what I find on the driver's side:

The nut is gone, but bolt undamaged it seems. The passenger side nut was loose, I could turn it with my fingers....

I hated these tierods the moment I installed my sway bars. To torque the nut you have to use a hex key to hold the bolt or the fitting just spins. Which is ok, but apparently I didn't do a good job.

I can't believe I didn't feel the problem, but it is winter around here and I haven't been ripping around much...

This is my fault for not checking the instl after a time, but those lower fittings are still a crap design (but mine look ok for now).

If anybody makes tierods with forked ends let me know I'll be the first in line... Time for a locking nut or some safety wire too.

This happend to me liek a few weeks ago. I think it is due to the crappy way the endlinks tighten down as well. I am looking to get some different ones for sure@! LOC TITE also

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by jsharp

This happend to me liek a few weeks ago. I think it is due to the crappy way the endlinks tighten down as well. I am looking to get some different ones for sure@! LOC TITE also

Chevrolet knows how to engineer a control arm. The entire ZETA II chassis is an outstanding example of that. As we upgrade the performance of our 5th Gens we increase the load factors on many systems. Care has to be exercised in keeping everything balanced. If we make the arms out of unobtainium and they are indestructible how does that impact the mounting points for the arm? It is no different than a fighter that looks like Tarzan and hits like a ton of bricks but has a glass jaw. Then there is Achilles and his heel. There will ALWAYS be a weakest point and the stronger you make a one component the weaker the related components become.

It is Mission Critical that you get the endlink nuts tight the first time. Replacement brackets, hardened washers or replacement arms are not immune form damage due to loose endlink hardware. Know that that the OE nut loses quench every time it is turned. Replace them with new OE nuts or appropriate grade nyloc nuts. With proper care at the time of installation your endlink nuts should remain tight in place and your lower rear control arms will provide excellent service. Your OE arms are good to go IF you get the endlink nuts tight the first time.

[PQ]

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.