I am replacing my wife's lower control arm on the front and after forever wiggling and moving it I got the 2 big bolts to align but now I can't get the shock/wheel assembly to line up with the control arm. Attached is a pic please advice!
Balljoint not aligning
you're not SERIOUSLY jacking the car up using the brake rotor are you? put the jack in the right spot. the whole knuckle assembly that's attached to the strut moves. that and it looks like the inner cv joint has, well, separated.
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no of course not just didn't want it sitting overnight just free hanging.
Pop that inner CV joint back into place and hope that you didnt damage it.I think it would be better off to have that outer tie rod end popped off to move it around better.Put all your wight on the A arm and push down.Now move the lower ball joint on a angle or so.This is a quick way without having to remove the strut and BS.
I hope you use jack stands when you work on it.
Need to pop your CV joint back in place if isnt messed up and wont go back in, than slide the axle back into place, use a large pry bar to pry down the control arm, while pushing the spindle over the bolt for the lower ball joint
- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new
Whoa whoa whoa buddy.
First off, what you should've done is taken out the spring/strut assembly. This is forcing the whole suspension to expand - and seeing that your current "restrictions" should only be the tie rod, it's pivoting via the tie rod and continuing to expand. Your axle BOOT is now BARELY holding that whole setup together. I can see the 3 or 4 joints that slide into the damn axle through the boot! I'm shocked it hasn't popped off yet, completely destroying your axle.
To fix this, you're going to need to figure out how to take the spring/strut out now that you're in a really tough bind. Good luck with that.
Then you're going to need to push the axle back together, and HOPE it still works (because you won't be able to tell until everything is back together and you start rolling down the street).
Then, place the knuckle on top of the ball joint, assemble (if you pulled the tie rod off, that too), and at the end put the spring/strut back in place. If you have a swaybar in the front, make sure you put that on last.
Take her for a spin, and then head over to your alignment shop for an alignment.
What you did is somewhat dangerous, just fyi.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
