PSA Check Your Rear Upper Control Arms

[eightshot627]

PSA Check Your Rear Upper Control Arms

I don't know how long the one side was broken but I sure know when the last one broke. I pulled away at a stop sign and heard and felt it pop then drop. It rode realy rough. I pulled over and checked it out, nothing obvious roadside so I limped it home. At home it shook it and got a measuring tape out and started taking measurements. The way I noticed it was the whole rear differential looked like it was at to flat an angle.

Now after replacing them she handles and feels much better than she did while I owned her. Much less body roll and when accelerating out of a turn it plants the rear.

For those who need to replace them here is my tip.
10mm socket to remove the bolt and clip-on type nut for the parking brake cable. The bolt and clip-on nut must come out to remove the end from the frame pocket. That's because the control arm end bolt clip-on nut clip prevents the end of the arm from just sliding straight out. It must go up and over the clip. I spent way to long trying to get that stubby end out.

I don't do any real off-roading they just rusted and broke. (232k) Having a 5 link rear end feel much better than 4 and worlds better than 3 links.

Walt

 

[Sparky]

Yeah seems as they get older those uppers start snapping off. Not an overly durable design, honestly.

 

[Mooseman]

My 02 with a ton of mileage and rust didn't break surprisingly. I will be keeping an eye on the Saab as it has a lot of rust. The 07 TB was a garage queen in its former life and I haven't driven it in winter yet but will also be mindful of this later on. I do have spares from the replacement diff I got for the Saab a couple of years ago in excellent condition.

 

[Matt]

Did my passengers side about 6 weeks ago...the drivers side visually looks fine.

 

[cornchip]

Oh my god, why aren't those link's solid? They look like they crack first at the same spot and corrosion get's in to finish up the job. Look's like I need to have a look real soon. Is this all model years affected?

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

They all use the same control arms

 

[Sparky]

The lowers are tubular and I've yet to see one of those fail (aside from trail damage ), why they didn't do the uppers that way too I really don't know.

 

[Rouxzy]

Last winter I could feel the tail end get squirrely when pulling out into traffic. Couldn't figure out what it was until the second control arm broke. Air suspension pushed the back end up to the poing where the axle rolled back and pushed the pumpkin up against the sway bar. Light weight cheap junk for control arms. Poor design where water, sand, salt and such gets trapped which speeds up the decay process.

 

[Mike534x]

Just checked my rears, looks like its time to change them out! I'm at 185k currently, and mine look almost close to yours, maybe not nearly as rusty however. Mine has an annoying "squeak" whenever I go over bumps so this gives me an excuse to go under and change stuff out.

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the different upper controls arms? Mine came with the auto-leveling ride, but the previous owner scrapped it out for the traditional spring/shock, so I should get away with using the "non" auto-leveling arms? I see there is a pretty big price difference, the "non" autoleveling are about $40-55 give or take cheaper then the auto-leveling arms that are about $70-85 a piece.

 

[xavierny25]

The only difference is a stud that is welded in place to accommodate for the level sensor.
I choose to use a aftermarket set from spohn performance when I felt it was time to replace them.
Wifey got tired with the red so decided to have all parts powder coated in pink. which is in the works now.
As you can see here these arms have the stud and at no extra cost from spohn performance.
This is what all of the removable hardware will be coated in as I take stuff off or get replacements.