A-Arm cross shaft

[tphsmith]

is there any adjustment as in forward or backward with the end cap nuts on the cross shaft to change position of the lower A-Arm. right a-arm is farther away from cross member then the left side what is the fix?????

[whatnow123]

Here is the fix, the lower shaft has a hole on one end that fits into the front cross member bracket and the shaft is clamped down by two U bolts. The shaft itself is treaded into the bushing caps. If you drop the A arm from the U bolts, you can turn the lower shaft forward or aft a couple of turns to center it. When I rebuilt mine, about two turns out from bottoming in either bushing seemed to centered the shaft in the A arm. The bushings should bottom out on the A arm.

On a side note, there isn't much movement either way that can be had from doing this. I'm thinking that since your A arm isn't aligned with the other one, I think there is a bigger problem here. My guess is that the bushings that that shaft screws into is stripped and has allowed the the A arm to shift in one direction. I know when I replaced mine, the inside bushing threads were completely worn away and basically "fell off" the shaft that was holding it. I wouldn't be driving the truck until this is disassembled and inspected. If that isn't the problem, my other guess would be that something is bent and that is causing the mis-alignment. The latter of the two would be a much bigger problem than replacing the bushings.

Hope that helps.

[john]

Maybe this pic will help. The pin and hole need to line up. That keeps the shaft from moving. Sometimes the dowel pins are missing or kerfoogled.

[BowTieOgre]

Wow im glad I read this thread. I had someone press in my trailing arm bushings and install my lower control arm shafts and he said the hole was just to get some tool in to install them. I will check when i get home to see if by chance he installed them correctly. I guess thats what I get for not having the tools or the motivation to do it myself.

[tphsmith]

I took the lower A-Arm apart tonight from the cross shaft end. the nut size is 41mm. so when I got the assembly all apart on the cross shaft, keep in mind all the parts are brand except the lower a-arm. now the rivit pin in the saddle of where the front u-bolt is located is all in tact and in perfect condidtion. I isnstalled the end caps with the shaft in its assembly location in the A-Arm and kept the end caps loose. I then lifted the a-arm up into the saddles of the cross shaft and reinstalled the nuts on the a-arms and kept them snug to make sure that the hole in the cross shaft was in the correct position then pushes and pulled on the a-arm from to back to verify the rivit pin is in the cross shaft hole. so doing this I realized there is NO adjustment fromt to back on the cross shaft it is fixed. so the passenger sidde lower a-arm on the bottom where the cross shaft runs threw is bent bad. thats why I am seeing such a big diffrence in the space between the back of the a-arm to the front of the frame cross member like a diffrence of 1/2 in from the left side to the right side because the bottom of the a-arm is pushed in and so the top of the a-arm went away from the cross member so this makes good sence to me now. I guess I need to go to the parts forum and see if anyone has a good not bent lower a-arm on the passenger side for my 72 swb 1/2 ton. any feed back is all welcome but Im real sure there is no adjustment now on the cross shaft from front to back to adjust a-arm location from the frame crossmember