Tack Welding Control Arm Shaft Bushings

[dm289]

After approximately 5,000 miles the aftermarket upper control arm shafts on my 66 coupe started making noise and would not accept any grease, therefore I've decided to rebuild the original arms from the car (glad I kept them). Somewhere I read that tack welding the shaft nut is beneficial. Where is the best location to place this tack weld? I assume one tack between the nut and arm at approximatly 12:00 would work best?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[tarafied1]

I hadn't heard that before. My UCA's were stripped out at the shaft (nut) so I just replaced the whole thing as an assembly.

 

[Opentracker]

I would try working with the aftermarket arms you have. If you do what we do, they should work fine.

We take the shaft kit apart, de-burr and pre-lube everything before it goes back together, making sure the shaft kit is centered in the arm. We then weld on a tab to keep the nuts from backing off. The nuts are most likely too tight. We back them off the snug position about 1/8 turn then weld on the tab.

The tab works better than the spot weld IMO. If the arms won't take grease, it might be the grease fittings. Some of them are junk and don't work at all. We install new Zerks from a US supplier. You can find them at NAPA.

 

[AtlantaSteve]

John, I've heard people say "if you've got originals and they're in decent shape, just put in a new shaft kit...they're better than reproductions" but you just suggested he go with his reproductions over his originals...

My question is, I have a set of originals still on my car. When I get to that point, should I just replace them, or would you recommend just putting in a new shaft kit and keeping the old ones? (Assuming there are no visible failures like cracks and so-forth)

Thanks,

Steve

 

[dm289]

Thanks for the input Opentracker, I like the idea of a welded tab. I already bought moog shaft kits & ball joints for my original arms so I will just use those (along with your roller perches). In addition the stock arms look much beefier than the repos...

 

[Opentracker]

John, I've heard people say "if you've got originals and they're in decent shape, just put in a new shaft kit...they're better than reproductions" but you just suggested he go with his reproductions over his originals...

My question is, I have a set of originals still on my car. When I get to that point, should I just replace them, or would you recommend just putting in a new shaft kit and keeping the old ones? (Assuming there are no visible failures like cracks and so-forth)

Thanks,

Steve

Over half the time, the threads in the original arms are toast. Rust has eaten away the material and the new shaft kit won't have anything to thread into. The original arms are usable if they are in good shape. The reason I said to use the aftermarket arms is that most of the time, the knot-head putting them together didn't do it right. Around 80% of the arms I take apart were not put together right at the factory/sweat shop. Taking them apart and doing it right saves the money you would spend on new ball joints and shaft kits for the original arms. Since dm289 had both kinds of arms and didn't say if he had new shaft-kit/ball-joints or not, I was being cheap. That's what I do best.

 

[Opentracker]

Thanks for the input Opentracker, I like the idea of a welded tab. I already bought moog shaft kits & ball joints for my original arms so I will just use those (along with your roller perches). In addition the stock arms look much beefier than the repos...

Your welcome. Not all aftermarket arms are thinner/less beefy than the originals. The arms we sell are a bit thicker than the original, not by much but they are and they have a nice stamping.