Technical 50 chevy: Installing lower A-arm

Hi All,

Anyone here rebuilt their stock front crossmember? I am reassembling mine and have a question about the lower A-arm. The bushings are EXTREMELY difficult to turn in. They screw easily right up till the leading edge reaches the inner edge of the A-arm, then they become almost impossible to turn from there. They are supposed to torque to 100 pounds when fully in, but it feels like I am pushing a lot harder that that just to try and make them move. Thoughts?

 

If you figure out the thread run a tap/die on both sides.At least then you know everythings true before you torque it down,and break something.

 

No good answers on the A-arm Russ, but the front end is looking good!

 

There's a really thorough description of the front end tear down and rebuild here— hopefully that helps. https://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/218134/

 

You have to follow those instructions to the letter to get it right.
The factory shop manual is rather vague in comparison. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1949_53/03front/3_12.HTM

 

That is the best write up I have found. I used it when I rebuilt my front end.

 

I was going to say DZAUTO's/Tom Parsons sticky over on ChevyTalk.Org, but someone beat me to it. The guy knows his stuff! We rebuilt the front end on the 51 Chevrolet Business Coupe using his tutorial, and it went basically "quick and easy". Should have kept that car. What area of Seattle are you located? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

What those guys up there said. If you don't follow that plan, it is a fight for sure. You are probably going to use golfing words either way, but it will help.

 

Thanks guys, for the responses, let's keep the conversation going.

First, I have the Chevytalk.org page and indeed, it is helpful. I also have the pages from the manual and have followed all those directions exactly.

The control arm shaft and bushings are new and threads perfect. The busshings thread onto the shaft without the a-arm perfectly and easily. The part of the bushings that go through the a-arm have a smooth section then a mildly threaded section that I assume anchors the a-arm in place. The bushings thread onto the shaft right up till the smooth part is fully insrted then when the threaded part starts to go in things bind up. A lot. My next move, tomorrow, is to try inserting the original bushings onto the new shafts. They came out of these a-arms so they should go back in.

In all honesty, this front end seemed like everything was still tight when I took it apart. I think I could have gotten away with disassembling it, cleaning and painting and reassembling with all original parts and been just fine.

Just for the record, there is another source in downloadable PDF called
"Classic_Front_Suspension_Rebuild_by _Aaron_Obrien_1v1"

It is even better and more descriptive with pics than the chevytalk page.

 

Ok, update, I used the original bushings and everything went together ok, though one of the bushings was a real bear to get in. The a-arms are in, centered and torqued to 100lbs.

Now, a new problem (maybe). Installing the spindles, lower bolt and bushings, one side went in no problem and the spindle assembly swings up and down freely, awaiting installation of the spring and upper pivot bolt. The other side, the farther in the bolt goes, the tighter the spindles gets. By the time the bolt is all the way through the other side, I can barely get the spindle to move. Thoughts? (I'll post picks tomorrow)