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[Vegas_boy]

I'm looking for someone to do a small welding job on my new lower control arm(should be here within the next few days). I need the 2 shock bolts welded to prevent them from breaking loose and spinning free when attempting to tighten the bolts for my shocks (the factory ones broke free and were a pain to finally tighten down).

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Rather than tack weld them and risk causing a problem with the heat treatment of the control arms, you might consider using Loc Tite ® 270 high temp and high strength thread locker on them. That should do it nicely,and if one were to break off or have the threads get buggered up, by heating the bolt to 600° F, you can then remove it with hand tools.

I can't tell from the picture, does the head of the bolt allow you to remove it from the back side to put the LOC Tite® on , or is it more of a pressed in stud, like the wheel lugs studs?

If that is the case (pressed in stud) then you will need to weld them.

I would suggest just a quick MIG or TIG Tack weld at four equally spaced points around the head of the stud, with lots of head sinking done around it.
Tack one stud in one spot, move to the next stud, when you have put down four tacks, one on each of the four studs, then go back to the first stud and give it the second tack, by then it will have bled off the heat from the first weld. Put the second tack 180° opposite the first.

Do all four again one tack per stud, repeat until all four studs have four tack welds each, spaced 90° apart, with the tacks being about 1/16" - 1/8" wide each, can't tell what the diameter of the studs are to give you a better idea of how big the tacks should be, but they don't have to be very large at any rate.

Edit: OK, just got to a real computer and blew the pictures up, those are pressed in studs, so it will likely need the Tack welding instead of the Loc Tite®

 

[Vegas_boy]

Rather than tack weld them and risk causing a problem with the heat treatment of the control arms, you might consider using Loc Tite ® 270 high temp and high strength thread locker on them. That should do it nicely,and if one were to break off or have the threads get buggered up, by heating the bolt to 600° F, you can then remove it with hand tools.

I can't tell from the picture, does the head of the bolt allow you to remove it from the back side to put the LOC Tite® on , or is it more of a pressed in stud, like the wheel lugs studs?

If that is the case (pressed in stud) then you will need to weld them.

I would suggest just a quick MIG or TIG Tack weld at four equally spaced points around the head of the stud, with lots of head sinking done around it.
Tack one stud in one spot, move to the next stud, when you have put down four tacks, one on each of the four studs, then go back to the first stud and give it the second tack, by then it will have bled off the heat from the first weld. Put the second tack 180° opposite the first.

Do all four again one tack per stud, repeat until all four studs have four tack welds each, spaced 90° apart, with the tacks being about 1/16" - 1/8" wide each, can't tell what the diameter of the studs are to give you a better idea of how big the tacks should be, but they don't have to be very large at any rate.

Edit: OK, just got to a real computer and blew the pictures up, those are pressed in studs, so it will likely need the Tack welding instead of the Loc Tite®

Yeah pressed in bolts. But I was actually told by one of the customer service reps that the bolts "are secured enough", I'll wait till I receive them to look them over but the bolt heads are completely enclosed by the coil springs making it pretty difficult to tighten them. Like you said, a tack weld would probably save me a headache in the future. :banghead:

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

I doubt that you could tighten the studs even with access to the head side of it, there is no socket for a Hex wrench, and the head isn't hexagonal, so no way to tighten it down, and it isn't threaded into the hole in the control arm, it's pressed in, cutting spline grooves as it is pressed home.

They are just like wheel lug nut studs, the head is flat and smooth, and there is a spline on the neck of the bolt just below the head.

The hole they are pressed into is undersized, which results in what we call an "Interference fit" in machinist's lingo.

The leading edge of the spline is beveled a bit, so it starts into the hole (under a whole lot of pressure, usually tons per square inch) easy, then the splines, which are hardened , cut grooves into the walls of the hole.

By the time the head bottoms out against the metal around the hole, the splines are done cutting grooves, and the stud is locked in pretty tight, both against being pushed straight back out, and against rotating.

If you don't tighten the nuts down on the studs too tight (look up the torque specifications, and use a torque wrench, or tell me the diameter of the studs and I will tell you the torque specs for it) they should hold as is.

If they are tack welded in, and a stud ever breaks, gets bent, or gets mangled to the point that you can't clean up the threads on it with a re-threading die of the proper diameter and pitch, you will have to replace the control arm most likely.

Although with careful grinding with a die grinder or Dremel®, I suppose it might be possible to grind away the tack welds and then press out the stud, and put a new one in.

But remember when you press in that new stud, it will either have to be oversized in the area of the splines to cut a new set of grooves, or you will have to be very careful to get the splines aligned between the grooves the original stud cut, so that the new stud's splines can cut their own grooves.

That latter situation is not optimal by the way, as the amount of metal around each of the new grooves is less than what it would be with a fresh hole, one that had never had a stud pressed into it.

Here's a picture of a stud where you can see the splines I am talking about.

 

[Ronsmag]

Welder

Josey he lives near Windmill and bermuda 702-348-5726 he makes targets and target stands also

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Or if you can catch me at home and want to drive all the way to Pahrump, I can MIG tack weld it for ya, or Oxy-Actylene if I get off my butt and get my tanks refilled.

I could stick weld it also, but my stick rig doesn't go to a low enough amperage, would be too much risk of burn through.

 

[Vegas_boy]

Or if you can catch me at home and want to drive all the way to Pahrump, I can MIG tack weld it for ya, or Oxy-Actylene if I get off my butt and get my tanks refilled.

I could stick weld it also, but my stick rig doesn't go to a low enough amperage, would be too much risk of burn through.

I appreciate the offer and the tips! I got to talking with a coworker about his el Camino restoration, turns out he's got a couple welders and he will be helping me out this weekend, I'll make sure to show him your advice as well!

While I'm here, might as well post a picture of what happens when you don't fix your suspension problems in a timely matter haha

Don't let your problems get to this point, felt like driving over back to back speed bumps

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

I'd suggest putting some wet with cold water shop cloths around the studs as heat sinks, and also pressed up against the under side of the control arm too for the same reason, you want the heat confined to just the head of the stud and the control arm right around the stud's head.
In other words as small an area as possible to prevent warping and changing the heat treatment of a critical suspension component.