Replacing Lower Control Arms
 

Due to a worn out rear lower control arm bushing on the passengers side, and the drivers side one getting a wee bit sloppy, I replaced both lower control arms. The local dealer wanted $495 to replace just the rear bushings alone (yea Canada), but I picked up a pair of lower control arms, complete with all bushings and the lower ball joint installed, from Autozone in the US for $272 plus taxes.

TIP: the day before you actually replace the Lower Control Arms, you would be well advised to use your favourite penetrating oil and give as many of the fasteners mentioned below, a liberal spraying, especially now that the vehicles are getting on in years.

NOTE: If you are shopping for replacement Lower Control Arms you may find stamped steel ones being offered for the HHR - those may fit, but are actually for the Cobalt cars which are lighter than the HHR. The HHR's use cast ones, not stamped steel - the cast ones are definitely recommended.

Here is the process used along with a list of the tools used, as well the torque specs, and a few tips on the process:

Tools:
- 15 mm socket
- 15 mm box end wrench
- 16 mm socket
- 13/16" socket
- 6 inch extensions for the sockets
- torque wrench
- small pry bar
- screwdriver
- small soft faced hammer
- floor jack

Removal Process:

- loosen the wheel nuts and jack-up the front corner and support it securely - don't just use the scissor jack that comes with the vehicle

- remove the wheel

- use the floor jack to lightly support the bottom of the steering knuckle rear ball joint at the end of the tie rod

- use the 15 mm socket on an extension to loosen the two front frame bolts

- use the 13/16" socket to loosen the rear frame mounting bolt

- use the 16 mm socket with 6 inch extension with the 15 mm wrench to remove the nut and bolt that holds the lower ball joint on the backside of the steering knuckle

- use the soft-faced hammer to lightly tap the outside end of the lower control arm, to knock the lower ball joint out of the end of the control arm - you may have to raise the floor jack supporting the rear ball joint

WARNING: the upper part of the suspension will likely swing backwards once the ball joint is free - use caution - watch fingers!!

- remove the front 15 mm frame bolts holding the front of the lower control arm, along with the two mounting caps

- remove the rear 13/16" frame bolt holding the rear of the lower control arm

- now the lower control arm is free, tug, pull, and jiggle the lower control arm out of the recess at the rear - you may have to raise the floor jack to gain clearance

To install the replacement:

- reverse the process, placing the rear mount back in the recess using the small pry bar, and screwdriver through the bolt hole to get it roughly aligned, and insert the rear bolt but do not tighten it - leave it very loose.

- put the front 15 mm bolts back in place, along with the mounting caps - but leave them VERY loose

- insert the lower ball joint mount back into the steering knuckle - this is the frustrating part - the steering knuckle and the rest of the suspension will want to swing to the rear, and you have to muscle it forward to get the ball joint mount to line up to the mounting point. You can try using the floor jack to raise the bottom of the spindle by lifting via the brake disk, and rolling the jack forward until it lines up - but that didn't work well for me. If it just will not go, remove the two forward mounting bolts, and try again - and put the bolts back in later. (Loosening the three nuts on the top of the strut may also help you get some additional movement at the bottom of the strut as per Donbrew - but don't forget to tighten them up once things are put back together)

- use the soft faced hammer to tap on the end of the lower control arm to get the ball joint mount back into place (tap on the end of the control arm only, and tap, do not wail on it) - make sure it is fully inserted!! Support the end of the arm with the floor jack.

- once the ball joint mount is in place, raise the floor jack slightly to put some pressure on the mount for the lower ball joint, and tighten up the pinch bolt and nut for the lower control arm (first pass: 37 ft/lb, then loosen it 3/4 of a turn - second pass: 37 ft/lb, - then tighten it an addition 30 deg!!! (Chevy's specs) )

- tighten the two 15 mm forward frame mounting bolts to 41 ft/lb - pull the suspension forward and inward to get it aligned as you do so

- tighten the rear 13/16" rear bushing mounting bolt to 74 ft/lb - then tighten it an addition 180 deg!!! (Chevy's specs) Use a breaker bar, and a lot of muscle!!!

Double check your fasteners to make sure you did them all.

- remove floor jack
- reinstall the wheel
- unblock the vehicle, and drop it back to the ground
- torque the wheel nuts back to 100 ft/lb

Done!

Nice write up, now enjoy a cool beverage ........:beer3:

Hmm..dont see oil change in there.....

LOL - that's next weekend man. :twothumbs:

How much you charge to do
replacement lower control arms :D

Nice write up maybe doing this in the
spring !

LOL - nope, you are on your own man. I'm gettin too old to do a second one - dang near froze my a$$ off doing mine. ;)

hi whopper
im interested in seeing pics of the worn out parts

been there changed those , better to go whole hog and get the lower control arm with the bushings and ball joint, I have changed just the rear bushing, not a fun job

I'll try and get some pictures later today for you. You probably won't be able to see much detail tho as the rear bushings are pretty dirty and they don't clean up well.

You can tell if the rear bushings are shot by using a big screw driver, and prying between the frame mount and the rear part of the arm to see the cracks in the bushing and see how much it has deteriorated if that helps? If it is worn out, it should move around a fair bit and you should be able to see the deteroration quite easily.

question...if we replace the whole arm, is it the same for all models? any better units compared to the GM part?

There "seems" to be a difference between the ls/lt part and the ss part, don't know for sure. Also, there is a seemingly identical part for Cobalt that is stamped steel instead of cast alloy, again I don't know if that makes a difference or not. The geometries are the same just different materials for the rigid parts.

If you replace only the bushing, you will probably get a beefier bushing. The replacement part is solid rubber, the OE part has cut outs in it. I don't know the difference.

This is one of the cases of Cobalt isn't exactly an HHR.

I went for aftermarket units http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par.../N-jnwc6Z8oz70 - the bushings looked identical to the old ones. I did browse to see what was available for just the rear bushing alone, and there seemed to be some semi-solid ones (Like OEM) and also some that looked like they were solid.

Hard to say which would be better.

I am starting this process now. Just wondering after looking at it on the jacks, how did you get control arm out when there is about 1/8" between the rear part of the control arm and the sway bar?

The arm kind of pops out with a bit of pushing & prodding once you disconnect everything.

Man am I kind of screwed now. Was no problem pulling out and replacing new one, but when I go to put rear bolt up into rear bushing it won't go all the way in, and usually falls back out. Yep, everything is lined up. I even took the arm back out and put bolt up through, and it gets finger tight, and put a socket on it and gets loose again and falls out, kind of like it is stripped. Here's a picture of the end of the bolt which looks funny, but doesn't look like it is broke. Only thing I can think of is getting a new bolt and trying that, but don't know if that is a dealer item only, or if I can get one at the parts store. I took it loose with an impact gun.
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It sounds like it's not threading on far enough. Is there any way to hand-turn it a bit more?

BTW, if you were doing this last night in MI, you are made of hardier stuff than I am. It was 0* here this morning! I have front-end work to do, too, but it's not happening here until it's at least 40* out...

Yea, I was working on it outside till about 9:30pm, then gave up because bolt wouldn't go in. Had control arm in, but don't know why bolt won't go. Can't be cross threaded, because it won't even go more than 2-3 turns by hand. I'm in Canton, just west of Michigan Ave. & I275.
The main problem is the rear bolt on the control arm. Shoves through about 3/4 of the way, threads by hand about 2 or 3 turns, tightens up, that when you put a socket on it, you can see it shove back out about the same amount of turns that you had just hand tightened. Went to dealership and got a brand new 14mm bolt and does exactly the same thing. I can reach my arm over the axle and tie rod, and stick my fingers back in the frame where the retainer for that bolt is, and when it tightens up hand tight, it is just starting to come through the top side of the retainer.
Is there a chance that since just the right side is jacked up, that the frame could be just twisted enough to cause an alignment problem? Was going to try jacking up the driver side also, but have jack holding up the steering knuckle. If I let it down, it puts pressure on the control arm, so I can't do that.

Could be the arm just needs to be raised a bit. I think I remember having to put a jack under the ball joint. I'm old and that was 2 years ago, and I am fortunate to have a garage when it's freezing outside. That odd end on the bolt is for a pilot into the captured nut, if it's warm enough to take your time and wiggle it around it should go in. I hate doing this kind of stuff in the cold!

Otherwise You may need to take the front frame off to get to the captured nut to replace it, I hope that you don't have to replace the entire frame to do that.

Nope won't wiggle in. I even tried several times running bolt up without the arm in place. Just won't go for some reason. Thought that having only one side may have twisted the frame just enough to get the holes off, but jacked up other side too, so that wasn't it either. I'm at a loss for words. Bad thing is I can't get it back together with this problem to take it to someone even if I wanted to (which I don't), and can't even tow because front of car is facing garage door.

I've found that the ball joints in aftermarket control arms are garbage, & fail in 10,000 to 20,000 miles. You'll know they are bad when you get loud clunks from the front end & funny tire wear. Then, you have the wonderful job of grinding the heads off the rivets & driving the old ball joint out, & replacing it with a quality aftermarket joint like Moog. The Moogs have a grease fitting & seem to last a long time. I've drilled the bottom of the aftermarket joints & installed a grease zerk, but they still fail quickly, even when greased regularly. Last time I did a new aftermarket control arm, I removed the new ball joint & installed a Moog ball joint to save myself grief down the road. Its much easier to replace the joint on the workbench! The whole arm goes in a lot easier too, as you can leave the bolts that hold the joint to the arm loose when installing the arm. This makes lining everything up a lot easier. The bushings do seem to hold up the same, although I did have a steel arm break a weld & fold up under the car. Fortunately for me, I was going less than 5 MPH!! Maybe its worth the $$$ to use dealer parts rather than cheap aftermarket chinese stuff.

My experiences are with cars other than the HHR, but the quality of aftermarket arms all seems to be the same from what I have seen.

Man, how frustrating. Mine went back together real easy - nothing like the problems you have been having. Is there any chance it was involved in an accident to the front end previously?

The bolt looks totally normal in your pictures. Me, I'd take a soft faced hammer and try pounding it upward. The odd angles on the tip of the bolt are there to try and center it into the captivated nut. The threads are pretty course so should take a fair amount of abuse.

If pounding it into position with the hammer didn't get it so that it can be threaded back together, I'd put a bottle jack below the bolt and try using the jack to get it into position and tighten with an open end wrench to get it started.


If it would not reassemble without the arm in place, I'd suspect some frame damage or such.

thats the same thing mine did. i know its too late now, but next time you should try putting that bolt in first then the ball joint then the other two. its a PITA but it gets done.

Run a tap thru it...bolt end looks worn off...sounds like an alignment problem with the mount...the bolt end is whats catching the threads, not the bolt threaded part, thats why it pops right back out. Question..is the nut portion a floater or is it mounted solid to the frame? If its a floater then maybe it dropped down and not allowing the bolt threads to start...run a screwdriver thru the mount and see it it helps to align the nut....wiggle it around and then try to find center, then try bolt...

Get another cup of coffee Woody:corny:, he implied that he had fixed it and was offering help to the 2 month old thread on threads:thumb::twothumbs:.:propeller:

night shift....

Nice

Once again, thank Whopper!

I was out of town on a trip with access to minimal tools and this thread sure put me at ease to do the job without too much tool scrounging from parent’s neighbors. Plus it is a simple job anytime.

NO they are not all the same. There is a FE-1 and a FE-3 suspension and they take different lower control arms. Call your Chevy dealer and give them the VIN number and that is the only way I know for sure which you have. Actually, the FE-1 suspension takes a steel fabricated arm and the FE-3 is an aluminum arm.

Huh? Not sure who you are replying to here, but you are wrong wrong wrong!!!! They are both aluminum for the FE-1 and FE-3.

The pressed steel arms actually belong on Cobalts or G5s. They will try to sell them as either FE-1 or FE-3 but, O.E. is the alloy type.

OK, I must be wrong, wrong, wrong. When I asked for an arm for a FE1 they showed me a fabricated one. When I asked for an arm for a FE3 they showed me an aluminum one. So much for dealers. I bought the aluminum one and was assured it was the correct one. After pushing, pulling, beating, etc, etc I could not get the rear bushing in. Measuring it I found the old rear bushing is 50.5 mm and the new one is 55.5 mm. Don't think I can beat that one in.

Why are you replacing the bushing in a new LCA? You didn't get a "complete" LCA? What's the point of replacing just the Arm, the bushings are what wear out? Compare the size of the Arms, you may have gotten an FE-5 part, sound like your dealer is challenged.

Anyway the real way to get the right part is to look at what is on the car and get the same.

I am so confused.

X2!!!

I'm not sure where the 50.5 mm and 55.5 mm bushings come into play as the stock one is 60.2mm according to my records. Obviously a 55.5 will not, no, will NEVER fit into a 50.5 mm hole.


Lower Control Arm
- Duralast (autozone) P/N - 521-025 - (includes lower ball joint and both bushings installed) - Drivers side
- Duralast (autozone) P/N - 521-026 - (includes lower ball joint and both - bushings installed) - Passenger side

Lower Control Arm Rear Bushing
Duralast (autozone) P/N - FB782 (2.37" or 60.2mm outer diameter)

Yes, I bought the complete replacement control arms from Premium Auto Parts in Detroit. I am talking about the length of the bushing not the diameter. According to AutoNation, these are the correct control arms but I have now proven, beyond any reasonable doubt, that they are not. Unfortunately, they look identical until you put a set of calipers on the height of the rear bushing.

They are marked:
P/N - A521-025 - (includes lower ball joint and both bushings installed) - Drivers side
P/N - A521-026 - (includes lower ball joint and both bushings installed) - Passenger side

So, Now I am really confused too.

i think i agree with donbrew, you may have an fe5 part?

Oh the reference to the bushings measurements (50.5 and 55.0mm) were the HEIGHT!!! and you were referring to getting the rear of the lower control arm mounted into the frame!!!

Well, if they are obviously the wrong part - send them back!!! Grab a set from autozone and check them out for the right height of that bushing.

Unfortunately, Autozone in Spokane's stores do not stock either of them.

I would not expect they would have them instock - they can order them and get them in-store within a day.

EBAY!!!!!! I have a pair in my garage that cost $160 shipped. They are all made in the same Chinese factory, whatever the label on them says.

One of my favorites is Prime Choice; part number (pair) CAK857. Cross ref # K620292(MOOG, I think) & MS50114(Dorman. I think).
You can have those Whopper.

MAKE THAT MS50174 that would be Mevotech

Duralast or NAPA
 

Any preference/quality from those who have installed Lower Control Arms? The cost difference is about $22 each ($44 total). Duralast from AutoZone is cheaper and I have not had any previous problems using AutoZone but this is ball joints/LCA and not spark plugs. Thanks.