1989 240sx front suspension problem

[amolao]

While replacing a blown coilover I noticed that the control arm/ TC rod assembly drops very low after removing the coilover. It drops a lot lower than the drivers side. To the point where I need to supported it or it will hit the ground (without the coilover on...). Both control arms and TC rods are fairly new and replaced last time. No damaged bushings are evident. Is this normal??

Seems that this might be the reason why the coilover blew trying to keep up with the extra work of keepin the assembly tight and high during rebounds. What should I check before I put this thing back on the road??

thanks

[5upra]

if all you did is remove coilover then sounds like sway bar links not installed...if you unbolted link, is the hardware tight on that arm?

[amolao]

sway bar is installed and tight, only the coilover is removed. You think it might be a torque issue. I read that the car needs to be on its tires while the control arm radius bolt is tightened....kind of hard when the car is so slow. I tightened both of the control arms when the car on a lift last time. But this would not explain why the drivers side is not traveling as much as the passenger side, when both were done the same way...

[5upra]

if that is what is says to do...why not do it? jack car up under the arm and retorque the bolts. I don't see how it is just swinging down to the floor if sway bar is attached on both sides...its defeating the whole purpose of the sway bar, if one side goes down then the other should follow

[amolao]

I know....

I can pull on the drivers side and the passenger side does swings up and down somewhat. But stills hangs way low, it just traveling way too much. Other than the sway bar and the TC arm there is really nothing else keeping the spindle/tire from moving other than the coilover...?? I never seen a sway bar go bad and the TC arm is fairly new and no leaks or cracks...

[OldmanPurdy]

First thing that came to mind was one of the control arm bolts being too loose so if you can't torque it under loean then just try it again on a jack. I can't visualize how one side can go significantly lower than the other side with a sway bar attached though?

[amolao]

I'm going to get a new torque wrench and recheck both side with a jack to keep tension and load on the arm. I will come back and post final results. Thanks 5upra and oldmanpurdy