poormxdad

Gents,
I'm putting the front suspension back in after replacing lower control arm bushings and giving everything a general cleaning. One of my front ball joint horizontal bolts is shorter than it should be. I can't swear it's always been that way or if I effed up somehow, but I'm leaning towards the former.
Could some kind soul please provide me the proper length of that bolt. I believe the other one should be longer, too.
Thanks,

tomrev

As long as the bolt can pass thru 100% of the nut threads all is good. Not sure if I'm following your question fully? This is the thru bolt the pass's thru the LCA?

poormxdad

Yes it is the one that passes through the LCA, and it does NOT go all the way through. I need about four more threads. The one on the other side just barely makes it all the way through.
I also confirmed I did not mix them up with the lower shock bolts (which seems way too long for what they need to do)...
Thanks,

codrus

Did you have both sides apart at the same time? The lower shock bolt is shorter, maybe you've got both of those on one side and both of the ball joint bolts on the other?

--Ian

poormxdad

Nope. I have (had) both sides apart and did the bolt comparison before I started the reassembly. Just seems odd that I didn't notice before. The only bolts of similar length are for the transmission, and they don't have the same thread pitch. There's no way to mix them up. And they aren't in my spare bolt box.

Of those four bolts you speak of, the two shortest have gone on the lower shock mounts, and they are both the same length. The other two bolts are both longer than those, but they are not the same length.

tomrev

I would just get a pair of new bolts that have the correct length.

poormxdad

Alrighty then... I finally figured it out.

I picked up these front LCAs from a part out car and installed them about this time last year. The driver's side LCA has a washer spot-welded on both sides where the bolt goes through for the ball joint. (See the attached, but I only took one pic). The passenger side does not, nor do the two LCAs that were replaced. Why would these washers be there? The three spot-welds look factory or professionally done.

poormxdad

Did I ask a stupid question? I have two pair of front LCAs and this is the only one with the welded washers. Is it a repair?

Thanks,

themonkeyman

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

These cars and parts for them have been in production for 3 decades now, being produced by Mazda and who-knows-how-many aftermarket companies.

My bet would be that that LCA you have is probably a non-oem one built of thinner sheet metal. At some point some engineer at an aftermarket company figured they could save a few bucks stamping the arm of thinner sheet and just beefing it up with a washer at the clamping point.

I wanna preface this by saying that I’m truly not trying to be a dick or come off as flippant, but I think the vast majority of us (myself included) don’t understand or share your drive to understand minute, inconsequential variances in these cars and their components, which is probably why nobody’s been replying. No great mystery or conspiracy here, just grab a longer bolt and send it.

poormxdad

I'm sad now...

wherestheboost

iTrader: (-1)

Any chance, it was from a different model year, etc? My bolts are actually the same way. The passenger side is...shy short. My crankpulley was replaced and the bolts that worked with the original did not work with the new one (too long). I saw that the new one's back plate thickness was thinner than the original. I don't know if I got the correct year, or the previous owner fixed it with another year's pulley...but new bolts solved it. Hope you get it figured out.