cracked lower front contol arm

[lilmarauder]

i noticed that both of my front lower control arms are cracked around the splined part of where the bushing goes. it is part of the cast for the actual arm. obviously this is not good. if this were your car would this be a sure signal to replace the contol arm? im not sure if i should or not and just keep an eye on it. what would you do if this was your car? it has 78 thousand miles on it.

[MOTOWN]

I can't see the crack, but if that's the case I would replace them before they completely fail and endanger your life

[lilmarauder]

the crack is all the way to the right on the portion that the bushing is in. the part that has little square notches, is where the crack is at. and yes i agree with you.

[fastblackmerc]

I don't think that you'd have a catastrophic failure with that crack around the bushing area. Now if the crack was going horizontally I'd be swapping them out.

[lilmarauder]

yea it would be apart already if they were cracked horizontally. while it certainly bothers me knowing that they are cracked, i dont know if its worth replacing them yet. even though that makes me feel soooo cheap. i can get a good deal on a set of moog replacements.

[Krytin]

Do not replace unless the bushings are worn.
The part that has a crack amounts to little more than casting flash. It is not structural.

[lilmarauder]

Thanks a ton krytin. That just saved me $400.

[Mr. Man]

Do not replace unless the bushings are worn.
The part that has a crack amounts to little more than casting flash. It is not structural.
I would agree. Does the crack go all the way around? If it were further in it might cause a structural issue as the bushing would lose support. Keep an eye on it and if it ever starts going horizontally or a new crack starts further in closer to the main body area replace it then.

[Krytin]

I just changed the lower arms on mine - 120k miles. Mines cracked in the exact same way/place on both arms. I'll bet most are cracked the same way regardless of mileage.

It is actually a thin collar that they crimp when the first bushing is pressed/installed in the control arm. You could pretty much cut the whole colar off and not effect the strength of the control arm. I think you might effectively loose it (the collar) if/when you install a new bushing.

[lilmarauder]

The crack doesn't even go halfway around. Maybe 3/8 of the way in the bottom side. I agree too that it shouldn't affect the car as far as alignment or the structural integrity of the control arm. At first I thought it was a big issue. Thanks for the advice guys.