Bent A-arm?

[Dr.Jeff]

Regarding removal of the rivets to separate the ball joints from the arms. I have not looked at them closely so not sure, but if they have the typical rounded rivet heads there is a method of cutting a "X" into the top of it and using a air chisel to remove it. I'm sure there must be YouTube videos on it.

Regarding methods for remounting the 'good' ball joints onto the 'good' arms. I'd look into this further before doing it, but on other vehicles of this era with riveted ball joints from the factory - the replacement new joints come with hardened bolts/nuts to use in place of rivets. Has worked excellent for decades on those applications.

 

[Fiatfiend]

I had one that was bent, but not quite to that extent. I straightened it and never had a problem.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

To some extent a rear alignment could help correct minor imperfections (for toe and caster).

 

[carl]

Yea, I realize that. Ed was over the other day and pointed out that if the bight portion was undeformed that the arm should technically be straight. The arms did go into the body mounting brackets without any issues so that's another argument that they are straight. If I could not get the rear alignment in spec then I suppose that would point to the fact that the arms are not usable. At this point just looking to see what my options are, see my other thread about ball joint replacement.

 

[lookforjoe]

Why not just put a straight edge down the top & bottom of the base of the "U" channel? if those run true, then the wave in the outer lips is a non issue, IMO. You could straighten them & add a tie plate to reinforce that stretch, I'm not sure that it would be weaker beyond the fact that the metal will have been manipulated to get a straight edge again.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Well, if there is bent metal along the arms then something had to give. Unless the bent metal was 100% stretched metal (which it can't be), then the movement had to go somewhere to allow the bending. Something along the laws of physics and forces, applied to metallurgy.

 

[carl]

This car had been hit on the rear driver side, it bent the strut severely and bent the rim. The car had been pushed up onto the curb so the passenger side wheel was pushed sideways to hop the curb and it too was bent. Apparently the hit was enough to do that damage and still stress the trailing arms. I suppose even the hubs could have been compromised but until I drive the car I won't know, the hubs seem to spin OK. It's even possible the axles are bent and the trans is destroyed but again I won't know till I drive the car.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

it bent the strut severely

Unfortunately you might be right. There may be damage to other components, as that looks to be a very hard force involved. I doubt the axles themselves, but possibly a hub? Try mounting a straight wheel and spin it while off the ground. If the hub is bent you should see the wheel wobble a bit. Also seems unlikely the trans would have been damaged internally; any signs of cracks in the case (maybe around the diff)? And thinking about it - looking at that strut, I guess it is not surprising the suspension arms got bent. I think you can swap the good ball joints and bushings into better arms as you have discussed.

 

[carl]

For those unaware, the strut Dr is showing above is the one off my car.
I am in the process of getting replacement arms that will have my ball joints installed.

 

[fiatfactory]

If the strut took a hit like that, I would forget the arm and probably the ball joint from that side. I'm not sure of the exact internal construction if the OE rear ball joint, but a lot of ball joints have a nylon cup that is the socket part of the ball/socket of the ball joint... a serious hit can crack the nylon cup.. that's the case with the front ball joints anyway as I've seen a few after being curbed that suddenly died.

I would also be dubious about the wheel bearing on that side that rode up over the curb... if it's not noisy now, it will be in not many miles..a solid hit will damage the bearings by whats called "brinelling" basically a hard enough hit to put a tiny flat on a few of the balls or a dint in the race... bearing failure follows soon after.

SteveC

 

[carl]

Steve, you are not exactly mister sunshine! But I'll keep an eye on things.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

If the strut took a hit like that, I would forget the arm and probably the ball joint from that side.

And actually it was the other way around. That strut damage was the secondary factor; the impact was to the wheel and the energy transferred to the strut/suspension. This strut was on the impact side of the car (not the curb side). So the major blow was to this side. Therefore I'd be suspect of the wheel bearings on this side also.