DC5 Rear upper control arm install
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Aim: To replace the DC5 rear upper arms with camber adjustable items
Things you will need:
10mm socket
17mm socket
Breaker bar
Torque wrench
Various extensions
17mm spanner
10mm spanner
Jack
Jack stands
Adjustable shifter
Things that I used that might make your life easier or were unique to the Hardrace arms I was putting in:
17mm ratcheting spanner
10mm ratcheting spanner
3/4" spanner
3/4" socket
Various cable ties
Sidecutters
Anti-seize
Figure 1: All the tools I used for the install.
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Figure 2: The relevant page from the workshop manual
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Step 1: Place the car on a solid level surface with the handbrake on. Loosen all the rear wheel nuts, refer Figure 3. Raise the car using the jack to as high as practicable. Place jack stands under the two rear jack points. Lower the car onto the stands and give the car a shove to make sure that it is stable. Remove the rear wheels and you should be faced with something like what is shown in Figure 4. The upper control arm that we are replacing is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 3: Loosening the wheel nuts
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Figure 4: Wheel removed
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Figure 5: OEM upper control arm
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Step 2: Loosen and remove the outer bolt holding the upper control arm to the knuckle using a 17mm socket and breaker bar, refer to Figure 6. Loosen and remove the bolt holding the ABS line bracket to the control arm using a 10mm spanner or socket, put the ABS line to the side. Loosen and remove the two inner bolts holding the control arm to the chassis using a 17mm spanner or socket. Refer to Figure 7. You should now have in your hand the OEM control arm pictured in Figure 8. Repeat for the other side.
Figure 6: Loosening the outer bolt
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Figure 7: Loosening the two inner bolts
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Figure 8: OEM upper control arm removed
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Step 3: If you are installing aftermarket length adjustable control arms like I was, set the desired length. I set mine a little longer than the OEM arms because I wanted slightly less camber, ensure that approximately equal amounts of thread are showing on both the inner and outer ends of the control arm. Tighten the lock nuts on the control arm only hand tight at this point. Refer to Figure 9.
Install the control arm in the reverse order of removal ignoring the ABS line at this point if your aftermarket arm doesn't have provision for it like my Hardrace arms. Install the three main bolts holding the arm in only loosely at this point. Figure 10 shows the arm installed. Tighten the lock nuts on the control arm at this point with a spanner if you have the right size, or an adjustable shifter like I did.
Figure 9: OEM control arm compared to aftermarket arm
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Figure 10: Aftermarket arm installed
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Step 4: Cable tie the ABS line bracket to the arm as shown in Figure 11. This step is only needed if your arms don't come with provision for the OEM bracket, if they do then install the bracket and torque the small bolt holding it in place to 22Nm. The next step is to torque the two inner bolts on the upper control arm to 59Nm as shown in Figure 12. Normal practice is to tighten all suspension bolts with the suspension loaded and the car on the ground but the design of the inner bush on the DC5 upper control arm makes this unnecessary.
Figure 11: Brake line bracket cable tied
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Figure 12: Torqueing inner bolts
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Step 5: Replace the wheels and moderately tighten the wheel nuts. Lower the car onto ramps or some other similar raised surface to allow you to access the outer bolt of the rear upper control arm. Torque both outer bolts to 59Nm. This can be difficult to do from under the car so the easier way to do it is to place a jack underneath the hub with the wheel off and jack the suspension up to load it and then tighten the outer bolt up to the specified 59Nm.
Step 6: Lower the car, torque up the wheel nuts to 110Nm or so. Drive cautiously to get a wheel alignment and you are done. Enjoy the freedom to adjust your rear camber at will.
Feel free to make comment if anything isn't clear or ask any questions.
