Advice on Lower Control Arm damage & repair

[H3_VX]

This is why I don't wanna take my VX off-road. I live vicariously through all of you. LOL. I really hope you can get everything repaired Kat.

[Scott Larson]

Sue, you took one hard hit on that LCA and that can transmit to anything it's attached to. In the VX's case, that happens to be a cast bracket that once tweaked cannot be staightened and expected to survive. Any reputable frame shop or repair facility won't take that risk. The reason your go-to guy won't just weld in a new bracket is because it's very tricky welding cast metal to formed steel. That's why he's opting for cutting out the frame and bracket assembly and welding in a salvaged assembly from a yard. It really makes sense from a safety standpoint and I commend him for calling it like it is...sorry the news isn't better!

[VX KAT]

Definitely will talk with my guy about all the options after he assess it, and decide on best/safe course. Since I can't lift it, I've always known damage was likely a matter of time, and this year with me feeling so crummy, I guess my number was up. So I gotta pay to play

Since my guy does laser alignments, I'm hoping he also does frame work.

I'm confident we'll get her all fixed up one way or the other!
Although I may need to sell some stuff to afford all this - - hmmm, I do have this one Beretta Cheetah .380 I've been "thinking" of selling - - may have to now BOO!

[VX KAT]

OH, FORGOT TO MENTION THE GOOD NEWS!
Replacing the fan clutch and fan blade DEFINITELY solved the overheating in hot weather with full A/C.
I ran both trails all day with full A/C, crawling, 92+ degrees air temp.
Scan gauge hung around 184 - 190 degrees, and never went above 207 (once when I was climbing slowly).

YAH!!!!
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it was still pretty miserably hot, with all the starting/stopping/slowing but hey, I didn't overheat!

[JoFotoz]

Ummmm....

Since I can't lift it

...yup, ya can.

I've been through this with you

OK..back to the pool party!


Jo

[VX KAT]

Ummmm....



...yup, ya can.

I've been through this with you

OK..back to the pool party!


Jo

oh yeah, I forgot again. (again, and again )
Yes, I should look into those airbag/air system. Thanks for reminding me. IIRC, it wasn't the kind that's an airbag within the spring, correct?
Since I'm not familiar with this, can anybody shoot me a link so I can start checking them out?

[Y33TREKker]

Definitely will talk with my guy about all the options after he assess it, and decide on best/safe course. Since I can't lift it, I've always known damage was likely a matter of time, and this year with me feeling so crummy, I guess my number was up. So I gotta pay to play

Since my guy does laser alignments, I'm hoping he also does frame work.

It seems that the first step would have to be determining whether that section of the frame is actually tweaked or not. With an oddly shaped piece like the one in question, having it checked out on an actual frame straightening rack would obviously be more accurate than an eyeball assessment...no offense meant to your guy of course, it's just that I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in this thread when the eyeball he uses for these kinds of assessments was last calibrated.



Who knows, maybe it'll all turn out to have been a false alarm.

[tom4bren]

Sue, you took one hard hit on that LCA and that can transmit to anything it's attached to. In the VX's case, that happens to be a cast bracket that once tweaked cannot be staightened and expected to survive. Any reputable frame shop or repair facility won't take that risk. The reason your go-to guy won't just weld in a new bracket is because it's very tricky welding cast metal to formed steel. That's why he's opting for cutting out the frame and bracket assembly and welding in a salvaged assembly from a yard. It really makes sense from a safety standpoint and I commend him for calling it like it is...sorry the news isn't better!

Scott,

That bracket doesn't look like it's cast. It looks like the same material that the LCA is made out of ... Stamped Steel.

Sue,

I'll stick with my original opinion (even tho the 3rd nutz bros disagrees). Replacement LCA is an option but the original part can probably be made to be as true and strong as OEM. It's just a matter of determining the most cost effective approach to the repair.

Definitely do not start cutting your frame for this repair. It isn't necessary.

Tom

[Scott Larson]

Scott,

That bracket doesn't look like it's cast. It looks like the same material that the LCA is made out of ... Stamped Steel.

Sue,

I'll stick with my original opinion (even tho the 3rd nutz bros disagrees). Replacement LCA is an option but the original part can probably be made to be as true and strong as OEM. It's just a matter of determining the most cost effective approach to the repair.

Definitely do not start cutting your frame for this repair. It isn't necessary.

Tom

I'll stand by my original assertion Tom, that bracket is indeed cast and welding can be problematic to all but the most adept at it...and straightening cast is not an option, once bent, it is prone to failure regardless of being straightened or not. Can-o-worms now open...

[VX KAT]

Measured blue line as Tom suggested. As best we could determine both sides are equal at 20.9cm,
from the bottom of that fin, to the closest flat edge of the tip of that pointy nipple nut thing.

I decided to go to another shop to have it evaluated today.
Same place I got my Cooper tires a few months ago.
They don't do frame work, so no laser measurement.
Both manager and mechanic working on it have well-used, well-equipped, off-road heep wranglers, been wheeling many years.

• Couldn't find any evidence that frame piece moved in any direction.
• No cracks or defects in welds on red piece so don't think it could have moved at all.
• It's a cast piece, so it would crack more likely than "bend".
• Second mechanic came over, agreed with all.
  
  PLAN:
• Talked to Merlin, confirmed 96-97 Rodeo LCA is same.
• So, getting a '97 Rodeo LCA from salvage yard in Phoenix, already on the shelf, $35. (if it's acceptable to me)
• Ordered new front and rear bushings for that arm, and decided to get a new lower ball joint after he explained it's a wear item --- and while we're in the neighborhood.
• If the LCA is slightly off, they think they can align it out.
• If it's significantly off, it appears there's a few options, I'll decide then.

TBC :-)

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[tom4bren]

I'll stand by my original assertion Tom, that bracket is indeed cast and welding can be problematic to all but the most adept at it...and straightening cast is not an option, once bent, it is prone to failure regardless of being straightened or not. Can-o-worms now open...

OK. I didn't look to make sure (was just going by the pics). Good to know that somebody around here is more than ready to stand up & correct me on the rare occasions when I'm wrong.

[VX KAT]

Picked up a real nice LCA today at LKQ salvage.

This was just too easy, you go to a clean building, enter an area with a counter.
Employees come to you and go gets part you want from their inventory, takes about 3 minutes…you're in/out.

They don't even have a yard where you can go pull or anything. It's all warehoused and inventoried already.

AND they were cheaper than any other that came up on search using car-part and mypartshop. $35!

Most wanted $50, one even wanted $100.

It was so good, I bought the Passenger side too just in case.

[BigSwede]

I *thought* the VX suspension was the same as a 2nd gen Trooper, not Rodeo...but I could easily be wrong.

All 92-02 Troops should have the same LCA, BTW.

[vt_maverick]

It certainly would be cool to watch Sue lift and slam her bagged VX (would it be the first?). But couldn't she just put in the Daystar spacers, crank the T-bars, and be more or less where she was last year when she had no problems? I think the only difference is her tires are 1" shorter than they were last year, so if she lifts by an inch (Daystar advertises them as 1.5" but rickshaw and I both found them to be closer to 1") her step-in height would only be .5-1" higher. That's $40 compared to who knows how much for a remote air bag system.

But is the problem really the trails themselves? A few folks told me the trails were worse last year than in previous years, even on the "bunny slopes." And it sounds like things were even worse this year. Are we seeing the end of the era of stock VX participation at Moab?

[VX KAT]

It certainly would be cool to watch Sue lift and slam her bagged VX (would it be the first?). But couldn't she just put in the Daystar spacers, crank the T-bars, and be more or less where she was last year when she had no problems? I think the only difference is her tires are 1" shorter than they were last year, so if she lifts by an inch (Daystar advertises them as 1.5" but rickshaw and I both found them to be closer to 1") her step-in height would only be .5-1" higher. That's $40 compared to who knows how much for a remote air bag system.

That calculation was right until they DID crank my TBs a little to clear the tires, so I ended up about 1/2" higher than my prior set up. I even had them lower the TBs a little, but I'm still a little bit higher in front than before. Which makes it all the more ironic doesn't it!

Interesting Porcupine Rim is listed in the Wells book as Easy, whereas Hells Revenge and Fins-N-Things are listed as Difficult. I thought it was a little harder than "easy".

On Porcupine you go up and back on same trail, so some of these pics were harder going down. I know I slammed down on a few of these, any one could have caused my damage. Look at all those potential hits to the Driver side LCA!

I just took some bad lines, wasn't careful enough on some areas, and have no one else to blame but myself.

A stocker could still easily do this trail.


Oh, and I stopped by the shop 10 mins before closing on a holiday weekend so it was a real quicky. He'll do a full assessment before I do anything.