There’s plenty of praise due to vehicle owners who take some initiative, do lots of research, and decide that they’re going to save some money and fix a nagging problem themselves. It takes plenty of confidence in an era where cars and trucks are more complicated and intricately constructed than ever before, which could be intimidating to most folks.
After all, replacing fairly standard parts, changing the oil, and other low-degree of difficulty steps don’t present many opportunities to substantially damage the basic drivetrain or mechanics that help your ride stay safely on the road.
We learn from a recent TikTok clip, however, that replacing the control arm on a heavy duty truck is something that goes directly in the BAD IDEA file if you’re not a practiced mechanic who can spot bad spacing or alignment that could create massive problems elsewhere.
The damage
Creator @s-tire starts off the clip without mincing words, showing us a lower-front view of a Chevrolet Silverado Z71 truck that’s elevated so we can get an easy look at the front end. We learn that the truck’s owner decided to replace the upper and lower control arms on the driver’s side. And, here’s a shock: They did a bad job at it.
“Well, this is a big boo boo right here. Dude tried to save some money and fix the truck himself, and all that hard work for nothing. He put an upper and lower control arm on the driver’s side, and he said something wasn’t right, so he brought it to us,” we hear in the unnamed narrator’s classic Batesville, Mississippi drawl.
The problem appears to be that control arms for a given vehicle are not universal and a part made of steel instead of aluminum (or any other applicable material) may not fit properly. In the case of the Silverado we’re looking at, there’s a gap near the connection on the ball joint that’s likely already making noise and causing the wheel to “float’ because it’s not responding correctly to the steering system.
In a follow-up video we see that part of the steering system has indeed been damaged, and at least one ball joint destroyed by the incorrect installation.
Some poking around online shows us that a for job of installing a control arm can lead to drivability issues, squeaking and other noises, component failure, excessive tire wear, and alignment issues.
Should you take on the control arm yourself?
All of this should serve as a lesson that if you suspect there’s an issue with a control arm or related part on your car, get it to a professional mechanic unless you feel like rolling the dice and playing amateur grease monkey with a pretty essential part of the steering assembly.
Commenters on the clip gave the truck’s owner a bit of grace for having the best of intentions and giving the repair job their best shot.
“I did an insane amount of research before I got into reworking mine. It is shocking how many possible options there are,” one wrote in a nod to how complicated the search for replacement parts can be, even for a fairly popular, standard truck.
A fellow technician took the incident as a word of warning for those looking to save themselves a couple of bucks: “a learning experience. this teaches ppl our job is deeper than swapping bad parts”
And another pointed out that trying to save on cheaper parts appears to have backfired.
@shittytire #trucktok #cartok #cars #trucks #trucksoftiktok #carsoftiktok #car #truck #frontend #balljoints #alignment #mechanic #tireshoplife #mississippi #tireshop ♬ original sound – shittytire
“The steel ones are a lot cheaper. That’s why he got them. Try to be cheap and it ends up costing more 90% of the time,” they wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via direct message, and GM via email.
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