From Hemmings: cracks in the Lower Control Arms?

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Hemmings has a puzzling piece about something they discovered while doing some 1964-67 GM A-body restorations.  The title kind of says it all:

Look For Dangerous Cracks In Your 1964-’67 GM A-Body’s Lower Control Arms
[url=https://www.hemmings.com/stories/how-to/chassis-suspension/look-for-dangerous-cracks-in-your-1964-67-gm-a-bodys-lower-control-arms/]https://www.hemmings.com/stories/how-to/chassis-suspension/look-for-dangerous-cracks-in-your-1964-67-gm-a-bodys-lower-control-arms/[/url]

Considering that these cars are between 55 and 60 years old, it is a surprise to me anyway that this would not have gone noticed until now.

What is the opinion of the experts on this forum about these observations?

Edouard

[schlepcar]

Is states that if you converted to tubular control arms this won?t be an issue?..lol. 64-72 GM A- bodies all use the same arms and I have never seen a cracked one that wasn?t the result of collision or improper ball joint installation. I think I will take my chances because mine are not cracked and I didn?t want to put aftermarket parts on and keep them there for 60 years to see if they were  as good as the originals. Good article for people wanting to fix things that are not broke?I appreciate you bringing it up because it reminds me of the several deaths that supposedly created a recall of millions of air bags. Just for kicks I wonder if ANYONE on here has ever developed a cracked control arm under normal driving circumstances. The cracked arm in the article looks like a typical ball joint installation gone wrong.

[35chevcoupe]

Yeah I'm not so sure i believe many of these A arms cracked . I actually run these on the front of our dirt race car chassis and they take a severe beating and I've NEVER seen one crack like the ones they showed . They reproduce these a arms and ill tell ya right now that the originals are much tougher than the repops .

[schlepcar]

Same thing I was thinking?there were a lot of guys building circle track cars that were only using the 64-72 arms. I still have a few that I saved from rusty frames that look like new after they were blasted. I think it is common just to see articles trying to sell parts but often the original stuff was never an issue. It was cool seeing all the pre-war cars that Loren had posted?.I wonder how many of those guys want to put on aftermarket parts to make it better. Sometimes it is the only option but I don?t see Chucks car getting car show awards if it was built from a catalogue?the originality and rarity is part of what makes it a sight to see. It was just too new to be pictured with all those old Buicks?.lol

[TrunkMonkey]

I would like to know the origin of the damage in this image, than to suspect lower stamped steel components were cracking without good cause.

Certainly 60 years and who knows how much lack of maintenance or poor care in driving contribute to failures, but things outside of the control of the engineering or specified correct maintenance and operation cannot be ignored.

Greater issues are those with extreme geometry mods or adjustments and incorrect back spacing, spacers and such that put undo and incorrect stress on the components beyond design limits.

(FWIW, I have all new tube and forged suspension on both my cars.)

[Jim]

Hi, I'm  mostly familiar with 68-70 a body's using the frames on multiple streetrods and never saw or had a problem with the stock arms  over the  last 45 or so years.Jim