aargh! I'm such a picky complainer today! The "reinforcements" to the lower control arms done in the photo actually are harmful; the inner bushing fit on the inside of those lower arms is very subtle. John Elle pointed this out I think. If you look at the TSM, you'll see that when you press the bushing into the arm, it's a friction fit in ONE SIDE ONLY. The other side is a close but loose fit. The reason is, as the spring compresses and the knuckle goes up and down, the lower arm TWISTS. Therefore, one side of the "U" shaped arm grips the bushing, and the other *slips around it* -- it MOVES. Put your two arms out straight, and loosely grip a horizontal railing, all your fingers side by side. Now tilt your shoulders left then right. Notice that your hands rotate in opposite directions on the railing. OK it's your arms, they won't break if you grip the railing tightly. But if your arms were thin sheet metal they would! The strut rod bushing takes 99.99% of all fore/aft force; the arm takes side force only (in towards the center of the car) and that with great leverage. Yup, it's just one thin ring of sheet metal locating the lower end of the steering knuckle in place. Suspension designers are smart and extremely conservative! This car too will begin to exhibit weird wear problems. It's likely not a failure like the bad 3-link but if you're gonna modify stuff, you damn well better know how it works before you start! But no one asks me how to do suspensions... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list-amc-list.com/attachments/20091222/60278424/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ AMC-list mailing list AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com