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Are California Datsun 240z control arms any good?


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  • 5 months later...

I have the TTT rear control arms for several years. They are a decent product however as stated on the TTT website "They are adjustable on car." is a half truth. They are only adjustable on the car with the weight off the rear wheels. The inherent design flaw of a single control arm spindle pin running through both adjusters makes it bind when trying to adjust toe especially while the suspension is loaded. It does not compensate for the lengthening & shortening of distances between the adjusters on the spindle pin & thus binding occurs. Makes it a major PITA to adjust rear toe while the wheels are not planted on the ground.

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I have the TTT rear control arms for several years. They are a decent product however as stated on the TTT website "They are adjustable on car." is a half truth. They are only adjustable on the car with the weight off the rear wheels. The inherent design flaw of a single control arm spindle pin running through both adjusters makes it bind when trying to adjust toe especially while the suspension is loaded. It does not compensate for the lengthening & shortening of distances between the adjusters on the spindle pin & thus binding occurs. Makes it a major PITA to adjust rear toe while the wheels are not planted on the ground.

 

I'm thinking of buying these so I'm curious, are you making these adjustments on an alignment rack with slide plates or something equivalent?

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 I used the front to back string method to square up the rear track. You can't just bolt these rear control arms on & then use camber plates & walk away. Camber plates give you the total toe measurement of both wheels which is then divided by 2. But what if one wheel is further out of camber then the opposite? The thrust angle is out? To start with mounting the rear control arms 1) outboard length even on both sides with as close to neutral toe as you can get 2) Thrust angle set by taking measurements from a set points on the frame to wheel hub or tire - there are washers that act as shims on spindle pins to align this 3) camber set (if available) 4) Toe set by front to back string method. The PITA problem is when doing the toe I found the adjusters binding so I had to basically set the strings, measure, lift rear of vehicle, adjust, drop vehicle, reset string, measure results - repeat as necessary.

 

I have not taken it to a alignment shop because of the aftermarket suspension parts on it. I need to find a shop that I can work along side the tech to make these adjustments.

Edited by JohnH
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As in one of my photos above with the car on the hoist. Rear adjustment is simple with the sliding plates. You are correct as how they bind when on the ground when adjustment is trying to be made, but when on the correct hoist equipped with the right gear it is way to easy.

And as you said the shim adjustment is the hard part making both sides exactly the same. I used a plum bob and marked and measured 3 known points on each side of the car to dial in the arms. Then got it close enough to original position then drove to the work shop for a 4 wheel alignment.

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