SPC Arms Seizing Up??

[SicMonte]

Has anyone with the SC&C (SPC) upper control arms had a problem with the adjusters seizing up?

I had mine in for an alignment and the shop said they are 100% seized up and even took a torch to them to try to get them to turn...and they didnt turn. So now I have shims on my "adjustable" upper control arms and torched...once anozized...adjuster sleeves.

just my luck huh?? I had these arms installed up at SC&C in 2006.

[BonzoHansen]

the stupid steel adj sleeves? or the hex ones?

[Tony_SS]

One end is reverse thread... did they know that?

[98ssnova]

One end is reverse thread... did they know that?

I would hope that we would have told them that...

[JRouche]

I have some SPC adjustable arms. They were as smooth as any threads.

I dont know but I would never take a car with far from stock components to an alignment shop. I dont want them guessing and learning on my car.

Not saying they dont know what they are doing. But just the fact that they took a torch to yer arms without asking you is a clue. That woulda flamed me and I would sue them.

Unless you gave them permission to do whatever they wanted, including torch your arms they were reaching beyond the scope of an alignment shop Plain and simple. An alignment shop will inspect and correct. If they see broken parts they will advise and wait for instructions from the car owner. OH!!! Unless the kid doing the work realized he F-ed up and was hurrying to try to fix his mistake before the boss saw. Tried to heat it up to free the bolt he seized, then saw it was really seized and the arm has obviously been torched, they had to reveal that to you. They prolly F-ed up your arms and tried to fix it.

I dont trust ANYONE to work on my car except the tire changer, and then I still remove the wheels and load them in the truck to have a tire swap.

I dont trust any mechanics besides myself for my Nova. All the other cars I dont mind. But I know my nova far better than any mechanic. For example, I dont use an air hammer gun on any parts of my car. Mechanics will use air guns for the speed issue. And sometimes because "something" is not just right in their opinion.

No one touches my car, plain and simple. So when something gets broken, and it has, its MY fault. I can live with that. And Ill fix it. JR

Oh, one last point. I think you need to take a lil of the blame. Sorry, just the way it is. Anytime you install after market products on your car you should fully inspect them. I dont care what part it is. Some will take a general visual inspection. But serious parts, like control arms need to be fully disassembled and inspected. I disassembled my arms for two reasons. Primarily to inspect them for any damage. But I also painted the arms. Did you paint the arms or were they already coated? But even when parts are coated from the manufacture they need to be disassembled and inspected. That is the time that you would have put some anti-seize on the adjuster threads and noticed if there was any issues with thread galling. If you took those steps before hand there is no way the alignment shop would be able to say the parts were defective.

Duurrr!! I re-read your post. You didnt install the arms, SCC did. They should have put anti-seize on the sleeves and bolts. If its not part of their installation it should be. Aluminum and steel dont mix, ok well, they mix too well. They will seize to each other. Anti seize!!! Its a requirement with aluminum to steel fasteners.

[Tony_SS]

^ Exactly.

[SicMonte]

well it wasnt an alignment shop it was a buddy of mines shop. This guy builds high end drag cars and some pro-touring stuff. He knows whats up with this kind of suspension.

I am really pi$$ed off about him taking a torch to it. I am going to the shop tonight to pick up the car and will get some pics....I will tell you one thing...he is NOT getting any money out of me.

[John Wright]

Mine has a liberal dose of anti-seize on the threads too...after all of these years sitting, I can go out there and turn the adjusters by hand(with the weight off the car). The jam nuts are to keep everything from moving, once the alignment is set.

I'd be pissed about the torch too.....

[SicMonte]

Well I went last night to see the car. Turns out he used a propane torch on them so the aluminum is ok. But it does look like he used a king kong wrench on them b/c the anodizing is just trashed. The driver side is adjusted using the control arms but the passenger side is seized up he said, so there are shims on it. That is just ugly but it will do for now.

Does anyone else, besides Global West, make an upper control arm for G-bodies? After this dillemma I want to get away from the adjustable type.

[John Wright]

Here's what I did to mine....I had thoughts of what a pipewrench would do to these sleeves. I like the hex sleeves better, but I purchased these before I knew they existed. BTW, Marcus has these for sale and can send you a set of hex sleeve in whatever lengths you need.

[SicMonte]

that looks really good. I like the Hex sleeves better too but the ones you have look like they are easier to adjust and more functional. I will have to call him to see what I can do.

This weekend I am getting the car back and will be taking the control arms apart to see what "seized up" means to these guys. More to come.....

[John Wright]

I forget what size hex nut that is....it adds unwanted weight to the arm, but it makes it so that you can use a regular wrench on it. Those were slid up onto the sleeves just for the picture....I ended up putting them on the car to see where they would be most useful (ie. see where I had room to get a wrench to them), and then tack welded the hex nut to the sleeve(while unassembled).

[stealth71]

I don't recall the directions saying to use anti-seize, but I did notice they say to put loctite on the lock nut.

[John Wright]

http://www.scandc.com/prolite.htm

If you're interested....Talk to
Marcus about these hex sleeves(shown on his light weight UCAs).

[SicMonte]

yeah dude...that's what I have on the car now!!

[John Wright]

Oh crap...I thought you had the smooth steel sleeves like mine.

[SicMonte]

here is an old pic of my motor...but you can kinda see the red adjusters on the control arms....

I like what you did to your smooth sleeves. I might just end up doing that. It is easy and functional!!

[stealth71]

I'm wondering if I should take mine apart while I can and anti-seize them. Anyone worry about the lock nuts backing off with anti-seize?

[SicMonte]

If I had known this was an issue....I would have anti-seized the threads on the adjuster and used lock tite on the lock nuts. That should be a done deal right there!!

I would do it if I were you!!

[BonzoHansen]

I bet if you call Mark he can get you the parts to fix it. Cheaper than new arms.