JJMarley

Hey guys. Long time reader here. Just signed up. I'm wondering if any of you can help me resolve this.

Anyways, I'm having trouble figuring out what my stock lower control arm is supposed to look like on front drivers side. I hit a curb real bad the other day. I took the lower control arm off to get it replaced. But the ones that I get from the auto shops are straight. The one I pulled from my car is curved. (If that makes any sense.) It just doesn't seem to me that hitting the curb would cause that much damage to solid iron. I tried putting the one I got from the shop in there but I'm having a hard time aligning the holes for the bolts. Please help. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

HonBeer

Just compare to the other side....there is your answer.

JJMarley

It should be the same as the front passenger side?

holmesnmanny

Wouldn't it make sense that if you took it down to the parts store and theirs is straight and yours is crooked that yours is bad ?

http://www.rockauto.com/

Go here and plug your car in and look at all the pictures of lower control arms and see if the auto parts store one looks like theirs.

JJMarley

Do i need to lift the whole front end of the car to install it?

holmesnmanny

The best way to replace it is to to put the two radius rod bolts into it then set the radius rod into the subframe in the front of the car. Then put the through bolt at the opposite end of the control arm into it and thread it in all the way. Then put the sway bar link bushings into it. Then put the closest part into the lower ball joint and put the castle nut on. Then put a jack under the lower control arm and jack it up until the through bolt for the strut fork can line up and thread in the through bolt. Then tighten it all down including the outside bolt of the radius rod in the front of the car. Then get an alignment.

MAD_MIKE

Something like #10/12

Well if your control arm is bent then the ones from the shop should be straight.
Its still malleable. The 'lower control arm' is what locates the wheel laterally, then there are the 'radius rods' #8/9/11 that locate the arm fore/aft.
These two components make up the lower 'V' arm to locate the wheel.
What often happens though is when the wheel hits the burb hard enough it is not just the lower control arms or knuckle that can be damaged but also the 'front beam'.


Front of the radius rod attaches the front beam, if the impact is hard enough the force can be transmitted through the wheel > control arm > radius rod > cross beam. This will pull the beam(#3) back or possibly bend/damage it.

Look for witness marks on the front beam bolts from sliding, also check the radius rod bushings.
Using the above images, state which parts you are attempting to bolt together and in which way the misalignment is.

holmesnmanny

Also, you will only need a front end alignment. Some places will do a front end alignment at a discount over a 4 wheel alignment.

JJMarley

The sway bar screw alignment is crooked but I still managed to tighten the screw and I was only able to get one screw in from the front sub frame rod because the other hole for the screw wouldn't align at all... I tightened them all really tight. Could I still drive it out to a auto repair shop like that?

MAD_MIKE

In the above images, could you use the numbers as the reference as to what you are describing. I *think* I know what you are stating, but would like to verify.

JJMarley

The 2 screw threads on 10/12 (lower control arm. I was only able to get one of those screws in which is the thread hole to the left. The thread hole on the right i was not able to align the threads to fit that screw in.

For the screw from 29/6/7/5/22 for the sway bar 1 to the lower control arm 10/12 the holes wouldn't align but i still was able to tighten it really tight.

Can i still drive it around like that? Please let me know. Thanks in advance!!! Much appreciated Mad_Mike

MAD_MIKE

Are you saying you could not get the new lower control arm(10/12) to line up with the radius rod(8/9/11) using the bolts(26)? If so then the radius rod or more likely the bushings(13/14/16/18) are damaged or the front beam(2nd pic #3) is damaged or misaligned.
With a hard impact on the front wheels if it is hard enough to bend the lower control arm the radius rod/bushings and or the front beam may also be misaligned/bent/damaged.

How did the impact occur? Did the wheel hit the curb and run over it, like if you are trying to drive over, like going up a driveway but over the curb. Or was the wheel turned and you impacted the rim face(hubcap) square on, which then forces would have bend the lower control arm, but also probably bent the radius rod as well.
If you have the original hardware for the sway bar bolt #22 will never compress the rubber bushigns #7. The bolt merely keeps the crush sleeves/washers #6-5-6-4-6-5-6 together. It is only torqued to ~16lbft IIRC.
Also if the suspension was loaded on one side(wheel on ground) and unloaded on the other(wheel off ground) the sway bar will be placed in tension and will not be easy to reassemble. But if there is quite a bit of fore/aft change causing the endlink to be at an angle rather than perpendicular(or pointing straight down) to the ground then the radius rod(8/9/11) or front beam(3) is pushing/pulling on the front control arm which is located fore/aft by those two components.
If there is only one bolt attached to the radius rod then NO. The bolt will most likely break, and there will be no proper control of the wheel/suspension assembly fore/aft. When you accelerate the wheel will move forward in the wheel well before moving the car, and move backwards when braking. If you just need to putt-putt it out of the driveway or in the street to move out of the way, you can. But do not drive it with the suspension damaged/disconnected.

It would be helpful to have pics of the radius rod(8/9/11) and front beam(3).

Did you have to replace the wheel?

JJMarley

I already replaced the wheel. I have pictures but do not know how to upload it to the forum. I think that would help greatly if i can post some pictures.

MAD_MIKE

When replying to the thread if you use the 'go advanced' button under the 'reply to thread box will be a secondary box (below Submit reply/preview post buttons) labeled 'additional options'.
There is a button labeled 'manage attachments'.
Click on that button.
A new smaller window will open and you can either upload pictures from your computer using the 'browse' button or if you have already uploaded the pictures to a website there will be a box to fill in the web address 'url' to upload the pictures from.


If the impact of the curb was bad enough to damage the wheel then there is probably other suspension damage other than the lower control arm. Look for damage in the direction the impact came towards the car. Anything that could have been compressed/bent/twisted probably was.

JJMarley

I'm about to upload some pictures

JJMarley

Drivers Side






Passenger Side

MAD_MIKE

This is assembled incorrectly.

This side is missing a bushing at least, not sure what else is going on.

Note how the other side is bolt>washer>bushing>control arm>bushing>washer>spacer>washer>bushing>swaybar>b ushing>washer>nut.

Do you have any pictures of the radius rod or front beam?
When you replaced the lower control arm did you also unbolt the radius rod? It will allow more freeplay if the front nut #28 is loosened.

JJMarley

Yeah it got dark so i just got lazy. I'm going to reassemble that first thing tomorrow. I also tried to loosen up the front bolt but didn't have the right socket for it to loosen it. I don't have any pictures of the beam but i was looking for signs of it being bent or damaged by looking at the screws but nothing looked off... But do you see in the picture you quoted that the screw holes are not aligned on either side. Is that bad? Or can it be fixed by taking the passenger side off to realign?

holmesnmanny

You need to remove the radius rod in its entirety. Then(as I said in my instructional post) put the two radius rod bolts into the lower control arm and then push the radius rod into the cross member then continue to proceed with the rest of what I said. I've completely reattached a lower control arm and suspension assembly in 40 minutes flat. I mean this literally. If you do it in the order I laid out its really easy.

Your driver side sway bar bushings should go in this order starting from the bottom....bolt, washer, bushing, lower control arm, bushing, washer, spacer, washer, bushing, sway bar, bushing, washer, nut.

Just look at the passenger side. It's correct. It should be easy for you to put the driver side back together by just looking at the passenger side. If you lost bushings somehow then you need to buy another kit.

holmesnmanny

If you stripped out the threads on the lower control arm, take a bolt and thread it through the bottom up through the top. This will help it clean out the threads of the lower control arm again. Then take the bolt out and proceed with putting it back together.

The front bolt is a 17mm but you will only get it off using a deep socket. This bolt will need to be tightened last and it will need to be tight or it will back off and come loose after a few hundred miles of driving or less.

MAD_MIKE

^This.

If that front nut is tight it will not allow you to properly align the radius rod and lower control arm.



This cannot be left as is. As soon as you accelerate or brake the radius rod will try to pivot on that bolt to the lower control arm. It will do it a few times before shearing the bolt off.
Both bolts need to be bolt on and torqued down to spec.

FWIW, the sway bar is the last suspension component that is assembled. Get the control arm and radius rod installed then the sway bar.
Also, did the original endlink break? The Honda end-links are unique in their design/build compared to typical end links. If it was replaced with a non Honda part you will need to either replace both sides with the non Honda part or replace the broken side with the Honda part. Using different endlinks on either side will induce a funky unequal roll resistance. Which may make the car handle a bit funky.

JJMarley

I should probably leave the radius rod screwed on to get the front nut off to keep it from turning with it right?.. Thanks for the help guys! I truly appreciate this!

holmesnmanny

you will be able to hold the rod with your hand to unscrew the front bolt no problem

JJMarley

I think the middle beam where the lower control arm mounts to is shifted to the right possibly cause i can't get the thread holes to align.

JJMarley

So I put everything back together but it seems when I drive I can hear this cranking noise as the wheel spins. Any idea what that could be? Possibly cause the wheel alignment has both front tires bent outwards?