how strong are front control arms? can I rest car weight on them?

I want to play with alignment and camber, can I put a jackstand between the ball joint and the caster control rod, and rest the car on it? I want the weight of the car on the suspension without the wheels and tires, is this ok? Done it on other cars, but our front control arm looks pretty weak

Kevin Cozzo said:

I want to play with alignment and camber, can I put a jackstand between the ball joint and the caster control rod, and rest the car on it? I want the weight of the car on the suspension without the wheels and tires, is this ok? Done it on other cars, but our front control arm looks pretty weak

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Yes, that will be fine. You are talking about maybe 500 pounds load on each arm.

Yes on the cast arm, not on the radius control rod as that will bend.

lol

guess I'm not the only one that don't care about fireworks- LOL....sent GF with her sister to go watch em, got more important things...priorities- HA! as Mr Natoli would say

I started putting the weight down on them, but then changed my mind, when I put the arms on jackstands, and let the weight down, the arms don't stay perpendicular to the stand. I wanted to set it up, and be able to do everything, but it didn't look safe....used 2 jacks under each ball joint nut to measure camber, then I will put on the wheels and use ramps to get under and adjust the alignment. Thanks fellas

kev dawg

put the stands right inside the front ball joints. in fact, if the stands are tall enough take the center of the stand out and set the ball joint inside. only problem there is putting the rim/tire on to re check your settings.
mikemo