I've been welding the cracks in my lower (front) control arms and reinforcing them with 3/8" flat bar. The cracks appeared where the spring support plate attaches to the actual arms right next to the welds - no damage on the bolted-on side. In my earlier post on this subject, I atributed the damage to the ipd anti-sway bars that have been on there for about five years because, on one side, the sway bar anchoring U-clamp had ripped a chunk out of the frame where it attached. Now I'm having second thoughts. I'm thinking that if the anti-sway bars were going to induce metal fatigue in the lower contol arms, it would first show up in the bracket on the control arm where the anti-sway bar link rod attaches, or in the arms themselves. I don't really see how the torsion of the bar could affect the spring support plate, or could it? Could the metal fatigue come from just 45 years of spring action? (George D., you know about this stuff.) Thoughts? Experience of folks with the standard bars? BTW, there was still a good coat of paint on those control arms when I got he car, no rust, and I cleaned them down to bare metal and gave them a double POR15 treatment.
Bob S.