Is it normal for a bagged upper control arm to contact the spindle fully raised?

[Slowguy]

I've had an issue with POL and getting the correct stuff to match. I did the lower caster mod, installed new upper and lower control arm bars, new ball joints, lowered disk spindles, and cupped the lower control arms.

I had this issue with the first set of spindles and ball joints they sent me. They did eventually get out another set. It appeared ever-so- slightly better. With the first set I couldn't get the lower ball joint nut on far enough to allow the pin to slide through the shaft, and the upper seated so far down the castle nut didn't even make contact with the pin.

Now I got another set of spindles they tell me are for a 73-87 1/2 ton truck. Assembled for a second time and I think it's better but still doesn't seem right. Granted, I don't see how the truck could ever ride this high with the added weight of the cab, passengers, radiator support etc etc, but still - this just doesn't seem correct. Can someone tell me? Am I overthinking this? Especially if you are in a turn and hit a large bump the momentarily lifted the truck. Seems like this would be a big deal to make contact here?

[Slowguy]

never matters what orientation I have the file on my computer or phone - never fails; always uploads sideways. Sorry

[lolife99]

Balljoints and spindles have to match. What years Parts are you using?
I think you have the wrong year parts mixed together.

[Slowguy]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Balljoints and spindles have to match. What years Parts are you using?
I think you have the wrong year parts mixed together.

That’s exactly what I thought also. I asked the pol tech support and he didn’t say anything about the ball joints just “these are 73-87 1/2 ton spindles”. So I’m wondering if I can take an upper joint out and run to the parts store. Ask to see an upper for a 83 or something and see how it compares? This is all very frustrating to say the least - especially when I purchased it all as a “kit”

If it wasn’t so expensive I’d scrap it all and just do some other setup altogether like tubular uppers and lowers. I’d be worried, at that point, if the tie rod ends, spindles, etc would match up with the new control arms.

[lolife99]

You never said what year your truck is.
But tie rods and balljoints HAVE to match the year of spindle you are using.
They break down by these years:
60-62
63-70
71-72
73-87

[Slowguy]

Mine is a 67....and I have no idea about the other parts. I didn't mix and match or pick and choose from different vendors. I simply ordered a huge kit from pol and told them what I had. This is what I ended up with. The ties rods and stuff "seem" to fit all together. The only real issue I can see visually is the spindle/control arm (ball joint) issue. After I got yet another set of new spindles from pol I was told they are 73-87. SO now I guess I'm going to head to napa or somewhere and request to compare a moog from that model year. What a pain.

[lolife99]

All of these "kits" use 73-87 parts because they are cheaper.
All you needed was a set of 63-70 conversion spindles (same price as others) and everything would have bolted onto your 67 balljoints and tie rods.
A lot of people say, "well I'm going to change all those parts anyway."
But some don't.
Hard to determione what they sent you without specific part numbers.
I know CPP screws up a lot of orders by sending the wrong parts.
I guess POL does the same.
That's why I use ECE. (www.earlyclassic.com)

[Slowguy]

Yeah. After all the research looks like ece would have been the way to go. Hindsight I guess *shrug*. I did find this:

https://www.qa1.net/tech/documents/B...Dimensions.pdf

Looks like a really good reference. With a micrometer, I should be able to at least find out what they gave me for the ball joints that don’t fit. Not sure how I’d measure the ball joint bore if the spindle to determine what I need exactly. From even more research it sounds like even though these are technically 73-87 spindles, they can be machines to fit any number of ball joint sizes.