Losing battle.. (LCA's)

Missing Linc'

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So I was having some issues with my passenger side front lower control arm "loosening up" and throwing the alignment way out of whack. Tightened it back down several times and for about 1500 miles its been fine. Today, while pulling out of a parking lot, the drivers side LCA does the exact same thing almost causing an accident because it completely caught me off guard. It happened at about 15mph, small dip in the road but WTF. I cant seem to figure out how somehting like this just happens. The passenger side was curbed once and it knocked it loose, understandable, but for it to just take a dirt nap for no reason has me completely dumb founded. Any input or advice? Driver error? Idk.. I was talking about crashing her the other day to collect the insurance and move on to better things but damn, I wasnt anywhere near her so she couldnt have known right? Lol Bad car karma? Is there such a thing???
 
What specifically is loosening up that you are tightening back up?

The nuts used on the suspension parts are all special one-time use nuts. If you loosen or remove one, you have to replace it with a new one. Otherwise, they will loosen up and fall off. It's mostly due to the suspension being aluminum.
 
What specifically is loosening up that you are tightening back up?

The nuts used on the suspension parts are all special one-time use nuts. If you loosen or remove one, you have to replace it with a new one. Otherwise, they will loosen up and fall off. It's mostly due to the suspension being aluminum.

I've reused some of those nuts, but am careful to use blue Lock-Tite on the fastener.
 
The rear bolt/nut on the lower control arms. Ive never had them off, they keep sliding in what Im assuming to be adjustment slots. Ive backed the nuts off a couple threads to straighten everything back out but I torque them to the 129lbs it calls for as soon as the wheels are straight and the steering wheel isnt mis-aligned.
 
I know the first question some would ask is if you checked the left side when you repaired the right? Changed my entire front end out in May. It had way too many miles on it to never have been touched so I bit the bullet and bought the pieces to be totally fresh considering it was a 2000 model with over 200,000 on the odometer.
 
So what you're saying is the nuts keep loosening up? That sounds like a fastener problem. Are you using new, factory nuts and bolts?
 
So what you're saying is the nuts keep loosening up? That sounds like a fastener problem. Are you using new, factory nuts and bolts?

Kinda, they arent really loose. I have to pull on a breaker bar pretty hard to back them off before I can adjust the arm back to where it should or needs to be.
 
Okay so now theres this too.. In this first picture Im assuming this is the engine cradle, correct? Picture 2 is of a broken bolt from what Id imagine to be a subframe connector. Pictures 3 & 4 are of the rear bolts/bushings in the LCA's and you can see how they both have moved.

engine cradle.jpg


missing bolt.jpg


RLCA.jpg


RLCAP.jpg
 
For some reason the control arm is loose in the "bracket". That would suggest to me bushings. Is the arm loose in the cradle prior to tightening the nuts? Those longitudinal pieces are for crash protection. That broken bolt should be replaced.
 

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