Upper control arm mounting bolts

[PumiceMan]

I'm almost finished pulling off the front suspension of my 69 for a rebuild / disc brake conversion, and saw how nasty the two bolts are that hold the upper control arm on (2 on each side, that is). I was wondering, has anyone ever replaced these with new hardware? Also, how'd you get the old ones out, and what did you replace them with?

While I'm on the subject of front suspension, what's the best way to remove the old cross shafts from the control arms?

Thanks guys...

[68speedalert]

If I remember right, the bolts have are held in place with a serrated edge, similar to a lug bolt. It's been a long time since I've had some out. You can put on a nut and smack them into the frame with a hammer. Sometimes it's a real b*tch to get them back in. I wouldn't mess with them.

There isn't any need to replace them, they won't be hurt unless of an accident.

The cross shafts unscrew from the control arm bushings. Hold the control arm in a vise and unscrew the bushings from them and the shafts will follow. Will take a lot of grunt; impact gun works the best.

Measure the distance from one end to one of the holes in the shaft, so you can get it close on reassembly.

[JimKshortstep4x4]

I replaced the bolts by driving them out with a hammer and then pulling new ones in using a nut with the appropriate spacers. The replacement was very easy on the 71 C-10 that we have. Replacement was necessary because the originals were rusted to the point of being weak.

I got the parts from Classic Parts of America, PN 74-372, (bolt, upper C-10 for 67-72 trucks). Other vendors probably have the bolts, also.

Jim

[PumiceMan]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Like Jim said, I was interested in replacing mine because they are on the rusty side, and a couple have some pretty good damage to the threads. The truck has been in at least 1 front-end accident as well. I figured if I'm replacing the lower U bolts, I might as well replace the upper bolts too. Thanks too for the part number on the bolts. If Classic Parts has them, I'm sure other vendors will too. Don't know why I didn't notice them before...

As for the cross shafts, I ended up getting one out of an upper arm by bolting the arm back on the truck. You were right about the grunt - one end unscrewed okay, but the other end required the use of a cheater bar (I don't have any impact sockets that big). I think if I put that in my vice, I'd pull my workbench over on me! Looks like I need to get some big a** sockets and do it the easy way...

Thanks again for the replies!

[High Speed low Drag]

You can still get those bolts from GM. I just replaced some about 2 months ago. They were 5.40 each with my 25% off list.

[mikeoj]

Got a GM part number for those.Thanks!!

[PumiceMan]

LMC has them for 3.95. I've got some other things to order (ain't that always the truth!) so I'll just get them there. The LMC part number is 30-0269. Thanks again for the replies.