stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

anyone done it? I have 3" springs & drum brakes on my 67. I wanna keep the drums cause I'm cheap...

are 67 - 72 lower control arms the same, just the ball joint different? I have a pair off a 72 & would like to do them so I can just swap them out...

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

Yes, the arms are the same, the ball joints are different. Here's a pic for reference.


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ropped-arm.jpg

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

Never thought of that one before. I've seen the spring pocket lowered, but not that one. Does this cause alignment nightmares?

Tom

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

Im pretty sure this used to be a common thing "back in the day", but I wasnt around then :lol:

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

it was common.
If you are working it yourself, i think I'd recomend making the spring pocket deeper. That would be easier to judge how much of a drop you get, and no chance of messing up where the ball joint sits (screwing up the alignment)
I have a set, on the burb. I'm still not 100% sure they are gonna be on there long term. I don't think mine were built right. With no shims in there, I still have my wheels sitting like this;
\----/
Not to that degree, it is very mild, but enough to eat tires if I don't do something soon.

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

longhorn...yours have the balljoint raised?

any one have pics of the spring pocket lowered?

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

yeah, i may be mistaken, but that might actually be my photo. not sure.
But I DO know this is mine;http://67-72chevytrucks.com/gallery/data/500/45.jpg

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

looks like about 1"? I am thinking 2"...I will look into the dropped pocket. There is a guy not to far from me that does a TON of bags & lowered cars & trucks. I may ask him some stuffs...

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

Had mine for a long time......got them before all this other cool stuff was available.

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

did you need the tube uppers to correct the alignment????

3" lowered springs & 2" stepped lowers?

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

mine used to have 3" lower buckets. that netted me a 5" drop. I also changed the angle of the ball joints to keep them in the middle of their arc. to do this I did 2 small slits and heated the arm while gently bending the ends. my way ended up with a neutral camber curve. the problem was the coils would rub on the inside of the pocket and make a ugly noise.

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

I had a set of "dropped A arms" from So Low Suspesions (back in the day). The first set were too wide and I could not get my camber even back to 0*. They sent me a second set which worked fine. Only issue I ever had was without any bumpstop, I overflexed a new upper ball joint and distroyed it. I replaced it and sold the truck soon after (not for that reason) so I never made any bumpstops, which would have fixed that issue.

Outside of that, they worked fine.

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

My buddies dropped a-arms (aftermarket So-Lo/Chisolm) worked fine up until the day one of the dropped spring pockets snagged a man-hole cover in his neighborhood. Bent the frame like a cartoon. . ..... the damage was baaaaaaaaaaad.

Stepped stock arms (like pictured) will work; but they'll have the same draw-backs vs. upgrading to drop-spindles.

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

a drop spindle would have snagged on the same thing there.
In a dropped LCA that is properly built, I don't see any drawbacks over a dropped spindle.

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

I disagree.

The reason why is these were aftermarket dropped a-arms (which I indicated). The spring pocket was about 1.5" below the same lowest point vs. the stock lower arm it was swapped for.

I agree.
I feel properly stepping a set of stock arms would be similar to dropped spindles.

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

I missed that part.
Thanks for the correction. :)

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

MY 68 3/4 had steped lower arms from So-Low, I put a lot of miles on that truck and I still see it driving around once in a while.

i still miss that truck...

Steped lower arms and cut coils, back in the day...


Mick

Re: stepped lower control arms/ raised ball joints???
 

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