Now scared to drive the cat....

Lucid

Lucid

Well-known user
Aug 15, 2012
1,629
521
United Kingdom
Was under the cougar yesterday to do the rear drop-links which had become a bit of a roundtoit. And then I saw this:

CIMG0316_zpsaf192c56.jpg


Not good at all. Pretty sure the main control arm isn't meant to look like that! Looks to me as if the previous owner has maybe towed with this or something crazy? Anyway I don't trust the structural integrity now, so I guess I have a new project task at the top of my list!
 
By the look of it was done a while ago!. It will cause more tracking issues than anything else. But i would be looking for a replacment all the same.
 
Yeah I'd go with a badly placed jack! Many moons ago when I had my first Mk1 Mondeo, took it in for a puncture repair on a rear tyre. The spoon that jacked it up went in from behind the wheel and jacked it up on the control arm, the flat one. A minute roughly of jacking and I hear a very loud "oh bother me!" (That's the family friendly translation!) and turn around to see the wheel he is supposed to be removing is slowly working its way under the car at an obscure angle and the car is lowering itself. The arm had bent right up against the car and pulled the bottom of the wheel under the car. My £10 puncture fix turned into a £500 repair bill for the garage for new arm, hub, tyre, drop links, ARB, clamps etc etc as the weight if the car pushing down on that weak point damaged a fair bit. They fixed it all though so I was more than happy lol.

Maybe worth a message to Froggy to see if she has anything left from the couple of cars she's broken.
 
I seem to recall something from deep in my grey matter about the earliest MK1 mondeos popping their door glass when jacked up incorrectly!
 
That didn't happen!! Literally just the wheel folding towards the underside of the car.
 
If the rest of the box arm isnt twisted dont worry about it,use 2 pairs of vise grips and push it back in,they are pretty rigid anyway.if your wanting to replace it i believe you will be looking at drooping the subframe to gain access to the bolts,that itself can be a mare
 
What is the correct name of that part (ie the bit that's squashed). I thought it was a 'trailing arm', but the when I search eBay on that it brings up a flat/stamped piece, rather than the three-sided box section piece.

I'd like a new pair - or at least a used pair I can have refurbed - to go on at the same time as my new subframe, ARB, bushes and drop links.
 
Lower Control Arms or sometimes Radius Arms.

Trailing arms are the bits that run fore-aft and tie the lower control arm to the bodyshell under the sill in front of the wheel arch.


Think of it this way:

Lower control arms - they hold the wheel at a set distance from the car's fore/aft centreline. There are two of them independant to each other, so the wheel can skew them and move forwards or backwards relative to the car. The Trailing Arm fixes the position of the wheel relative to the front of the wheel arch, preventing it from moving up or down.

That leaves the coilover spring and damper assembly, which keeps the wheel upright and controls it's vertical movement relative to the car.

If the Lower Control Arms were rigidly joined together and gave a triangulated mount to the subframe, they would be Wishbone type LCAs rather than Blade type LCAs. The Blade types need trailing arms in lieu of this rigid wishbone arrangement.


That's my boring essay for 2013 taken care of :LOL:
 
I had the same problem a couple of months ago and managed to get a spare but still not got round to fitting it yet-but i did straighten the old one out and had no problems,it even passed the mot with it
rearsubframe.jpg
 
Relliott6879 said:
What is the correct name of that part (ie the bit that's squashed). I thought it was a 'trailing arm', but the when I search eBay on that it brings up a flat/stamped piece, rather than the three-sided box section piece.

I'd like a new pair - or at least a used pair I can have refurbed - to go on at the same time as my new subframe, ARB, bushes and drop links.
Click to expand...

Hi Rich, I have 4 sets of refurbished control box arms, pm me if interested. I could post at the same time as the subframe
 
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