Dorman Front Control Arms Won't Fit 1Gb FWD

Has anyone experienced this?

Aftermarket control arms:
https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-26311-520-837.aspx

Stock arm is on the bottom (opposite side for comparison). It has ES bushings. The big rear bushing is way off! Not a chance the new one will bolt up.
I flipped the bushing around (see bottom pic) and then it bolted up no problem. WTF?




Flipped bushing...

This thread might be of interest to you:

https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/w...rman-vs-raybestos.402773/#post-152586715

Haven't experienced it personally as I rebuilt my stockers and of course those popped right back into place.

That’s interesting! Mine look beefier than the replacements that guy got. Mine are more similar to the Raybestos arms.

I did some googling and see that the stock bushing sits a similar way in the stock arm. I think it would line up just like the ES does on my old arm.

Am I just doing it wrong? Does it require some front to back force to get the front pivot attached while the rear is loosely bolted up? I started with the front attached, assuming the rear should simply line up. It wasn’t working either way.

Well, my experience is limited, but with my car(s) I've only rebuilt stock front control arms and I have used the ES bushings. I always attached the rear joints first and then swung it up to have the ball joint attach to the knuckle afterwards. That being said, I don't remember having to fool around much to get the 2 rear joints in place and bolted up. In fact, I'm quite certain I torqued the bolts to spec on the rear joint(s) prior to installing the knuckle so that I wouldn't have to do it with all that stuff in the way, and it all went together fine.

If you flip the bushing and everything lines up perfectly I'd run it like that, assuming you do some sanity checks and all the attachment points seem to be in the same approximate location. Seems like more of a bushing issue than a control arm issue, though that joint does seem to protrude slightly further out than the old one.

That really helps, thanks again!

To me it seems like they’ve added some metal that takes up the tapered front of the bushing, so the arm should use more of a symmetrical bushing.
Of course I’ll be SOL to use an ES bushing.

Oh well! I’ll run ‘em
Onward!

As long as there's no slop, things line up, and nothing is seizing/locking up when it's in place I would run it. I feel like this is something you'll be able to tell pretty quickly whether it's working right or not, and it's an easy part to inspect for wear/play - just take the wheel off.

Any reason why you're not reusing your old ones with the ES bushings? They look to be in pretty solid shape - why not press in a new ball joint and call it a day?

See my rotor spacer thread:
http://www.ca.dsm.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=454674

Not only were the stock arms BFH’d, when I needed ball joints last time, they wouldn’t press in, so they got welded. That was the start of the end for these guys.

I did after market too but mine were the mevotech and I didn't have that issue. I can take a peak at what Gus put on this car and see how they look if you want.

Sure, thanks Bryan. It wouldn't hurt to have another measurement like this one. Length from bushing stop to front pivot:



I did a test drive and everything seems fine!