Front upper & rear control arms

**PeterOZ** · 9th November 2018, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by DazzaTD5

I had to stop watching it, thats the land of hell when mechanical repairs to undo a nut and bolt require a power saw.

could not undo the nut because he was tunring it backwards, wonders why he broke the tool.

**Odysseyman** · 9th November 2018, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

No, I havent. What are the issues you are having?

Ive only had the lower fronts replaced at the dealer at about 150,000kms when the 'knock' appeared under braking or acceleration - bushes in the lowers flogged out

No other issues since then, not even a wheel alignment required.

Replaced front and rear sway bar bushes with Supa-Pro poly and added adjustable linkages on the rear - makes a bit of a difference when towing.

Hi Eric

can you say exactly what difference the adjustable linkages make please.

David

**Eric SDV6SE** · 9th November 2018, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by Odysseyman

Hi Eric

can you say exactly what difference the adjustable linkages make please.

David

For me it stiffened up the rear and reduced body roll, I found when towing our Jayco Outback poptop fully loaded it tracked better.

I only wound them in 10mm shorter than the standard non adjustable, haven’t noticed any adverse tyre wear. No issues with ride height either.

The Superpro poly bushes also got rid of the “clunk” under braking and acceleration, (and yes, before you ask, I’ve replaced the front lower wishbones with upgraded ones, so I know it wasn’t them) the oem rubber sway bar bushes were pretty flogged after 180,000 kms.

Easy to fit too.

**PerthDisco** · 11th March 2020, 09:23 AM

Another handy video with UK rust galore and use of powered cutting tools.

Don’t know about the parts but they make a great video.

YouTube

**haydent** · 8th December 2022, 04:33 AM

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Yep the salted roads are a killer to vehicle undersides over there

Ah ! Id always been so shocked to see videos of overseas people fixing their d3/4 and the conditions of their underside looks like 4 times the age of the actual car... nothing like what ours look like.

Do you think you could press out/in a rear with a 6 or 12 Ton press ? (assuming its not unusually stuck)

**loanrangie** · 8th December 2022, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by haydent

Ah ! Id always been so shocked to see videos of overseas people fixing their d3/4 and the conditions of their underside looks like 4 times the age of the actual car... nothing like what ours look like.

Do you think you could press out/in a rear with a 6 or 12 Ton press ? (assuming its not unusually stuck)

The shape of the arms makes it hard to set up in a press, id go 12+ if you are buying a press.

**Tombie** · 8th December 2022, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by haydent

Ah ! Id always been so shocked to see videos of overseas people fixing their d3/4 and the conditions of their underside looks like 4 times the age of the actual car... nothing like what ours look like.

Do you think you could press out/in a rear with a 6 or 12 Ton press ? (assuming its not unusually stuck)

Yes, 10+ tonne woiuld be the go.

You'll need mandrels to ensure you dont damage the bushes fitting them.

**Tins** · 10th December 2022, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by PerthDisco

It certainly incorporates every bit of DIY pain you can expect. Frozen parts, accidental breakage, broken tools, missing tools. The corrosion related issues just don’t happen in Australia unless you drive on the beach every day.

He just about puts the car on its side at the end when he drives up that embakement.

Going by the first 30 seconds you'd think that everything would be as loose as...

josh.huber · 10th December 2022, 04:24 PM

You have to modify the press a little, the normal bed is too wide to accept the arm. I'll send photos of what I did to get it done

**haydent** · 12th December 2022, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by Tombie

Yes, 10+ tonne woiuld be the go.

You'll need mandrels to ensure you dont damage the bushes fitting them.

So I ended up doing it at a neighbours who just got a new 20T, with a gauge , so 12T would have been fine.

The biggest trouble was finding things to push the parts in and out. In hind sight I wish id not bothered replacing the ball joints in the upper/knuckle as they were fine, and it was just the bush that was squeaking.

We had the most trouble with the upper rear ball joint as you have to press it in past the rim of the arm and it has a rubber boot, where as the other 2 joints that operate the arm are flush.

I ended up grinding out the inside of the old balljoint casing and using that, but if i did it again id source a set of 'rings/collars'.

The other big slow down I had was the upper rear balljoint bolt, OMG how does anyone get on this .... not sure if just a l320 thing or not, but i had to grind down a 21mm socket both ends by about 7-10mm to get my torque wrench on there, and then when you are doing it up, to 275nm, you need the arm/knuckle at the right hight (not all way down) so you have bugger all swing room, struggling to get one click....

One little trick, its possible to get the upper arm off without disconnecting the brake callipers, so you dont have the hassle of bleeding. Just use a dremel to carefully cut a slot in the 2 mount brackets that have the 'horse shoe' clips (one clips removed and large block retracted), just wide enough as the metal brake line, and then they can slide out. As the block the clips attaches to is wider than the metal brake line it can slide out, and the clips hold the block in place still. should have come like this from factory.

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