Raise your 'A' arm and loose your charm...

Michelle I'm glad we decided to continue on with the suspension, the first picture is of what could have been a disaster and incredibly poor workmanship potentially resulting in catastrophic failure of the front suspension .  If you look closely the mounting bracket for the top 'A' arm was mounted with bolts that were too short.  The nylock nut should have at least 2 threads beyond the nylon portion of the nut to fully engage and lock the nut, in this case you can see that the two bolts only engage the nuts about three threads and are not even close to the nylon potion of the nut that keeps it from unthreading.

In this picture the worn bushing is evident as well as the poor installation and excessive shims under the mount. 

Front view showing the thick shims 

So the question today is "why did the PO or alignment shop think that the front end needed so much camber for the front tires?" Was there damage in an accident that distorted the frame?  Was it set up for auto-crossing?  Don't know but it's interesting that it has what appear to be high end shocks on the front that are fully adjustable....

After removal of the spindle/axle/rotor. Good shot of the adjustable shock that on this side at least seems to be in good shape.

Brand of shock?  Anyone know? Has an adjustment knob on the inside that can't be seen in this photo

Lower "A' arm prior to removing the mounts and bushes, very dirty... 

Removing the old bushing, tried twisting, heating, and finally cutting (shiny area) to get it to come off.  Yes I did try penetrating oil

Pipe wrench and twisting

Cleaned and ready to install tomorrow!

Cheers