That's what I am going to do for mine basically. Seth said:

"Absolutely. Maybe $50-60. I will be TIG welding them from now on, with extra bracing."

I am going to do mine the same way but with more bracing like he said. Actually I am going to weld mine with dual shield MIG with .045 wire and 75-25 shielding gas. I haven't dropped the motor yet so I haven't had to deal with it. I am going to section the drag link and oil pan soon. The oil pan I will TIG weld.

 

Here is the build article on a Toyota in mini truckin & they show you how they
modified the upper arm to clear the steering shaft!

http://www.minitruckinweb.com/tech/chassis/0702mt_toyota_truck_front_air_bags/photo_15.html

 

I still have to do some work on the steering shaft/control arm clearance thing. The steering shaft was really close to fitting, but I had to do a little notch on top of the control arm. I am going to weld some bracing on it when I take out the arm and get the bushing out of it so I don't toast the bushing.

 

hey dan, you basically modded the control arm like you need to. all it needs is the top trimmed and plated.

dual shield mig/.045/75-25: my favorite welding setup!

 

hey there bro. check this lower arm out. i bet you can pull this of with out a prob and then just ditch the strut rods all together.

 

here is the pic

 

here is the same lower arm just redone a bit.

 

cool, my pics were used haha. never thought i'd see that. the first ones worked wonderful (the black ones) but they DID hit my 16's because of how far forward the bar went. The second set (raw) doesn't. Keep that in mind if running stock or slightly bigger wheels.

 

Ahhh right! That is what I am gonna do. It seems like a really good idea. I bet it will allow the control arm to travel more freely too and maybe give me a little more travel. Thanks for the tip. I even checked out your pics somewhere before, GrantH, but I had forgotten about this solution to the problem with the braces. So just a regular polyeurothane bushing striaght in line with the other pivot points on the control arm should do it I guess, right? Anything else anyone has to offer in the way of advice on the lower control arms, I am getting ready to rebuild mine. I still need to decide on which airbags to run, but when I do I am ready to order. I want to get my front airbags in soon, so I am going to be working on the control arms.

 

seth said something at one point about making your control arm parallel with the frame or the lower or something, but i've never had that done I don't believe. I think as long as you have it in line, and have an adjustable end on it youll be good. neither of mine did but it's a good thing to have adjustability on suspension componants.

 

Is adjustment really needed there? I can get the center of the bushing lined up dead on with the center of the lower control arm bolts and then I will just tack the mount plates to the frame with the arm bolted on, I don't really see where the adjustment is needed. I was going to build mine like the ones with the square tube with no adjustment unless there is some reason for it that I am missing.

 

i think the adjustment is if you go with one size wheel and have plans on changing the size later down the road. i think that the benifit

 

I know I've been laggin' bro, but here's the only pic I have, and I'm not sure it will help much....



If you notice the bar I welded across, right behind the front horns, I realized later that, once I test fitted things, my lower radiator hose would run smack into that bar. So for me all I would have to do is cut that bar out and possibly extend the hose a couple of inches, that's it. Again, sorry it took so long yo....

 

Thanks for the info. No problem about the wait. It looks like I am going a different route with the lowers anyway. I am going to add a brace with a bushing like the ones that GrantH is running (a few posts back in this thread). Then I can eliminate the need for the crossmember and make a little more room for my lower radiator hose. Thanks for posting up the pic.

 

using an adjustable bushing on the rear will allow you to adjust your caster angle.

 

On the rear? I didn't realize I wanted to put it on the rear of the arm. Good to know. Thanks. I need to order up a couple adjustable bushings and some square tube adapters to build these things.

 

they can't be on the front of the arm because of the drag link.

 

I see. Thanks for clearing that up for me. So is this what I need for my control arms?

http://www.suicidedoors.com/4-link-parts/4-link-bar-bung-kits/square-4-link-bung-poly-bushings

 

i would personally run a standard tube adapter for round tube (using a .120 wall tube, 3/4" thread tube adapter). those 2x2 bungs seem like extreme overkill to me, and you'll have $120 plus shipping into a set of modified stock arms. you could probably fabricate a set for way cheaper.

 

Yeah, I guess you are right. $120 is just way too much... I just thought the square tube looked way better with the stock arms honestly. I don't know... How about square tube with no adjustment, then build a set of control arms down the road a bit? How important is it to be able to adjust my caster? Can I get by for a while without it using arms like the ones in the pic?