has anyone ever broken the lower control arm that is welded to the frame cause that happened to me last weekend when i bottomed out on the freeway and i had it welded back. now i hear a click on the drivers side when i turn the wheel to the left when i come out of my parking stall or when i turn to exit my drive way. i thought it was due to the brakes or someting i might have bent but after i changed the brakes, they told me everything is good but it still does it. anyone know what it could be?

Are you talking rear? Running SSM bars, or other race type LCA/UCA combo on the street for a lot of miles can easily cause this, due to the inherent bind of these set-ups.

1968, is it the front or rear control arm?

Novadude, my SSM bar have no more binding than stock arms. They operate in exactly the same plane as the stockers. If your's are binding, you have other problems.

This has been debated to death on the pro-touring type forums. The basic geometry of the Chevelle rear suspension (and Grand National, and 79-04 Mustang) WILL bind in roll. For a car that sees lots of street driving, hard cornering, etc. bind is a very real issue. For the occasional street cruiser / drag car, it is probably not a big deal.

I'll see if I can't find some links to info on this subject. smile.gif

Here is Global West's opinion on the matter:

Rear control arms are probably one of the first performance
suspension components many upgrade when working on their
suspension. Unfortunately this is also the first place most make
a mistake and don't realize it until it's to late. Choosing the correct
bushing for the application is the biggest problem. Over the years
there has been a lot of hype about polyurethane bushings. Polyurethane
bushings do have there place, however it depends upon what you are
going to do with the car. The problem we have with polyurethane is
unless you are drag racing, polyurethane binds up the rear suspension.
The rear suspension can not articulate. This creates rear suspension handling problems and causes the car
to ride rough over bumps. Most people notice the ride. It's too bad you are led to believe this
is handling. What you are really feeling isn't handling, your experiencing suspension bind. The only way
we have found to provide rear suspension performance suitable for handling and performance street
driving is by using a spherical bearing at the frame side and our Del-a-lum bushing on the rear end side.
The aircraft spherical bearing allows rear end articulation without bind and the Del-a-lum bushing
controls defection. The result is smooth suspension movement without bind or defection. We have proven
this concept time and time again on the race track and street applications. Therefore, we offer three
different control arms for your application. We offer polyurethane control arms just like all the rest
(Recommended for drag racing only). 2nd we offer a spherical bearing (frame side) and polyurethane
(rear end side) control arm for the street. 3rd we offer a spherical bearing with a Del-a lum bushing as
the ultimate control arm used in all applications. This would be the best choice.
Note: Almost all of the other manufactures of rear lower control arms use polyurethane bushings.
While we offer polyurethane control arms also, our primary reason for using them is to be competitive
in the industry. However, polyurethane bushings create a tremendous amount of bind for street
and handling applications when not accompanied with a spherical bearing.
We will not recommend double polyurethane bushed control arms for street or handling
applications. http://www.globalwest.net/1973-87%20Grand%20National%20%2C%20Chevelle%20component s.htm

it is the drivers side front control arm. the way i knew something was wrong immediately was when i braked, the car swerved to the left and i felt as if the wheel was loose. luckily it didnt come off but held in place long enough for me to go to the shop.

So, did the bolts rip out of your frame? Or did you rip off the entire tabs that hold on the lower control arm?

I had had the front right lower control arm break right at the ball joint. Luckily, I was backing out of my driveway and not on the highway.

Novadude, the good news about SSM bars is they don't use poly bushings. They use Delrin just like GW recommends (Delrin is the Del in Del-a-lum). No spherical end, however.

i tore off the entire tab that is welded on the frame. i heard that also happened to someone else and he ended up flipping his car cause he lost the tire.

Did, you replace the bushings after this happened. I got a clicking noise out of my control arm and it turned out to be the metal sleeve in the middle of the bushing tearing it's way through the bushing and contacting the outer shell of the bushing. If it went through the stress of ripping off the mounting plates then you deffinantly should at least closely inspect the bushings.