What if?

So today I went to grease my bushings on my Camburg UCA for the first time. I started to loosen a little when something occured to me: the UCA bolt head was at the bottom of the diagonal.* It makes more sense to me if it is as the top because then it is captured.

Its actually got me a little nervous. What happens if the UCA fails while driving, like if the bolt falls out?

*The person who installed it for me turned it around because he though it would be easier to service that way.

 

I guess a related question would be, can you extract the bolt and turn it around while the UCA is still attached to the spindle?

 

Kinda doubt it would fall out to be honest. When I started doing suspension on my truck I’m surprised it never fell apart from the factory with how not tight a lot of stuff was.

 

Lots of guys reverse it when re-installing, very normal. It will clunk like a bastard long before the bolt falls out. I've only seen one loosen off from improper torquing and it just rattled.

 

The nut can fall off and the bolt can fall out. I have seen this almost happen..... guys I was with going to do a trail with. They were doing inspections before setting out and found th nut was missing on driverside with bolt backed out a out 1/2 inch and the passenger side nut was loose but not missing.
@Redfive11 @CaptainReverso

 

Presumably this woould take a while, right? I would still be good to drive a few miles to the suspension shop, correct?

 

Yes it takes a while to accomplish, depending on the terrain your driving I assume though. They went and got the new parts and fixed it up then caught up with us on the trail.

 

@AgingDisgracefully 99.5% of the people with aftermarket upper arms reverse the bolt orientation since it's very difficult to put the bolt back in the same way. On the newer trucks most times you have to cut the bolt in half just to get the OEM arms off since there is no room for the bolt to be pulled forward. Remember the suspension is all bolted down at the factory and then they drop the body onto the frame so they're not concerned about how easy that bolt is to be removed. As long as you use a locking nut (not the OEM nut), use a little loctite and torque correctly, you'll never have an issue.

Scott @ Camburg

 

Scott, thanks so much. Just to be safe I just ordered some of your locking nuts.

 

Good point.

 

Lol. First 5 seconds in... yeah. I was definitely thinking “WHY”

 

Hah!!! I realize I posted in the wrong thread. Sorry @AgingDisgracefully

Never mind.......that other thread sucks anyways.

 

No worries man! It was a good video!