Upper control arm... and LCA question

[Norm Peterson]

What you need to do is shorten the poly until the inner sleeve is slightly longer. Then grind/sand the faces into very flat cone shapes. This will prevent the bushing from grabbing the sides of the chassis-side bracket and forcing rotation to happen about the bolt instead of about the outer surface of the sleeve. A side benefit is that any clunking from the UCA will likely disappear.


Norm

 

[Mad Hatter]

Thanks, great tips. recently my rear axle has been clunking a lot. So might as well take advantage and upgrade the rear suspension a bit. Whats the feeling about Torque arms?? I see some very different opinions.... The Conti series cars don't seem to use them and I saw Vorshlag are very down on the idea.

So far I have the Steeda spherical bearing, the BMR adj. UCA race setup and HD mount in mind.

 

[BigTaco]

Hatter,
Check this out:

Good info from Fillip at CorteX.

 

[ChrisM]

That video is great. I still worry about that bushing at the front of the torque arm. It just seems like it would wear out quickly.

 

[barspen]

I have a Spherical UCA and Poly diff bushing (OEM rubber one got cooked) setup and I DD my car. I would not recommend doing rod-ends for both unless you can tolerate the extra NVH or have a dedicated track car. One end is not so bad.

 

[Albino500]

I have been wondering about the UCA... when you mention with poly bushing at the UCM you mean like this one..



Or this one?



The spherical bearing at the top of the diff I have not seen clearly yet! Just seems like a bolt?? As you can see I have not taken it apart yet...

The upper pic with the poly bushing - use the one for a 2011-14 along with a UCM for a 2011-14.

 

[Albino500]

the issue I have with a lot of the poly stuff is that they bind up and then rotate on the bolt, that's not how that is supposed to work, the bushing is supposed to rotate in the poly. FWIW these are on my car, they were on it when I bought it, so it wasn't my idea at all, but I'm very impressed with the piece, along with the bottoms..expensive as sin though.

https://www.americanmuscle.com/metco-adj-uca-0510.html?utm_content=Handling - Control Arms|Metco Motorsports&utm_campaign=AMM 2005-2014 Years&utm_source=google-pla&utm_medium=shopping&T5_Var3=blue&T5_Var4=49710&intl=0

On this note; the center sleeve should be longer than the bushing assembly so that when the center bolt is tightened down it is seating the ends of the sleeve to the mount. If need be - turn/sand down the sides of the poly so that it isn't pressed up against the mount. Sometimes side/end shims may be needed to assure that the poly portion isn't binding against the mount. Also, one should be using proper hardware - the shoulder length on the bolt should be covering at least 70% of the surface area of the sleeve that it is in contact with.

 

[Mad Hatter]

I was looking at the options and install videos.. Since most of the upgaded UCA mounts have two or more bolt positions.... Do you need to have a ajustable UCA to get the best results for the track?? Its not the easiest place to get to for adjustments and it seems a adjust once and forget about type of upgrade? Using the different UCA mount holes seems more practical.... I guess I should look at the pinion angle now.

 

[Mad Hatter]

So,,, angle difference should be -3 degrees for rubber bushing, -2 for poly and -1 for spherical bearing, following this videos example....

 

[Mad Hatter]

and you guys need to quit calling trailing arms, control arms

Lol.... Makes sense, but try to find a trailing arm for Mustang..... a google search will send you to "control arms" We can just sit back and smile at their amateur vocabulary and feel superior!

 

[ChrisM]

Mine identify as control tentacles but I will tell them to knock it off.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Well went ahead and ordered the bmr spherical bearing UCA and mount with a polybushing kit as well as a OEM rubber one just in case for noise... I think metal at both ends would have been to much as I still do street drive the Boss. Thanks for all the help.... We should have a sticker that says SUSPENSION BY TRACK MUSTANGS ONLINE for our cars

 

[xr7]

Blacksheep-1, does that Metco UCA have a bearing or something inside of the diff end of the mount to articulate, if you get my drift? That piece has always interested me but I never new anyone that had one. Tis the time to be thinking, because it is about 15 below zero. I did see a nice Vista Blue Stang tonite if you can believe that.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Ye Gads,,, I keep greasing the poly (axle side) bushing..... But it squeaks way too much to bare. I will either put in the stock bushing..that kind of feels like a step back....Or put in the Spherical Steeda bushing...

 

[Grant 302]

If you put spherical bearings on both sides, you'd probably want at least one of them to have dust seals on them to help prevent the arm from banging around. One noise or another...

Or go back to a rubber bushing on the axle side. I think the Phoenix cars do.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Yes, Think your right..... Looking at the steeda install instructions, not convinced with the way the steeda bearing fits in, looks like it could be noisy.. Now leaning towards popping the oem one in (since I have a new one!).... If its good enough for Phoenix, it should be fine for me!

 

[Grant 302]

I don't think there is a problem with the Steeda bearing. Just if you have two (spherical), there's nothing to prevent the arm from rotating and 'flopping over' to one side. It'll really *bang* when it flops from one side to another.

I think the Multimatic arm was run with the rubber axle side too, FWIW.

 

[Mad Hatter]

When we put in the poly bushing, the original metal pipe was too damaged to use...So we put in a stainless pipe turned to the right diameter, but now a little afraid that the interior diameter will not match steeda unit exactly. Was not a problem with the poly since it had give....

Found it very hard to get the old rubber bushing out of the sleave...

 

[Grant 302]

I think that's typical. The need to re-use the sleeve is a little annoying.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Ye Gads,,, I keep greasing the poly (axle side) bushing..... But it squeaks way too much to bare. I will either put in the stock bushing..that kind of feels like a step back....Or put in the Spherical Steeda bushing...

Check the poly end for the poly being longer than the inner sleeve.


Norm