Hello everyone,

I had new front sway-bar bushings, sway bar end links and lower control arms installed + alignment in the front end of the X to cure a terrible front rattling that was driving me insane. This seems to have taken care of the matter.

However, something my mechanic said concerned me quite a bit: he mentioned that the bolts holding the control arms where in upside down meaning the head of the screw was on top and they had to drop the entire suspension to get these screws out. He said he installed them from the bottom, meaning that if I ever needed to replace them again it would be easier to replace, and this is how they should be. Frankly, I have no idea what he is talking about (reason why I outsourced the job to him instead of doing it myself). Does this sound right? I don't want anything falling apart because these screws are not in correctly.


Thanks!

 

Normally the bolt is installed pointing 'down or aft' so that if the nut falls off the bolt, it will have a better chance of staying in place.

I was taught that procedure when I went to A&P school.
That is standard for most bolt installations in that industry.

Sometimes the bolts are either designed to be installed differently for clearance etc. (engineers do what they do) or installed incorrectly by a previous repair.

Most cars are NOT designed for ease of maintenance!!!!!

bob gauff

 

Funny because me and my brother in law had to replace the passenger side lower arm and the nut was upside down as well , we had to drop the suspension a bit to get that damn thing out. Installed it pointing up. Nearly impossible to put pointing down the way it was.

 

You mechanic is wrong, the bolt was installed correctly with the nut at the bottom. However, I too have replaced my lower control arms and I also installed them "backwards" so the nut is at the top to make it easier to remove again later.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies.

It sounds like it's installed pointing down from the factory, but it's common practice to install pointing up. i am assuming no one has had any problems doing this

 

I've had mine installed that way for over 4k miles so far with no problems. Once and a while I check them, just for peace of mind really, haven't loosened or anything.

 

Great! I was thinking the car was hit or something! Why I couldn't get that bolt out easily was a mystery to me... installing it would have been murder - upside down with some Loctite - DUN!