So in the process of replacing my upper and lower ball joints I discovered the bushings on the upper control arm were shot... that is to say beat to death (now I know what that rattling was). I decide to go the high priced route and replace them with new parts rather than scavenge a control arm from the junk yard. Of course that's before I realized the
bushing sleeves had cold welded themselves to the pivot arm so I had to buy a new pivot too. So $70 buck later plus an hour forcing these babies on with a 50 ton press (the tolerance is tight) the arm is back on.

Here's the question: Are the nuts on either side of the pivot arm meant to be drawn tight? Doing so flexes the yoke of the arm a bit so that the
teeth of the bushing insert lock into the metal of the pivot arm. When that happens the only "give" is in the rubber which I would think stresses the rubber quite a bit.

Or, are the nuts only supposed to be drawn up until they make contact with the washer so that the bushings can slip on the shafts of the pivot arm. The problem with that is when the arm moves up and down the nuts twist with the motion of the washer which is following the motion of the bushing. I'm thinking if that keeps up the nuts will go bye-bye on the highway.

Logic tells me it's a pivot to allow for the up and down motion of the control arm. The bushing sleeve has to be free to rotate on the pivot arm so the nuts should be loose. The only thing the nuts do is hold the washer in place which I assume is there strictly to keep mud and grit out from collecting between the pivot shaft arms and the bushing sleeves. Should I back off the nuts and apply some thread lock? I'm probably over thinking this, but I needed a breaker bar to bust loose these nuts when I was taking it apart (which come to think of it may be why they failed in the first place) and the mechanic in me tells me you don't leave loose fasteners.

Help me out here! I'm thinking to much!

Nope. Gots to be tight. If the inner sleeve were to carry all the up-and-down motion, it would wear out in a very short while.

The bushings are meant to flex, in this manner they can move up and down without any kind of sliding friction taking place. They positively locate the upper A-arm and provide a modicum of sound isolation.

Since the rubber itself is doing the flexing, you have to make sure the arm is in a 'neutral' position when you tighten up the nuts. Basically, figure out roughly where the arm is going normally sit, with vehicle weight on the suspension. Tighten the nuts at that point. If you tighten them at one extreme or the other of travel, it'll put undue stress on the bushings and may lead to premature failure.

Hope this makes sense............ed

I was hoping someone would say that because that's what I ended up doing. I figured the teeth on the end of the sleeves were there for biting
so I tightened 'em down when I had it up on the jack. Problem was when I lowered it off the jack the one side was way up in the air (tough rubber). I loosened the nuts and let it level out then torqued them up again and it's all good. Thanks.