Author Topic: 1969 upper control arm crack  (Read 2082 times)

Offline indianfire

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1969 upper control arm crack
« on: April 14, 2014, 01:48:52 PM »
Hello I'm was the process of restoring my upper control arms and noticed a crack. the crack is about 1/2" long and is just outside where the ball joint rivets in and the arm begins to roll. It appears to me that this possibly could have been caused by a machining flaw, due to the fact that the end of my control arm stops short and doesn't roll over the end like other pictures I've seen, but that's only speculation. The parts are off of a 69 Mach 1 Q code and  I guess I'm wondering how I should proceed. I'm trying to be as correct as possibly and the car will probably see very little drive time.
thanks in advance
Jon
Jon Grundy
1969 Mach 1 Q code 4 speed Indian fire/white

Offline Bob Gaines

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Re: 1969 upper control arm crack
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2014, 03:09:47 PM »
Hello I'm was the process of restoring my upper control arms and noticed a crack. the crack is about 1/2" long and is just outside where the ball joint rivets in and the arm begins to roll. It appears to me that this possibly could have been caused by a machining flaw, due to the fact that the end of my control arm stops short and doesn't roll over the end like other pictures I've seen, but that's only speculation. The parts are off of a 69 Mach 1 Q code and  I guess I'm wondering how I should proceed. I'm trying to be as correct as possibly and the car will probably see very little drive time.
thanks in advance
Jon
I have seen it before .Like most things it can be fixed but unless you live in Cuba and have to reuse everything better to not. Effort to fix vs. another leans towards another . The short answer is that typically it makes the most sense to replace it.
Bob Gaines,Shelby enthusiast, Shelby collector , Shelby concours judge SAAC,MCA,Mid America Shelby

Offline indianfire

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Re: 1969 upper control arm crack
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2014, 03:22:55 PM »
awesome thanks for the input i'll probably get a hold of rare parts. they seemed to have some pretty nice stuff.
Jon Grundy
1969 Mach 1 Q code 4 speed Indian fire/white

Offline J_Speegle

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Re: 1969 upper control arm crack
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2014, 04:20:13 PM »
awesome thanks for the input i'll probably get a hold of rare parts. they seemed to have some pretty nice stuff.

If your doing a restoration some pieces they have have a nice while others sill require more work to redo what they do to the parts :(  and others are not close enough to get by. Like every supplier (in general) you need to pick and choose through their offerings :)

Some suppliers do powder coating while just makes the effort not worth the extra work as one example
Jeff Speegle

Anything worth doing is worth doing concours ;)

Offline Rsanter

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Re: 1969 upper control arm crack
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2014, 09:02:46 PM »
Typical stress crack
I have seen many of those arms break off the entire ball joint area.
If you are just a show car and must have those correct original arms then have it TIG welded.
If it's a driver then replace it....no questions

Bob
Bob

66 mustang GT conv 289 AT deluxe int - high school car
66 mustang conv 289 -3x2v-4spd deluxe int
68 mustang conv basket case
69 mustang conv 302 AT
66 mustang coupe hotrod/racecar