1997 GTS crack on rear upper control arm

[kris]

Hi everyone,

I have a big crack on the upper rear control arm and i am wondering if some one ever has this problem or hear
about it?
I have send an e-mail to the chrysler corp. but they only response, that the viper is out of guaranty!!!
That's not why I contact them, but to put out a warning to viper owners for this problem.
If I didn't see this crack, I probably wrecked my car, when the control arm comes loose.

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[Red Snake]

It happens from time to time. Especially on a race car. Buy a new one and swap it out.

 

[DrumrBoy]

It does happen and its not that tough to change it out. Sorry that happened to you and good that you caught it before it failed completely!

 

[ViperGTS]

Did you own the car from new?

If not, ask the previous owners whether there was an "incident"...even a small one.
ALU parts like the A-arms dont break itself easily - probably a hit? Curb? Race track? Etc...

 

[kris]

thanks for the quick response, here in belgium no one has ever heard about a crack't or broken control arm.
so i am not the only one with this problem, now i am relieved
yes, i am very glad that i caught it before it failed completely, because i want to go to the track in september to race some laps.
who knows what will hapen if i did this with the crack at 150 mph.
x builders have one from a wrecked viper for sale. can i trust them that they send me a good control arm?
it's not that i am a cheap person, but in belgium you pay for a new one just under 1000 us dollar.

 

[kris]

no, i have the car from the importer of chrysler belgium.
the say that nothing happent to the car but, still it have 20.000 miles on it in 7 months, so i don't know.
for the 15 years i own it, there where no incident and no race's, but a agree that it is not normal that a alu a-arm have a crack
from itself!

 

[kris]

sorry, i calculate the wrong way. it's just under 1700 us dollar in belgium for a new control arm.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Be glad you caught it. Here is a complete failure.

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Happens more on the lower control arm than the upper.


Check your ***.

 

[Martin2000GTS]

I posted about this about 4-5 years ago. It happened to me and a few others on the forum. Its pretty rare but there are a handful of us that have experienced it. This happened to me on my front passenger side. (I believe it was the lower a arm however) It broke at the exact same spot, I have some pictures of it somewhere. Luckily I was driving really slow and pulling into my driveway, when I came to a complete stop the car made a bang noise and dropped down a bit. I was still able to drive it all the way into the driveway safely. I bought a used part from one of the vendors on here for like $250/$300 I believe it was. My dad changed it out for me no problem in about 2 hours. And he is just a DIY'er. Martin-

 

[kris]

thank's everyone for the advice.
i have order a used control arm and they send it to me, so, next week i hope, i can changed it out and drive the snake again.
good luck to you all.

 

[plumcrazy]

have seen it a bunch of times on front lowers. same exact crack.

id change both sides out if it were mine

 

[klamathpro]

Wow, this is scary. Good thing I track my GEN1 and not my GEN2. That could be really bad on the track. I never heard of this problem; there should have been a safety recall on all of them if this happens often.

 

[Viper98912]

Thanks for the posting

 

[kris]

yes klamathpro, that is exactly the point, but from belgium i can do anything.
maybe if we all together make a complain for this very dangerous problem they will listen.
i am wondering or anybody ever have make a complain to the chrysler customer assistance center? i did!

 

[AZTVR]

Wow, this is scary. Good thing I track my GEN1 and not my GEN2.

I haven't heard a description pointing to a part specific problem here. Reports of upper rear, lower front, etc., so, I would not ignore Gen 1. If you whack the wheel hard enough you probably will crack any aluminum control arm. It probably won't bend before it cracks. Just my guess.

 

[ACRucrazy]

I am surprised an aftermarket vendor has not come up with a billet solution yet.

 

[plumcrazy]

I haven't heard a description pointing to a part specific problem here. Reports of upper rear, lower front, etc., so, I would not ignore Gen 1. If you whack the wheel hard enough you probably will crack any aluminum control arm. It probably won't bend before it cracks. Just my guess.

FYI, my front one broke on me at 25mph while hard braking, never hit a curb or anything with it. it just cracked.

 

[klamathpro]

I haven't heard a description pointing to a part specific problem here. Reports of upper rear, lower front, etc., so, I would not ignore Gen 1. If you whack the wheel hard enough you probably will crack any aluminum control arm. It probably won't bend before it cracks. Just my guess.

GEN1 has completely different control arms. All steel, and the lowers are tubular steel and can take a hard hit. You will likely break something else before you break a GEN1 control arm; nothing short of a full on accident would bend them, let alone break them. That's why the GEN2 lost 60lbs in suspension weight. I was amazed at how very different the two suspensions were when I had both on jack stands. Even the geometry is different. I never understood why the GEN2 soaked up bumps so much better until I compared them.

 

[Dan Cragin]

If the control arms are not torqued at ride height or the bolts are overtightened this is more likely to happen.

 

[AZTVR]

GEN1 has completely different control arms. All steel, and the lowers are tubular steel and can take a hard hit. You will likely break something else before you break a GEN1 control arm; nothing short of a full on accident would bend them, let alone break them. That's why the GEN2 lost 60lbs in suspension weight. I was amazed at how very different the two suspensions were when I had both on jack stands. Even the geometry is different. I never understood why the GEN2 soaked up bumps so much better until I compared them.

Thanks for the info! I don't think that I had ever read that there was such a big design change from Gen 1 to Gen2. (or I wasn't paying attention.)