1966 Eldorado.
So, as the tie strut bushings and the spherical joint seals were (severely) damaged, I went ahead to replace them.
In order to replace the seals from the upper control arms, I removed the upper control arms (as both camber eccentrics where frozen to the spherical joint stud. And in order to get to do that, the lower control arm needs to be lowered and the spring taken out. Did all that, replaced the seals (including new grease for the joints) and put everything back together. Now I want to install the tie struts including new bushings. However, the mounting holes from the tie strut do not line up with the holes in the lower control arm. The lower control arms seem to be too far forward. On the passengers side they are off by about an inch and on the drivers side by about half an inch.
To see if could align them with a thick screwdriver I have also loosened the lower control arm pivot bolt nut.
What is going on? The rear locknut of the tie struts are still were the where when it was still on the car.
As the car needs to be aligned anyway (camber, caster and toe in), should I just loosen the rear locknuts, install the tie struts, tighten the locknuts closely to where they were and then let the shop do the adjustment during the alignment?
I did notice that the new bushings have a different shape than the old ones. That might be the cause for the holes not lining up. In theory this can be compensated for with the adjustment, no?
I just finished replacing the strut rod bushings on my '61 DeVille. I had the same problem you are describing. The control arms needed to be pulled to the rear of the car to align with the strut rod mounting holes. I used a ratchet strap, wrapped around the control arm and the frame at the rear of the engine. Tighten the strap until the holes are lined up. Just go slowly. Good luck.
Thanks for the reply.
It worked out in the end. I just moved the rear nuts further to the rear. Thecar needs to be aligned anyway (caster, camber and toe in needs to be adujsted by the tire shop).