Replacing Upper Control Arm Bolt

junglejustice · #1 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 02:10 PM

Chip, does your "deep socket, short extension" plan work on both sides of the car for putting the upper control arms back?

We flipped the thing for reinsertion (nut on the other side...) because the stupid Italians obviously assembled the damn suspension, with the engine out...

The right side seems harder and short of cutting a hole...

AlfaRacer75 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-17-2003, 02:42 AM

Wait... so is the nut or the bolt inserted into the hole in the inner fender? The nut should be exposed on the front side (the side facing towards the front of the car). You'll never get the nut on if you try to put it in through the access hole.

I just lined the upper arm up, stuck the bolt in a deep socket with short ext attached, then holding onto the end of the ext I fed the bolt into the access hole and fished around a bit until the end of the bolt found the hole.

You'll probably have to remove the airbox and washer fluid bottle to get in there. The last time I did it the engine was still out, so it was pretty easy. I don't rememeber the engine getting in the way the first time I did it (engine in place), but that was a long time ago.

nizam · #3 (**permalink**) 10-18-2003, 08:11 PM

No, no, no, don't put the bolt in from the outside. Like Chip said, you won't be able to turn the nut because it will be inside the recess. Also, if you lose the nut in there, it will be even harder to retrieve than the bolt.

As I recall (I just did this a month ago) you have to carefully thread the short extension and the socket into the recess to pick up the bolt, which if you had heeded my earlier advice to not pull completely out of the car (like Chip said), should just make it to the other side. It took my wife and I both to line both the upper control arm and the bolt.

It's definitely possible to do it with the engine in the car, although it may be tight.

junglejustice · #4 (**permalink**) 10-19-2003, 12:36 PM

Yeah, thanks guys... Unfortunately we had already pulled it out before I posted the question about putting it back in. Two-sided tape, strong magnets, deep socckets, duct tape and many word later, we're golden.

Thanks for the advice.