Lower Control Arm Bushing Gone Bad

[LS Chazzy J]

Again, 2004 LS V8

ok, well I've been busy w/ vacation and what not -- but the problem has gotten substantially worse with time. Still popping quite a bit upon braking.

Finally had some time to go by my mechanics today and steal one of his bays and got it up on the lift. After some prying and checking, the suspension still looks perfect for 72,000 miles. It's not sway bar related - that was checked and verified. I started prying on the lower control arm bushings and sure as hell there's the problem (I hope).

No play on the rear bushing of the control arm, but quite a large amount of play on the front. Once I get a flashlight in there and pry at the correct angle there's a HUGE split in the bushing. I'm guessing this is definitely the culprit.

I know a little bit of play on the front bushings is normal, but the ease of this play was definitely not normal.

The passenger side lower control arm also has an abnormal amount of play in it - no splits though. Not making any sound yet, but I figure I'll do that while I've got it in the air. Hopefully, this solves the problem.

Go to next post:

 

[LS Chazzy J]

So I went to the dealer to price these out and holy God!

$420/each!!!!

Went to a local auto parts store and Autozone and their systems said "dealer only."

I've found online some Moog Control arms at $330/each. I'm much more inclined to go with Moog unless anyone else has other information. Does anyone have Moog control arms with good results or know that the quality is good (which I'm sure it is)?

Just looking for a little more friendly information here.

I can't find any threads that relate to the Control Arm bushings going bad. Am I the only one with this problem? Again, 2004 LS V8

 

[LeaSr77]

Moog parts are very good. I have their end links on the front of my car.

 

[ssmith1092]

would this give u the sound as if your wheel is going to fall off, i have this noise on both sides, the car has about 116,000 miles, and sat for about a year.

 

[dfg]

leaking bushing

I found a oil trail on the garage floor from the front most bushing of the drivers side lower control arm. Do these bushing have lubricant in them?

 

[joegr]

I found a oil trail on the garage floor from the front most bushing of the drivers side lower control arm. Do these bushing have lubricant in them?

Yes, they do. I have a thread on this somewhere. I hit a big pothole really hard and it caused oil to leak out of one of the two bushings on that side. That was about 30K miles ago, and so far the bushing is still okay. (Of course, it will fail sometime. I just don't know when.)

 

[blknightls8]

Havent posted much but found these on this site, not sure of the brands, if anyone has experience with this site and the credability of its parts a lil insight would be appreciated.

http://www.parts.com/oemcatalog/ind...l=LS&year=2003&catalogid=1&displayCatalogid=0

 

[cammerfe]

It certainly should be possible to find bushings to do a replacement if there's nothing wrong with the arm. Look a the Energy Suspension website and look at universal parts. You'll have to take some measurements.

KS

 

[Dan Ro]

Has anyone tried something like this http://www.suspension.com/4-bar.htm out yet, have all the measurements needed or a control arm around to get the measurements?

 

[Gus_Mahn]

It certainly should be possible to find bushings to do a replacement if there's nothing wrong with the arm. Look a the Energy Suspension website and look at universal parts. You'll have to take some measurements.

KS

There are control arms and bushings on ebay

 

[Dan Ro]

There are control arms and bushings on ebay

As far as I have heard other brands arms are not aluminum like the Motorcraft arms. On ebay they only have the large bushing. They don't offer both bushings on the arm.