SPC Arms Seizing Up??

[John Wright]

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.....

I hope they didn't just bottom them out and then thought they were seized.





edit:........or forget to loosen the jam nuts and try to move the sleeves.....uggh.

[stealth71]

Good luck man. Seems like it's always something.

[SicMonte]

Good luck man. Seems like it's always something.

I hear ya...it is ALWAYS something!!

I talked to Mark and he can hook me up with some new parts to "rebuild" my control arms. I need to take them apart this weekend to estimate the damage.....

[rentedmule]

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.

UB Machine makes a tall balljoint friendly UCA for G-bodies, I'm running them on my truck. They don't advertise them but dusterbd13 (a member here) and Tony from UB designed them. Unfortunately you need plenty of ugly shims to align them (not a big issue if your suspension is as ugly as mine!).

[SicMonte]

Thanks man! The more I look..the more I find vendors selling upper A arms for g bodies!!

I would like to support a pro-touring.com sponsors if I do get new ones. Anyone sponsor here sell this kinda A arm??

[Skip Fix]

I had the nut on my Bilsteins seize and snap off awhile back,luckily enough threads to still get a nut on it. I put a dab of anti seize on most things. The humidity here in Houston will get just about anything.

[JRouche]

I talked to Mark and he can hook me up with some new parts to "rebuild" my control arms. I need to take them apart this weekend to estimate the damage.....

If you plan on fixing the arms you have and determine they are in fact seized they shouldnt be too difficult to remove. The sleeves are prolly toast so what you do to remove them wont matter much. But brute force is not yer best friend with seized threads. Thats what usually gets folks deeper into trouble. They feel the threads getting tight and think they can just add more force to make it work. They are just welding the threads tighter.

What I have done before is chill the entire part, in the freezer if possible. Over night is good. Then I take the part to the bench and clamp it solid in the vise, moving fairly quickly. With the torch (propane is fine) I heat the outside part. In yer case the sleeve. Faster heating is better if you have a rosebud oxy setup. Heat the sleeve for about 30-45 seconds then remove the heat, shoot some decent penetration oil (I like Kroil) at the joint, both sides then use a wrench to get some movement on the sleeve. Back and forth. Then continue in the removal direction.

Different metals seize differently. Dry steel on steel works the best with that method. Stainless steel on steel or stainless works well too because the hot and cold opens up the fit a lil and there is some lubricating going on with the oil.

Now aluminum on steel is another story. Its the worst. The hot and cold helps because the thermal action will move the aluminum faster than the steel. So it will open up the fit faster. But it will also heat the shaft faster too. But then the real problem is all the lil tiny shards of aluminum still want to create a tight fit. Move fast and get some turning on the sleeve. Get a lil movement and work with that, dont try to force it off in one try if you get some movement and then it gets tight again. But if its moving and keeps moving go with it, take it all the way off. The arms will be fine. The sleeve is toast.

Seized fasteners!!!! I hate it. And yes, I have seized a few over the years. Even recently. I seized a 4140 rod end to a trailing arm tube. I was just putting it together for mock up. Just threading it in by hand and it got a lil tight. The threads were bone dry. Specially the threads on the arm tubes, I had welded the fittings in and they were really dry, and a lil rough. So stupid me, I used a wrench to turn the rod end in more. Yeah, it went in ok, not much force. But when it came time to remove them for paint the rod end was stuck, it started to come off ok, then got tighter and tighter. What did dummy do?? Yup, I got a bigger wrench, I kinda panicked instead of thinking. Before I knew it the 8 inch wrench turned into the 12" wrench and that one was swapped out for the 24" wrench and a long tube. STUPID!! That dude was welded tight.
Heating was out, the rod end had teflon in it, and I didnt want to ruin the 38 dollar rod end. So.... I sliced off the tube, I only had 12 bucks in the trailing arm, two welded fittings and some DOM steel (oh, and my time to make them). So I chucked the rod end up in the lathe and turned down the fitting so it was .005" shy of the rod end threads and removed the tattered remains of the fitting. It was actually un-threading itself at that point, reverse rotation and upside down tool bit.

So... maybe this last episode with seized threads will cure me of my stupidity. I hope anyway. I use anti-seize on all dissimilar metal threads now, even for mock up.

Oh and the anti-seize with thread locker. Someone asked. Its a messy animal, anti-seize. For control arms I would just wipe the outside of the thread (where the nut is going) really well and dont be afraid of using a lil acetone, I dont think it will creep up into the threads enough. Then some blue thread locker and yer good to go. Anti-seize compound is some wicked stuff. A lil goes, well, EVERYWHERE.. I like the napa (permatex) stuff. Just a dab will do ya, and then some. Like spark plugs in aluminum heads. A 1/4" dab will do an entire set of plugs. I like Q-tips for that.

Anyway... I yapped enough, its drunk friday LOL Sorry about the issues. Sounds like you will get-her-done, one way or the other. JR

[SicMonte]

dude it's all good! Thanks for the pointers on dealing with threads and seized up crap. They might be a pain but it only makes us stronger right??

[Bowtie1z28]

Anti-sieze and no loctite on my SPC aluminum adjuster sleeves going on 2 years and never had the jam nuts come loose. I use anti-sieze on all of my suspension bolted/threaded connections, yes it is messy at times but everything comes apart as it is supposed to later on. An alternative to anti-sieze would be a light oil. Dry threads are never a good idea IMO especially if you want to get it back apart. Lubrication helps to prevent corrosion as well especially on disimilar metals.