After 215K miles I'm replacing my control arms. I've read that I need to tighten the frame bolts to spec when the car is on the ground. I'm wondering how important it is to have the car physically on the ground. Can I just put a jack under the wheel and simulate the position of the wheel when the car is resting? Or will this cause premature failure of the control arm?

Thanks is advance for the suggestions.

~Scott
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Scott K - 1994 850 Turbo

I just finished changing both control arms. It wasn't too bad. Honestly the worst part was try to tighten the bolts 120 degree after the specified torque. I didn't have an angle torque wrench so I got my protractor and marked the bolt. I then turned the bolt until it lined up with 120 degrees on my protractor. I hope that's what it means to turn an additional 120 degrees. Seemed awfully tight!

In case it helps others:
When I finished installing the control arms I put the tires back on and drove the car up on ramps to do the final tightening of the control arms to frame bolts. It was tight, but much better than trying to tighten them with the car on the ground.

~Scott
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Scott K - 1994 850 Turbo

I don't know if I would want to be under the car, even jack stands, while turning 3 bolts 120 degrees after tightening them down to 51lbs. It is a little tight, but you can see them.

The upper bolt torque is 159 INCH pounds, before turning it an additional 120 degrees.

Klaus
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Always willing to listen, just not able to take direction.

So you don't generally tighten bolts while your vehicle is on jack stands? I do it all the time, I thought it was fairly safe. Have you've seen or heard of bad jack stand experiences.

Thanks for the bolt specs.

~Scott
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Scott K - 1994 850 Turbo

Not sure the question was really answered here, but I'm not sure that it's even possible to get at the bolts with the wheel on and the car is on the ground. At any rate, use another jack to bring the wheel up to level while the car is on the stands, then tighten the bolts. Some people claim this is not necessary as the rubber will turn in the sleeve. Not so on my car, and the "ears" the bolt goes through clamps everything firmly together. You want to minimize the amount of displacement of the rubber as the shaft turns back and forth.

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'96 850T and '83 244 DL both at about 200K, '97 850T5; gone but not forgotten '81 245 and '64 Amazon

So long as I am not UNDER the car, I torque like crazy. Otherwise, I let someone else do it. My jack stands are rated for SUV (6000lbs) but I still have limited trust.

Klaus
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Always willing to listen, just not able to take direction.

So you don't generally tighten bolts while your vehicle is on jack stands? I do it all the time, I thought it was fairly safe. Have you've seen or heard of bad jack stand experiences.

Thanks for the bolt specs.

~Scott
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Scott K - 1994 850 Turbo