Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

My drivers side trailing arm bent and twisted bad. It was twisted so bad it was hitting the metal in my wheel wells. I am not sure if 3rd gens are the same but this is a 4th. I also decided to strengthen the side a bit.

I am not sure what causes this since it has never been jacked under the trailing arm as far as I know. I am also not sure if the bushings will help strethen the arms but it can't hurt them either. I think 3rds have these same 3 holes in their trailing arms as weil.





Steel bushings and nuts and bolts.





They were just a hair large but I just tapped the bushings in place with a hammer.



Not sure why it looks arched but it isn't



In these pictures you can see how bad the original arm was bent and can see where it was tearing the metal in my wheel well.



Replacement arm has no clearance issue.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Good repair job, except that it's still bent (looks that way because that's what it is, you can see how destroyed it still is by letting your eye follow the edge in the bottom pic); but the alternative is something like this...

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LAK-20140/

Sometimes it's not a bad thing to throw it in the trash and replace it with something all the way around better.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Agreed, as cheap as they are, why not start over with a good one

Others have did essentially the same thing by welding a plate to the bottom of stock LCAs. The kicker is they have to be strait from the start

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

I'm confused by what you said! It isn't bent at all, maybe you are mis-understanding the pictures.

The twisted arm was replaced with another, any bending you see on the replacement arm is maybe just optical.

I thought about those kind of trailing arms but this is a V-6 grocery getter it is never driven hard so I just didn't see the need for those kind of parts on it.

I have a vette if I want too tear up corners.

replacement bar on right

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

It is apparent that the others were not understanding your post & pics. Lemme help.

The obviously bent arm is the one you took off. The other arm is the one you replaced it with.

As for the arc'd looking pic? That is just an optical illusion caused by how the flanges along the sides are curved up in the middle, but flatten out at both ends. I had to look at the various pics 3 times to realize what I was seeing, because it was "obvious" to me that the replacement was indeed bent. But it obviously isn't. Just an optical trick of the eye.

As for your reinforcements? They will improve what the arms were originally but really? The improvement is so negligible it really will be no help at all, except for when a jack is placed under that trailing ar,s again. whether you unknowlingly did it or a tire store/mechanic did it? A jack or chassis lift is what caused that damage. Or the car was driven off a curb/rock in the dirt/whatever & got snagged coming off it.

Your mod is very similar to the trailing arms piece for the G-bodies (iirc) that GM put on at one time.

A better/stronger method of strengthening them at home would be to weld a plate on the open side & box them in, like this Upper PHB piece was boxed in.

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

Some F-body LCA's were reinforced. More info below, should anyone be interested:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...ml#post4997928

JamesC

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

I noticed the damaged arm a few weeks after it was returned from the body shop and noticed it was damaging my wheel well. How it happened who knows, I'm just glad stuff wasn't rusted it only took about 20 minutes to remove the arm including taking the tire off. I also looked into boxing the arm as well but you have to understand this car is never driven hard to warrant performance parts. It's most aggresive driving is going to the grocery store. I don't know if it will make a difference or not and my main idea for it was in case it ever gets lifted in that area again.

The passenger side when I did it later didn't require taping the bushings in they just slipped in. So that one was also bowing out a bit.

I have seen the 3rd gen reinforcements but a lot of them never had them as well, this replacement arm came off a 99 camaro. the only addons to this car are corvette rims with 275/40/17 tires, it actually handles pretty good just the way it is.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

This isn't an optical illusion.

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

The body shop tried to use the arm as a jacking point.
Pretty typical. Might want to check the pinch weld points under the front fenders too. You also should not place the jack where you have it in your pic. That area is easily damaged.

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

obviously it is! do you see that bend in the other pictures? It's just the angle the pictures was taken that makes it look bent. Look at that one picture and the whole bar looks bowed like a boomerang.

Look at the pictures taken from top does it look bent?

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Yes.

If you can convince yourself that that's "straight", ..... well, there's not much help I am able to offer. I'm a professional, sure, but not that kind of one.

Best of luck to you!! I hope I'm not on a road anywhere close to you any time soon. Which is tough to say about... I've been in NYC a few times, CT, Chicago, Cinci, Boise, Tampa, LA, Baltimore, KC, somewhere in IA, Houston, Portland OR, somewhere in WY, Cleveland, WV, Pittsburgh, DC, .... maybe a few other places I can't remember here in the last couple of months, so if that keeps up, I'm probably at risk.

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

Mr. Professional .... tell me and others exactly what is bent on this trailing arm! The car was driven for about 3500 miles with the twisted one so highly doubt the replacement will be and issue. This car is a 97 with 41K miles so highly doubt you would be at risk next to it on the road.

So please tell us why you believe so passinately that it is bent and a major risk!

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Maybe I'm just unusually stooooopid (well, yes, I am, but... ) I'm not understanding what's NOT "bent" in this pic...



Observe the red circle-like object. Note that there is a piece of metal enclosed therein. Note that the piece of metal has a pronounced KINK in it, centered on a GOUGE, near the lower left extent of the red .... shape. Consider that possibly this consists of "bend".

I'm easily fooled, but this DOES NOT appear to be an "illusion".

I would NOT drive this car even with my own self alone in it. I would certainly not endanger the lives of others by operating it with other humans, like the child on the bike up there by the house (your own son perhaps??) in or near it.

Looks like you're in Florida, by the pic, prolly the east coast; I'm not expecting to be back over there in the next week or 2, so you have some time to get a handle on it.

abray1

Where the jack is in the last picture looks dangerous to me. Did it make a flat spot on the pinch weld section?

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

No, that is its jacking location

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

Sofakingdom

I'm not going to argue the point anymore. The arm IS NOT BENT !!!!! look at the pictures of it on the ground, does it look bent in any of those pictures?

I think all you are seeing is where the rolled edge ends on the arm and turns flat giving it the illusion it is bent due to the camera angle.

I will personally PM you when the car hits 50-100-150,000 miles and let you know how it is doing. But so far the car is perfectly fine and I have put 380 miles on it since this was done. It does feel a little bit better on uneven surfaces like driveways and when the car hits ruts on the freeway.

I live on the west coast notice no rust is under the car

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Its the jacking location for the factory jack, which wraps around the pinch weld so it cant be pressed flat. A conventional jack like you have is known to squish these. Next time move it a few inches in to the pad at the front of the LCA

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

next time do you work right as well.

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

Not sure what you are trying to say there, but Pocket is right.

That factory pinch weld jacking location is good for a factory jack, but not for a floor jack. The pinch weld jack location should be a percectly vertical wall. My guess is that yours has already be flatten out by a previous owner using a floor jack on it & it is already bent over 90 degrees & appears to be a flat location.

While it may look good? It really isn't. I have seen 3rd gens that have had the floor jack punch through the floor there. The much stronger & better location to use a floor jack on is the flat "boxed" are just in front of the bolt that holds the rear LCA in place.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

He does he work right...dont worry

I agree the picture of the "bent" spot is where the flange flattens out and transitions to the bushing. Some funky camera angles going on there haha. Hard to get pics of some of that stuff.

DEF take the advice of others about the jacking locations. On the rear, its not as big a deal...still not a good idea. You'll have much better luck moving inboard a bit. DEF DEF DEF dont do that in the front. If you bend the tab over in the front, it can cause your fender to pop and the seam will get messed up. Could cause slight rubbing when you open the door and a weird gap at the top like my car. Mine is a 30k mile garage kept car. Well...until I got it haha. Someone did that in the front and it kind of caused a mess in an otherwise perfect body. 3rd gen...4th gen..doesnt matter. Except on a 4th gen, with the plastic fenders, the tab on the bottom wont bend...it'll snap. If it hasnt already.

Your fix on the arm is pretty good. Especially since, like you said, the car is just a putz around kind of car. It'll suit ya fine!

J.