Since swapping to the new tubular upper control arms, I noticed that my car feels very stiff. I thought it was just a Gen3 thing until I unbolted the two sides of each control arm and tried to rotate them by hand. They all require tremendous force to rotate around the pivot and I have been told that they should rotate easily with just pushing them with 1 finger. I tried grinding down each end of the brass bushings so that the pivot tube would stick out a bit further. This definitely helped, but it still takes a good amount of force to rotate the arm back and forth. My only thought now is that the pivot tubes are too tight inside the brass bushings. Am I on the right track or am I going too far? I have a few questions.

1. How easy should the upper control arms pivot?
2. How tight should the pivot bolt be? I tighten them until the mounting shim in the picture stops rotating with the control arm. Is that the correct way?

I appreciate any help. Thanks.

You need to hone the inside of the bushings to allow the pivot tube to rotate freely. You can use a brake hone and drill with some WD-40. Go slowly and fit check often you don't want it to be too sloppy.

You can also get a reamer tool that is the right size. This should be done to all new bushing and if there is any binding problem. This will true up the bushings,like honing a engine cylinder block.

In the 70's I worked in an auto parts store with a machine shop. Big trucks with solid front axles often needed the front spindles rebuilt with new bushings. Find a machine shop that hones spindle bushings to match new king pins. Bring the dog bone and rocker arm with the new bushings installed and they can hone the bushings for a near perfect fit.

By the way, is there a recommended clearance measurement between the dog bone and bushing?

bob gardner wrote:You need to hone the inside of the bushings to allow the pivot tube to rotate freely. You can use a brake hone and drill with some WD-40. Go slowly and fit check often you don't want it to be too sloppy.

I just bought the OEM Adjustable Brake Cylinder Hone and honed out the brass bushings on my UCA. WOW!!! What a difference that made. I can't believe I ran 2 weekends without doing this. I hope I can feel my car a little better now. I also found the recommended torque setting of 50ft.lbs. for the dog bone bolt.

Thanks gentlemen. I wish I would have posted this before grinding down the ends of the brass bushings so much...hopefully I didn't go too far and develop movement in that direction. Thanks again and hope to see you guys at the track one of these days.