Hey guys, I inherited a quite the project and I have now run into another issue. I have just replaced the upper/lower control arms, ball joints, tie rods, and 4 new calipers. I went to replace the link bushings on the front sway bar before I finished things off and now I have a new issue. The sway bar does not fit with the new control arms. Once I compared the old ones I could see that the connection for the sway bar was in a different spot. I double checked my parts numbers with Moog and found that I have the right control arms installed so now i'm trying to figure out why things seem out of place. Has anyone ran into this issue? Is it possible the previous owner installed the wrong sway bar and then modified his control arms and now I'm stuck with this? Or do i have the wrong part installed even though the part number listed is correct? I'm thinking I will just cut the bracket off and re-weld it where I need it but just looking for some insight. I did a rough measurement and the sway bar is 42 inches bolt center to center. I can't seem to find dimensions online so again I'm not sure if that is the source of the problem or not. This is a 2005 Blazer ZR2.

Thanks guys!

Alex

This is the new control arm. Notice the mounting point for the sway bar is off center of the strut.
This is the control arm I removed. It doesn't look like a factory weld and you can see its a different mounting point for the sway bar.

 

I don't have a ZR2, but check out this thread I made a few years ago: https://blazerforum.com/forum/2nd-ge...caution-79063/

Seems to be an on going issue with Moog. Might have to bite the bullet and go with Dorman. But a word of advice: Replace the crappy ball joint that comes with it with something more quality before even installing the CA. The balljoint on my Dorman CA failed less than a year after it was replaced.

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately I have already installed the control arms and at this point I'm thinking its easier to cut the bracket off and re-weld it where it should be rather than tear everything out. I am going to contact Moog and try to get some money out of them for the inconvenience. Its pretty ****ting knowing that Moog is aware customers are having issues and not addressing it properly. I bought these parts through a third party ( PartSource) so I wonder if they will lay blame on them.

 

Yeah I had no means to fabricate anything so I had to get the Dorman.

Rock Auto actually contacted Moog when I made the return claim and I think (if memory serves correct, it's been a few years) that Moog insisted that I had the correct part. Good luck.

 

Hopefully there are decent about it. But if they play hardball I'll return the favor!

 

When you compared old vrs new lower control arm anti-sway bar mounting locations, did you also compare the length of the two CAs? Reason for asking is that I think the ZR2 suspension has a wider track than standard Blazers; previous owner could have installed wrong CAs, Moog put wrong CAs in correct box....

Let me measure the length of the sway bar on my '02 standard; will be a bit as I need the sun to come up so I can see.

 

I measured 37.5" center-center bolt hole installed.

 

My measurements center to center are about 42" on the sway bar but Control Arm to Control Arm would be closer to 44". I'm just going to cut of the tab and re-weld it where it aligns with the sway bar and hopefully Moog will refund some money. I'm sure it will work just fine but it is irritating that brand new parts don't fit properly!

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

Just a side note; your 2005 ZR2 must be from Canada as 2004 was the last year for US models...so perhaps you got control arms for a TrailBlazer instead of a S10 Blazer.

Just a thought.

 

Definitely not for a TrailBlazer. TrailBlazers use a coil spring front end, so the LCA on a TrailBlazer doesn't even have a mounting spot for torsion bars and a different alignment mounting bolts, so he wouldn't have been able to install them on an S-Series Blazer.


Perhaps the previous owner replaced the ZR2 sway bar with one from a normal Blazer? I do know that there are different thickness sway bars available on different models of Blazer, depending on the suspension package, and I'm pretty sure that the sway bar on the ZR2 is several inches wider than the normal Blazer. It's possible that the PO swapped out the sway bar for one of a different thickness, and modified the sway bar tab on the factory control arms to fit the shorter sway bar?


On the other hand, this isn't the first time I've heard about aftermarket control arms having the sway bar tab in the wrong spot. I'm not sure if Moog just had a bad batch made up or what, but it does seem weird.