yea these are the front LCAs. i can't believe the oem bushings are rubber. as far as i've been hearing this part frequently fails on this car. a full set of plastic ones are a mere $30. in New England where the temps can get -10 to 105, the rubber just doesn't stand a chance past ~2 years.

 

In that case, there is a little more work involved. lol

 

go with poly urethane... i wasnt completely focused while reading this so... i'm just putting that in there.

 

Front control arms are a bit of work, and can seem a bit daunting at first, but it's not as scary as all that.

I'm going off of memory from my old car, but the lower control arm between my old car ('00 Cavalier) vs. my current ('98 Camaro) should be very similar, if not the same procedure. The only difference is where the spring perch is on the Camaro. (Don't remember, will check and update this post)

1. Remove wheel
2. Use a pickle fork for ball joints and separate the lower ball joint from the steering knuckle.
3. Remove spring if necessary
4. Remove front LCA bolt (horizontal, longitudinal bolt. You may have to remove other things to get at it)
5. Remove rear LCA bolt (vertical, easy get to from under the car)
6. Convince LCA to leave the car. May require a sizeable pry bar.

Installation is reverse of removal. Removal of old bushings can be done with a propane torch if you want. On the rear, there should also be a metal ring on the outside of the old rubber that you will need to remove (iirc) On the front bushing, you will need to leave the sleeve in place.

The ball joint is pressed in, you can use large sockets and a bench vise for removal and installation. It has to be a pretty sturdy vise though. You will need one socket that is big enough to "catch" the ball joint as it comes out (approaching a 2" socket), and one just small enough (still pretty big) to fit through the hole in the control arm to push the ball joint out. (This is the technique I used to change the ball joints on my Fiero anyway, and it worked nice for me).

 

Front Lower

Lower Control Arm Replacement[*]Tools Required[*]J 24319-B Steering Linkage and Tie Rod Puller[*]J 39549 Ball Joint and Tie Rod End Separator
[ul][/ul]Removal Procedure[*]Raise and support the vehicle. Refer to Vehicle Lifting.[*]Remove the tire and the wheel.[*]Remove the stabilizer shaft link.[*]Remove and discard the cotter pin (3) from the outer tie rod end (1).[*]Remove the outer tie rod end nut (2).[*]Using J 24319-B separate the outer tie rod end from the steering knuckle.[*]Remove the shock absorber lower bolts (6, 8) and nuts (1, 20).[*]Remove and discard the lower ball joint cotter pin (18).[*]Remove the lower ball joint nut (17).[*]Using J 39549 separate the lower ball joint (4) from the steering knuckle (2).[*]Remove the lower ball joint (4) from the steering knuckle (2).[*]Remove the lower control arm mounting bolts (14, 16) and nuts (12, 13).[*]Remove the lower control arm (5).[*][*]Installation Procedure[*]Align and install the lower control arm (5). Notice: Refer to Fastener Notice in Service Precautions.[*]Install the lower control arm mounting bolts (14, 16) and nuts (12, 13).[*]Tighten the lower control arm mounting nuts to 100 Nm (74 ft. lbs.) .[*]Install the lower ball joint (4) to the steering knuckle (2).[*]Install the lower ball joint nut (17).[*]Tighten the lower ball joint nut (17) to 110 Nm (81 ft. lbs.)[*][*]Important: Never loosen the ball joint nut in order to align the cotter pin slot. You may over-torque the ball joint nut up to 1/6 of a turn.[*]Install a new lower ball joint cotter pin (18).[*]Install the [URL=http://www.alldatadiy.com/alldata/AFI~V10448440~C40080~R0~OD~N/0/86372027/87576931/87576932/110520820/34853741/34864218/34864722/34865118]shock absorber[/lin

 

Whoa,

yea this is way out of my league, plus i'd have to buy even more tools.

I called my mechanic friend from New York. He said he could do it, but i don't want to drive it 400 miles. He also said i shouldn't try it alone, but by then i already made up my mind not to start. z28pete, i couldn't ask for better instructions. i hope it didn't take too long to write.

THANKS for all the replies. it wasn't in vain. I can name all the parts and bolts just by looking at them now. I was hoping my first job might be something like installing a battery, or replacing a speaker. Plus it doesn't help when you're too busy even for yourself. It's 10pm on a Friday here and i have a conference call in a few minutes! gtg...

 

Spohn Performance makes some real nice ones priced from 115.00 to 245.00 for a set. It takes nothing to put them on. Raise up the car and support the frame, get a jack and place it under the rear axle (don't raise it though) replace on arm at a time use the jack to adjust theaxle to fit on the new arm.

 

Oh wait, I just read the rest of this thread, you were needing the front ones. Oops well, if you ever need to replace the rear LCA just read my post above.