Replacement arms come with the end nuts unsecured and there's quite a bit of back and forth play in the shaft. I've been researching this on forums, YouTube, etc, and the shop manual gives no insight. It only discusses how to adjust things for alignment purposes. I understand how the two vertical bolts are used to adjust alignment but I just don't get the end nuts. Once they are torqued down, does the bushing protrude inwards to take up the slack or what? Both the inside and outside portion of the bushing sleeve have ridges to bite down but you could, in theory torque one side down and then the other and this would effectively lock the shaft in place but then the inner washer(s) would just be there dangling around...and it would also throw caster out of whack. Here's a link to a quick video I made:

 

Bushings likely aren't completely seated. When you torque those nuts down, all that slop should go away.

 

IIRC the last time I did those I had to torque them down three times to get them to seat right...

 

I hear what you guys are saying but the bushings are completely seated and the only way that slack is getting taken up is if when the nuts are torqued down, the nut pushes the inner sleeve inwards...which I guess is possible but just doesn't seem right.

I'll report back when I go to install them. In all my years of wrenching, I've never needed a 1 1/16" deep socket until now so I gotta wait for that to show up before I can run the nuts down and check my theory.

 

the sun was at the perfect angle...so I took a few pix for ya

is this what you are speaking about?

 

Update: I used my impact to snug the nuts down (which are an interference fit BTW) equally on both sides, stopping frequently to measure the length of the threaded piece on both sides. While doing this, I noticed the inner sleeve of the bushing does indeed start to protrude inwards toward the pivot bar and starts to take up the slack as you can see by the attached picture. Note the sleeve and inner rubber portion now protrudes past the outer sleeve. Again, I snugged the nuts down on both sides until all the slack was out and the large washer started to bind up. I can still pivot the control arm with some effort by hand and this will ensure no binding. Once I get them thrown on the van, I will do the final torque, which is 210ft. lbs according to the FSM. As many of you know, it's also important to do the final torque of any moving suspension pieces while the vehicle is resting static under it's own weight and the suspension loaded.

If anyone else tackles this job, I'd highly recommend snugging the bolts down similar to what I did prior to installation because the interference fit nuts take a significant amount of force to run them down the threads...and this would be a difficult task, in situ. Pretty simple task on a work bench with a good impact gun (I use a Milwaukee Fuel).