First Post Here - 2008 HHR SS LCA
 

Hi all!
I wish my first post on this site was less of an issue but here goes.
I bought a 2008 HHR SS yesterday and brought it home 2 hours away. Mostly freeway but I heard some clunks in the front end and noticed that at first corner to the right with speed, I almost lost control. Got it home and put it up on jack stands and checked things out. The 3 bolts that hold the passenger side LCA ball joint were completely loose. I tightened them, gave her a spin and it felt like a different car but still has some clunking, although be it not near as bad. But this prompted me to look further. After the three bolts were tightened, I noticed that there was small but noticeable amount of movement in the passenger side ball joint. I found this forum and read the posts about FE5 suspension parts. FE1 and FE3 ball joints don't fit in the FE5 LCA. Also found through here that the studs on the ball joinst are 20.5 mm instead of the standard HHr ball studs that are 20.0 mm My question is; can you buy the ball joints (only) straight from GM or has any ball joints (only) come out on the market yet from after market (Moog) that will fit the GM 25930724 and 25930725 LCA's. After reading and searching on here, I realize some of you guys have been there and checked just recently and I appreciate that GM says you can only get the LCA's through them, but I'm hoping for ease of installment I can just get the Ball Joints.
If I have something confused here please feel free to correct me. I'm new to this beast. I like the car otherwise.
Thanks :thumb:

Welcome to the site, nope you cannot buy just the ball joints from GM, or any other suppliers for that matter.
Just the GM part numbers, which are for the complete LCA! In page #4 FE5 SS lower control arm, under suspension

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/comm...-part-i-48833/

Thanks Oldblue,
I was hoping differently but that's OK, it's a good way to get to know my new red wagon. Thanks for the link. Do you have a recommendation for a GM parts source?

Yes, be careful if the parts source, some will say it fits the FE5 but they don't

GM part number is the best way to order, sometimes there is a GM dealer on eBay, I'm leery of some places showing them as upper and lower control arms, or just vague pictures.
You might best just go to your local GM parts counter! These are getting hard to find!

Darn, just noticed stamped steel LCA's. 724, 725's should be aluminum from what I've read. Not sure if they replaced the knuckle so the different 20 mm stud would fit from the LE1, LE3 suspendion. If it is the FE5 knuckle, I'm thinking it could be ruined? Well those are going in the $**T can and the new correct ones going in. Probably get new knuckles to be sure. These must have been put in a long time ago from the looks of it. They didn't know or decided to go the unsafe cheap route. This doesn't look like too bad of a job to do in my garage.
If you see anything wrong here, please correct me.
Thanks

You have stamped steel LCA's in your SS? Their incorrect, closely inspect the knuckle for cracks , if they tried to tighten the ball joint pinch bolts , they could have damaged the knuckles!
Do you have pictures?

I'll take some and post them up shortly. Doing the tax thing with the wife right now.

Oh, dear! I'd rather watch paint dry then do my taxes!

Truer Words never spoken!

OK Oldblue here's a few pics.

The fact that the ball joints are bolted on means that somebody found replacements at some time.

Are you positive that you have a SS? With a turbo? There have been fakes around.

Yes, they should be cast aluminum.

I am not sure if this is a crack or not.

Attachment 21064

donbrew, thanks for your reply,
I'm positive it's an SS with the LNF 2.0 Turbo. Multiple VIN checks before I bought it. Been around cars for a little while at being a 66 year old car guy. I'm not always the sharpest tool in the shed, but I get by with a little help from my friends.
VIN: 3gnda73x98s649226.
What you have circled there is not a crack, it's the slit for the crimp bolt that holds the ball joint stud to the knuckle. On the SS FE5, the inside dia. of the hole in the knuckle should be a slip fit to accept the 20.5mm (.807") ball joint stud from the LCA, until tightened to spec. The FE1 and FE3 LCA ball joint studs, from what I have read, are 20.0mm (.787"). So in this case the possibility of a crack is there but I'm not sure that .020" would actually be enough to damage the knuckle if over tightened to meet the smaller 20.0mm stud. Sheeesh, I hope not! What a learning experience all in one day of ownership!

Don Brew, after reading more yet, I can see that you well know about the LCA to steering knuckle saga. Please pardon the newbies redundant info.
Is the FE5 Steering knuckle aluminum too?

That circled photo in Dobrew's post is the pinch bolt relief cut, but in another picture there is a white looking line above the pinch bolt that could be a crack , please have a closer look !

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/atta...enger-side.jpg

I never heard of a steel knuckle on anything. Did you mean cast? I don't know the alloy used.

I think the geometry is different LT-SS.

Anyway, what I was getting at is: The ball joints are riveted on new LCAs. Somebody may have got a FE3 control arm and matched up ball joints to bolt on.

I am betting that the bushings are bad. And the sway bar links and bushing. Who knows about struts, they could be FE3 too.

I think King Kong might be able to tighten the clamp enough to actually crack the knuckle. The actual work of keeping the stud in the knuckle is done by the pin, there is a groove in the stub, the torqueing is to keep the nut on not to hold the stud in. In other words; they are a friction fit.

Looks like the person before you spent his time at a local parts store like auto zone and failed to do research into proper replacement parts and they may have use a high strength impact gun to tighten that pinch Bolt. Yeouch! At least the ss is in good hands now! You are gonna have to get a full oem control arm STAT with bushings pre-installed. It's the only way for an ss if I'm not mistaken!

Thanks guys, I am very grateful for your help. I really like this car and it will be put back the way Chevy intended. I'm not a real mechanic, I'm just the shade tree type. Although, I am an old retired machinist and ready to give it a go.

Thanks donbrew, I didn't know that. Great info!

2008 HHR SS Front Suspension Shopping List:

If you're doing struts, you should get the "little" parts that go with them.
Bearings, top mounts, bellows, etc.

Yes, and I'd throw on a set of axle bearing hubs.

I wouldn't worry about the knuckles, unless you can see they are broken or wrong. Make sure the links are 9.86 inches, not 12 inches.

Looking at you pix, I can see you are going to be looking at rotors and pads very soon. You may be looking for hub/bearings while you are in there. Depending on resources.

Thanks guys,
The parts list I posted is basically a wish list over time. I'm going to start small wallet wise. LCA's and sway bar bushings first. As long as I don't find a cracked knuckle or anything else that is a safety concern, I will only change out those parts and see how it does. The car has 88K on the clock and I know in time I will need all of the parts, among other things.
How does the twin scroll turbo on these things hold up? Car runs great, the 5 speed is a little tough to shift, especially when cold. I'm hoping that is just a linkage issue. It's not that bad, just takes a little more effort than I'm used to.

donbrew, just noticed you're in Fredericksburg, VA. I'm in Williamsburg, VA and bought the car in Stafford from a little hole in the wall joint called Car Legends. Nice folks but they saw me comin'.

The turbo should hold up fine. Of course, there have been some that failed. Don't know if it was poor maintenance(oil or coolant change intervals), and/or hard driving with a tune, and/or just defects.

The shifter has adjustable rods under the center console. I adjusted mine, and it was much better, but still not perfect. It felt like if there was just a bit more pedal travel, it would be good. I had the master cylinder replaced and all is good now. That was at about the miles you now have. But mess with the adjustment first, here is a post with some instruction. https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/hhr-...87/#post343162

Maybe save up for some serious brakes, like this little kit from ZZP

Ecotec Parts ZZP 14.5 inch Front Brake Kit

LOL, yeah convince my wife: her, " do the current brakes stop you", me "yes", her "then why do you need new brakes", me "yes dear".
LOL not really. Pretty cool, in time looks like a great set up. Dollar watching at present.

Thanks man, I'll give that a shot.

FWIW, I like RockAuto and gmpartsdirect.com ...sometimes a few parts can be found from other sources for cheaper, but these are ending up as my go-to places. (just last month I replaced my struts, mounts, shocks, endlinks, etc - saving LCA's til it's less noticeable to budget)


Welcome to the site - you've found an excellent community with extremely relevant assistance provided by lots of very experienced folks. I'm not sure that I would still have mine if it weren't for the support I get here!

Thanks JSK, I just ordered both LCA's, brake rotors, and sway bar bushings for starters from GMPartsGiant.com. We'll see how well this tightens things up. I'm going to replace all of it with OEM stock parts eventually, I plan on keeping this buggy for a while, I kinda like it!

Scott buy the MOOG sway bar links they are much better than the GM ones.
Again the link length is 10" not 12"
Moog Sway Bar Link Kit K750012: Advance Auto Parts

The one part you should change out before you install the LCA is the rear bushing made by MOOG (problem solver). Ask Ole Blue about what happens in time with the OEM.
I looked up one for my SS and it say's it doesn't fit. Looks like it's only made for the FE1 and FE3 stamp steel arms.
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/m...792/10649217-P

It would be nice to know the ID of a replacement bushing vs the problem solver part.

EDIT: Just looked up the stock replacement rear LCA bushing by MOOG p/n K6698 on the Advance Auto web site. That number fit's all LCA stamp steel or Aluminuim. So why would it state that the K200792 bushing not fit the FE5 arm?

Cat Man HHR, the Moog folks didn't test them so they don't list them!
The Moog K200792 bushings fit the FE5 aluminum LCA's, the same diameter as the FE1 and FE3.
The Moog problem solver LCA's do not include the bearing bushing!
The Moog LCA's do not fit the FE5 ball joints!!!
If a picture paints a thousand words!!
Left is the K200792. Right is the OEM bushing I replaced just 61,000 miles before!

Thanks Mr Blue
After your answer to my PM I looked up Cobalt SS and it said the K200792 fit.
By the way when you take a picture please clean your hands, this is a family web site :)
And stop with the !!!! :)

I'm a hands on kinda guy! I was in the middle of the bushing swapout!
My makeup personnel assistant was gone for lunch!
The director and our cameraman were impatient!!

I thought those hands were straight outta Hollywood!

That was a good day - those hands are the cleanest they have been in years. :)

Well, things just don't stop there. I put new tires on her Tuesday to correct what I thought was a wear spot on the right front tire tread. Didn't really need all four but I feel better knowing there's good rubber all around. Anyway, sounds like a bad wheel bearing. Kinda like a flat spot in the hub bearing race or on a ball, giving a rhythmic pulse with change in speed. It really did sound like a bad tire to me at first, but with new rubber canceling out the tire theory, it has to be the bearing I'm thinking. Took it out last night on a deserted road and loaded the right front wheel by turning hard left and did the same for the other side turning hard right. There is no discernible difference in sound when I load either side with a directional change in steering. It sounds like the passenger front side when going straight but I can't tell for sure. About froze my butt off with all the windows down leaning from side to side trying to find out what wheel was making the noise. I'll put it upon jack stands tomorrow and listen to all four wheels and see if I can determine which wheel it is.

They don't make wheel bearings like they used to ya know.

The swerving thing doesn't do much like in the old days. Hubs are really cheap if you look around a little. I got a set off eBay like 5 years ago now and put them on my '06, they are still quiet.

You can just replace the noisy one but I would do them in a pair.

Thanks for the reply. I agree with changing out the front end in pairs. I'm already doing that with the other parts I've ordered, so I might as well do both hubs too.

It's recommended to change axle hub bearings in pairs! Just like headlights, they give up in pairs!

Got it, thanks again!