I've really been a little nervous lately after reading a post awhile back about a poor guy that totaled his car because one of his lower control arms let go on the freeway and caused his car to roll. I'm thinking of going back to stock arms, the thought of those adjusting nuts backing off frightens the hell out of me. Maybe go with some hotchkis arms. Any suggestions? Wouldn't the upper arms hold the rear end even if one of the lower arms came loose? Sorry, just thinking out loud. Brad.

I didn't know anyone made lower adjustible control arms. Only upper, :confused: .

They sure do make them.

Are the arms adjustable while bolted in or do you have to unbolt one end? If you're worried, I'd get that kind. Wouldn't be too hard to unbolt one end to make adjustments. Once it's adjusted correctly, you shouldn't ever need to change it. And they wouldn't be able to loosen up and come apart on their own.

Just the upper arms won't hold things together because of bushing deflection the rear end will start steering the car and most likely the tires could hit the body. Another problem is that the lower arm can stab into the ground and catapult that side of the car, causing the rollover. Same as if you break a front U-joint without a driveshaft loop.

Tim.

Who makes them?

Wolfe Racecraft (http://www.wolferacecraft.com/) makes some. You also see them in those adjustable 4 link setups. I'm sure there are other manufacturers too.

Tim.

They are adjustable on-car without having to remove one side. Got mine off ebay, both upper and lower adjustable. Think im gonna switch the lowers to non-adjustable type.

There's been a couple of cases with the bolts holding the Southside bars on falling out. This is probably what you're thinking about. It's caused because the bolts are being supplied with standard nuts and a lockwasher. Only use lock nuts on the suspension bolts. Improper installation (not enough torque on the bolt?) could have also contributed to the problem but the root cause is the nuts. If they were good lock nuts they wouldn't have fallen off.

I can't recall ever reading about an adjustable control arm falling apart. The problem with them is with poly or rubber rod ends is that the lifting of one side of the rear end, such as when you hit a bump, will twist the control arm which can cause the jam nuts on the ends to come loose. If you use rod ends that allow for the twist then the likelyhood of this happening is much less.

The lower control arms are the important ones. The uppers hold at the pumpkin so they really can't control what the ends of the rear-end do. The lowers go right to the ends of the rear-end so they hold it in place front and back. If you break an upper the rear-end can rotate but it won't twist or turn sideways under the car.

Peter