Is this supposed to happen? I was replacing my ubj dust boots, and right side arm I can move up and down by hand and bushings squeak a little bit. Left side doesn't move at all. Figure I better stop and ask and/or replace the bushings now instead of having my tires go bald on the insides again a few thousand miles down the road

I assume by you saying "replacing my ubj dust boots", you still had the ball joint separated while moving the A-arm "up and down". By up and down, do you mean it swings up and down, or do you mean it moves up and down on the pivot bolt?

All I can tell you is that when I replaced their bushings, I had to wedge the UCAs into place with a pry bar. They were plenty tight.

Jerry

_________________
There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

The ball joint was still attached to the spindle, but I pulled the knuckle off the ubj stud.

By moving up and down, I mean I can hold the passenger uca, lift up, and it would pivot on the bushings with ease. On the drivers, even with moderate force, I could bearly move it a few degrees and when I let go it would rebound quickly.

jack the car up until the tire is just a little ways of the ground. then you can put something under the tire and pry up with it. if there is movement, your ball joints are probably on their way out.

Sorry, I may of mislead people. I'm not worried about play in the balljoint. What I'm concerned about is the UCA bushings, because on the passenger side I can easily move the entire arm with little force, whereas the driver side it bearly moves.

The passenger side squeaks, and you can see the rubber turn a little in the shell. The drivers side doesn't squeak.

I don't think its normal for the two sides to be this different - makes me think the right side bushings are too lose or the left side binding. Either way, I would think this warrants replacment of bushings on both sides right?

Because of how tight mine was and difficult to get back in, I was hoping someone would chime in and explain whether they should be loose like your passenger side, or tight like your driver side. If nothing else, the relatively low cost of replacing the bushings would be cheap insurance against prematurely wearing out your tires, as you said (not to mention your peace of mind).

Jerry

_________________
There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

When new, they should be very tight going in (easy boys). Should also be fairly hard to move up and down. If it's really loose, you probably need to replace bushings or check tightness on the UCA mounting/adjuster bolts.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Lou, is it as simple as tightening down the nut? I'd guess even if the nut was loose the bushing would of wore anyway so just for piece of mind I think I'm going to replace them

Also, about the lca. Didn't install torsion bar yet. I just installed a new set of moogs there, and after tightening the arm down in the kframe (not torqued down to the 125ft/lb spec, just enough so its held in place so I can assemble everything else on it), with no torsion bar in the socket yet, I can pry up and down on the arm, and the arm moves smoothly, but it stays in position.

Is it supposed to rebound any? This makes me think that the rubber is spinning on either the inner or outer shell, but I thought rubber is supposed to twist not spin in place.