Tudorwagon
06-03-2006, 06:02 PM
I got my new Currie arms installed today, but it was a bit of a struggle. I had to clearance the driver's side upper arm, quite a lot too, to get it attached to the bushing in the axle housing. I also found that the bracket that attaches to the bushings in the axle housing are about 1/8 or 3/16 of an inch wider than the bushing (stock rubber bushings which fit snug on stock arms). I was unsure what to do so I installed two large washers on either side of each bushing to take up the slack, kind of a hokey way to install them but I didn't know what else to do.
The lower arms were bit of a struggle to get installed. When changing lower control arms, and I've done it a lot on the coupe, I typically remove only one at a time thus using the other three to hold the axle in place while I replace the one I'm working on. This method was made rather difficult since I found that the Currie arms are about 1/4 of an inch shorter bolt-hole-to-bolt-hole than my stock arms. Because of this I had to remove both lower arms at the same time. Since this project is still a bare frame with no body on it this wasn't all that hard to do, but was complicated by the extremely snug fit of the poly bushings at the rear of the arms. I had to use a 6-foot 2x4 to lever the rear of each arm into the bracket even though I had already liberally greased the bushing faces prior to the install. Still, getting the bolt holes lined up was a struggle since, without a body on the frame, I could lift the entire rear axle off the floor with my 2x4 lever before the arm would move into the bracket. I also had to put a jack on the pinion end of the axle housing to get the brackets to line up with the holes in the shorther-than-stock arms. I can of course adjust the pinion angle with my adjustable uppers when the time comes, but I was surprised the arms were shorter than stock by even a noticeable amount.
I also found that the lower bars are noticeably wider than stock arms which led to the final problem: installing my stock style rear sway bar. This bar fit snug with my stock arms so with these slightly wider Currie arms I really had to work to wedge the sway bar into place in order to even get the bolts started which was made slightly more difficult since I needed to go get longer bolts (needed 3-inch bolts vs. the 2-1/2 inch bolts I had used previously) and given that the tubes welded into the arms were either slightly off center or filled with globs of powder coating or both. I had to seriously tap the bolts to get them through the holes in the arms.
In the end they are installed and everything moves smoothly. I will revisit the washers I installed to make the upper arms fit snug at the axle housing if anyone has any suggestions. Is it possible that 68-72 A-body arms use a wider bushing and that I was sent the wrong upper arms?
What exactly are the dimentional differences between 64-67 and 68-72 A-body upper rear control arms?
I'll post a few pictures when I get a chance.
The lower arms were bit of a struggle to get installed. When changing lower control arms, and I've done it a lot on the coupe, I typically remove only one at a time thus using the other three to hold the axle in place while I replace the one I'm working on. This method was made rather difficult since I found that the Currie arms are about 1/4 of an inch shorter bolt-hole-to-bolt-hole than my stock arms. Because of this I had to remove both lower arms at the same time. Since this project is still a bare frame with no body on it this wasn't all that hard to do, but was complicated by the extremely snug fit of the poly bushings at the rear of the arms. I had to use a 6-foot 2x4 to lever the rear of each arm into the bracket even though I had already liberally greased the bushing faces prior to the install. Still, getting the bolt holes lined up was a struggle since, without a body on the frame, I could lift the entire rear axle off the floor with my 2x4 lever before the arm would move into the bracket. I also had to put a jack on the pinion end of the axle housing to get the brackets to line up with the holes in the shorther-than-stock arms. I can of course adjust the pinion angle with my adjustable uppers when the time comes, but I was surprised the arms were shorter than stock by even a noticeable amount.
I also found that the lower bars are noticeably wider than stock arms which led to the final problem: installing my stock style rear sway bar. This bar fit snug with my stock arms so with these slightly wider Currie arms I really had to work to wedge the sway bar into place in order to even get the bolts started which was made slightly more difficult since I needed to go get longer bolts (needed 3-inch bolts vs. the 2-1/2 inch bolts I had used previously) and given that the tubes welded into the arms were either slightly off center or filled with globs of powder coating or both. I had to seriously tap the bolts to get them through the holes in the arms.
In the end they are installed and everything moves smoothly. I will revisit the washers I installed to make the upper arms fit snug at the axle housing if anyone has any suggestions. Is it possible that 68-72 A-body arms use a wider bushing and that I was sent the wrong upper arms?
What exactly are the dimentional differences between 64-67 and 68-72 A-body upper rear control arms?
I'll post a few pictures when I get a chance.