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Bent a arm... question.

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Old Dec 23, 2008 | 02:16 PM
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Bent a arm... question.

I have a bent stock upper a arm. I replaced them with tubular chromoly UMI upper a arms. the UMI upper a arm bent the same way.... think anything could be causing it?
Old Dec 24, 2008 | 03:14 PM
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Post a picture if you can, and we also need a lot more detail!
Old Dec 27, 2008 | 05:21 PM
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Car tweaked the a arm. Wonder what could have caused this. The stock piece that this part in the picture replaced was bent also. So the stock piece bent. I replaced it with this Chromoly piece and it bent too. What can be causing these to bend?
Old Dec 27, 2008 | 05:24 PM
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maybe a bent shock or bad mount?

one of the lowers is messed up?......not moving up and down like it should, possibly bindin pushing the knuckle forward or rearward...
Old Dec 27, 2008 | 09:14 PM
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Question

So you only bent the driver side arm, and the passenger side is fine?
Old Dec 29, 2008 | 11:34 AM
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Ya just the driver side arm. I was thinking about eliminating all the hardware issues by going tubular k-member and lower a-arms. UMI is sending me another driver side upper.
Old Dec 29, 2008 | 11:36 AM
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Originally Posted by mdacton
maybe a bent shock or bad mount?

one of the lowers is messed up?......not moving up and down like it should, possibly bindin pushing the knuckle forward or rearward...
I was thinking a bent lower could be doing this.... The shocks are new. Mount was fine when I removed the assembly. I was really going at it with a ruler and a level. I can't find anything on the frame or the shock tower that is different from the passenger side.
Old Dec 29, 2008 | 11:37 AM
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maybe remove the shock/spring assembly and move it up and down to see if anything is binding.
Old Dec 29, 2008 | 11:39 AM
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Originally Posted by mdacton
maybe remove the shock/spring assembly and move it up and down to see if anything is binding.
I just replaced the springs.... I didn't see any binds. This is pissing me off. I've got it being aligned right now. Hopefully the guys can tell me if they find something bent.
Old Dec 29, 2008 | 12:12 PM
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Maybe the Knuckle is bent.
Old Dec 29, 2008 | 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted by bluz28
Maybe the Knuckle is bent.
I'd go for that.... except it bent it even after swapping to new spindles with the LS1 brake upgrade.
Old Dec 30, 2008 | 11:08 AM
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The stock GM upper arms have a curve in them to fit around the shock tower @ full compression. None of the aftermarket arms do. When you really compress the suspension the arms hit the body and can be tweaked.... This is common with all the aftermarket uppers. It gets worse the lower and softer the car is, and god forbid someone didn't put their bumpstops on (or have shocks with new bumpstops already in place).
Old Dec 30, 2008 | 01:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Sam Strano
The stock GM upper arms have a curve in them to fit around the shock tower @ full compression. None of the aftermarket arms do. When you really compress the suspension the arms hit the body and can be tweaked.... This is common with all the aftermarket uppers. It gets worse the lower and softer the car is, and god forbid someone didn't put their bumpstops on (or have shocks with new bumpstops already in place).
Anything I can do to combat this? I have sportlines on the car now....
Old Dec 30, 2008 | 01:39 PM
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Get rid of the Sportlines and go back to the Pro-kits in your sig (or some other not so low spring) and/or run stock arms.
Old Dec 30, 2008 | 06:43 PM
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Originally Posted by MeanGreen97Z
I have a bent stock upper a arm. I replaced them with tubular chromoly UMI upper a arms. the UMI upper a arm bent the same way.... think anything could be causing it?




Originally Posted by Sam Strano:
The stock GM upper arms have a curve in them to fit around the shock tower @ full compression. None of the aftermarket arms do. When you really compress the suspension the arms hit the body and can be tweaked.... This is common with all the aftermarket uppers. It gets worse the lower and softer the car is, and god forbid someone didn't put their bumpstops on (or have shocks with new bumpstops already in place).

Sam, his stock arm also did the same thing.

Last edited by bluz28; Dec 30, 2008 at 07:54 PM.



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