[Slime]

While changing gear boxes and trying to get the speedo to work ( no luck) I was under the car and noticed that the rear lower trailing arms (67 chevelle) were loose. The bushings are actually fair for being so old but the bolts had worked loose or were out and not tightened at one time or another. Any way enough rambling, the problem is that the holes in the frame where the bolts go that hold the trailing arms are egged shaped pretty bad. Didn't plan on all this work!! Any suggestions would be GREAT! Thanks Slime

 

[Wally]

Weld heavy duty washers on each side of the frame to take the slop out of the mount. Short of replacing that section of the frame which would be an ugly deal, the washer trick will work. Just keep the bolts tight!

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Wally
Gold #67
67 Malibu "Small Block"
90 SS454
71 Malibu "Small Block"
93 torch red vette

 

[oman]

Depends on how far outta round the holes are. I fixed one of these a few years ago and it was really painless.

Pull out the bolt securing the front end of the control arm. Get the next size larger diameter bolt and a drill of the same size as the new bolt. Remove the muffler/ mufflers. Drill out the hole in the frame to accept the larger bolt. Drill from the inside of the frame toward the outside.

Get the old steel bushing out of the control arm bushing.. Get a brass bushing (sleeve) with the inside diameter closest to the shank diameter of the new larger dia bolt you will use to relace the front control arm bolt(s). Press the sleeve into the control arm and re install.

You gotta go to a real industrial supply house (Granger etc.) for the brass bushing I am talking about. I think the call em "bearings" or some such name. They are available in various lengths and various inside and outside diameters. Just take the old control arm sleeve with you to determine length. Take the new bolt to determine the ID of the new brass bushing.

This can be kinda expensive. You mght need a long drill bit of the correct sze and the busings / bearings I am talking about ain't cheap but this process works and beats welding the frame.

The key here is how outta round your frame is. If it is so outta round that you gotta go 2 bolt diameters or more larger than the original then I think you might be screwed. You could need a brass sleeve of such large inside dia that the sleeve od will be difficult if not impossible to get thru the control arm rubber donut.

These brass busings are available in many many different wall thicknesses so you could potentially skimp on the wall thickness ( and therefore minimize the OD of the bushing) to minimize the trouble you have getting the brasss bushing thru the rubber donut.

 

[Dave Birdwell]

Wally's idea sounds like the easy thing to do. just remember to lower the control arm from the pocket whilst you weld the washer on, lest you catch the bushing on fire. Might need a new bushing while you're at it anyway!