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Upper control arms.

@Stoney have you checked your local Napa or autozone to see if they have it in stock? I would suggest removing your suspected bad control arm and take it up to that store and then set them side by side to verify shape and length. if all matches up, save the $$ and rebuild it with a good ball joint and poly bushings. unless the bar on the arm is bent, it will never go bad. only the ball joint and bushing go bad.

using the polyurethane bushings call for re-using the outer steel sleeve in the old bushing so you just need to burn or melt the rubber out saving the outer sleeve and sometimes the inner sleeve too. the ball joint just bolts to install, so no press needed there.

Now the lower arm can get deformed rather easily being made from stamped steel. if going with the poly bushings, you can always have the outer sleeves tack welded in if it's loose fit. the lowers have the tendancy of the press fit ball joint to get loose causing the need to be replaced. I really wish they made forged steel lowers for the 2 wheel drive variety trucks.
 
Something else I didn't think about till now is when your ball joint broke and forced the wheel up in to the back into the fender, the mounting points on the frame can get tweaked both on the uppers and the lowers. the arms might not be where the issue is but the mounts on the frame.
 
@dbrannon79 the lower arm on that side is pretty new so less likely to be the problem I'd think. Although who knows...
Good point about the brackets though.. I don't own torch's or welders so after paying someone to do it ,I'd probably come out about the same as far as the bushings. Plus cab fare to get to them... I'd thought same thing about comparing new to old. I ordered one from AutoZone, no way in hell I'd actually buy/keep it..just want it for comparison.. I'll have to buy it bring it home compare it and then return it... I'm inclined to think it's the bushings or arm is bent . I would think that if the brackets were tweaked that bad to make the top of the tire be in almost 2 in it would be pretty easy to tell, but i could be wrong
 
something you can do is get a small level that has a magnet on one side, put the truck on a level slab (verify if level) pull the front tires off and support the truck by the lower arms as far out on the ends as you can near the ball joints so the springs are somewhat compressed by the weight of the truck. place the level on the rotors flat surface. you want the rotor surface or tire mounting surface to be a close as possible to level up and down.
 
Stoney said:
View attachment 83844View attachment 83845
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that doesn't look right. the bushing look like they are adjusted inwards which would make the top of the tire go in from the looks of your photos. maybe others will chime in on this.

look at the bolts that mount the arm and see if the bolt is towards the engine side or the other way. both of those bolts are eccentric bolts meaning that if you were to loosen the nut slightly and turn the bolt head the entire bushing will slide in or out for adjustment as long as the "knock-outs" have been removed. post a pic of them if you can.
 
ok the rear are about centered and the front on both are slightly outward for their adjustment. there are a couple of other things to check before making any adjustment. with both tires pointed straight, eyeballing both left and right sides, which looks to have the tire where the top is leaning in? (the problem child)

take a good look at the lower bushings to see if you see any indication of torn rubber, or if you can tell if the bolt is not centered through the bushing (looking for bad lower control arm bushings here) Before firing anything at the upper (parts or labor) the lowers need to be verified they are in tact and in good shape.
 
I can't get under it tonight. It's parked in a oil puddle at the moment. But I'll look in morning at the lower bushings..I only put that lower arm in a year ago or so. If it's already bad ,rock auto better replace it. Almost took my head off trying to get that spring back in.lol
 
If it's been to an alignment shop before and they had to make adjustments, most likely the knock-outs have already been removed. if not you will have to remove both upper control arms to get to them.

Read here to better describe what they are and how to remove them. this is on a 1/2 ton, but the knock outs are the same

OBS Camber/Caster Knock-outs - how to tell if you have them.

This info is borrowed from fullsizechevy.com. I searched for an info here, but came up empty. What the knockouts are: When the OBS trucks left the line, you couldn't adjust the camber or caster because the upper control arm mounts were fixed. On side of each mounting point had a circular...
www.gmt400.com www.gmt400.com

EDIT: our trucks have the cam bolts installed from factory.
 
dbrannon79 said:
ok the rear are about centered and the front on both are slightly outward for their adjustment. there are a couple of other things to check before making any adjustment. with both tires pointed straight, eyeballing both left and right sides, which looks to have the tire where the top is leaning in? (the problem child)

take a good look at the lower bushings to see if you see any indication of torn rubber, or if you can tell if the bolt is not centered through the bushing (looking for bad lower control arm bushings here) Before firing anything at the upper (parts or labor) the lowers need to be verified they are in tact and in good shape.
Click to expand...
Do you mean which side of the truck? It's passenger side tire that's leaning in.
 
Most recently no.. driver side broke about a month ago... But that was the first time the driver side one had broken since a week after I bought the truck 6 or 7 years ago. Passenger side one is the one that has broken multiple times... The shop I took it to last week said the driver side was perfect.
Keep in mind it has not had an alignment in a couple years. And has busted a couple ball joints since then... I always eyeballed the tie rod when I put the new one in... Or counted the threads on it... I don't think any of the shops ever tried to adjust the caster and camber... They just adjusted the toe. After making a few phone calls pretty much every shop around here charges extra to adjust Caster and camber and I would remember if they charged me extra..
 
Stoney said:
Most recently no.. driver side broke about a month ago... But that was the first time the driver side one had broken since a week after I bought the truck 6 or 7 years ago. Passenger side one is the one that has broken multiple times... The shop I took it to last week said the driver side was perfect.
Keep in mind it has not had an alignment in a couple years. And has busted a couple ball joints since then... I always eyeballed the tie rod when I put the new one in... Or counted the threads on it... I don't think any of the shops ever tried to adjust the caster and camber... They just adjusted the toe. After making a few phone calls pretty much every shop around here charges extra to adjust Caster and camber and I would remember if they charged me extra..
Click to expand...
You shall forever be known as the ball buster on TheTruckStop.
 
How is your ride height in the front. not that this is any issue, but I know on this design of suspension, the further up the wheel goes into the fender (normal travel) the angle changes same for downward travel. a good example would be to jack up the front end supporting from the center cross member so the wheels are off the ground. if you look at the angle of the tires you'll see the wheels top will be inward. sagging springs where it sits low and it will be the opposite where the top of the wheels will be outward.

just asking these questions before getting into the beef of where the problem might be.
 
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