Locating lower control arm..

[mongoose]

square body lower to be exact.

I have the u-bolts finger tight, and i can't decide where the lower arm should be before i tighten it up.. do i let the spring locate it? do i line up the upper and lower ball joints so they are inline? should I jack up the lower arm and put in the u-bolts last? help..

[lolife99]

There's a dimple in the lower a-arm cross shaft,... that indexes on a pin in the u-bolt saddle.
(the front u-bolt saddle,... I believe)

[NZSquare]

Mine doesn't have the locating pins either so there was some headscratching when I pulled them off.

Best I could do was sight the hole, centre punch 180 degrees on the crosshaft from it and use that to align the u-bolts , afterwards I thought if the locating pins aren't there you could just turn the shafts so the locating hole is facing down and align the u-bolts with that maybe.

[lolife99]

The "pin" is not much more than a rivet head.
Just enought to keep the cross shaft from moving forward or backward.

[mongoose]

yeah i tightened the u bolts up a bit more and the arm sorta clicked into place.. thanks.

I was wondering what those holes in the shaft were for. =/

[mrnize]

Figured Id bump this then create a other thread..

To remove the locating rivets, do they need to be grinded off or is it as simple as using a chisel to seperate the rivets from the frame..??

Lowering my truck and found the lower arms pushed all the way back because the existing rivets are so far worn, they dont hold the shaft to the arm in place.

Thanks in advance.