CAN SOMEONE TELL ME THE BEST WAY TO REPLACE REAR CONTROL ARMS ON '88 REGAL

[olivoylfiregirl]

My husband and I were out the other night and his '88 buick regal started to fish tail. He got it pulled off of the road and we had a look. The left rear wheel decided to take off in it's own direction. One of the left rear contol arms rusted though and broke in two. I need to replace all 4 of them and I should change the upper control arms too. My guestion is what is the best way?? #1 is remove the gas tank and undo the lower contol arms up there or #2 Lower the whole rear suspension system from the body, replace what needs to be replaced and put it back. I myself think #2 would be easier in the long run. Someone please let me know which is better or if there another way:think:

[jman093]

Not sure what you are talking about by control arms. Is the trailing arm broke, or did the lateral links break? There is no upper control arm either. The trailing arm can be easily replaced with taking off nothing else and the rear lateral link can be as well. To change the front lateral link IMO, it's easier to drop the tank if you have a lift, easier to lower the subframe if on the ground.

[BXX]

If the car has suspension parts rotting away, I would stand back, take a careful look at the rest of underneath the car and its overall condition and determine whether or not its worth saving.

 

A picture would definately help here.

 

The arm on each side going from the 'wheel' up to the body towards the front are trailing arms. If they break, simple repair.

 

If the two arms on each side going side to side from the 'wheel' to the rear subframe are broke, your best bet is to drop the subframe out to replace them. The RR brake line runs above the subframe and will prolly get damaged, so expect to repair that.

 

The other option is to drop the gas tank, but seeming the arms have rotted apart, im sure dropping the gas tank will require new straps along with repair rusted fuel lines that will get broken in the process.

[Dirkdaddy]

My '00 Olds had a similar problem recently, but in Texas (car was from up north) I found a junkyard rear-end complete for $125. On my car at least, the frame was fine, its made of completely different metal than the suspension. Your car is different year so who knows w/o looking at it. For me I was able to swap everything, but the rear most trailing arm bolts were tough to remove, they had dissimilar metals and had to be twisted with a air wrench to break loose then used a big hammer to drive out, otherwise its pretty straight forward, but get alignment done afterwards. And on these cars I doubt your is much different, there is no upper control arm at least on mine, it uses struts to locate the top of the suspension.

 

As far as the order of operations, it can vary, but remove speed sensor wires if equipped, parking brake lines, make sure car is safely supported, remove strut bolts (big hammer), then others. good luck.