Control arm with ball joint already pressed in.

[Jotto82]

Starting a little work on the front end and I’m planning on rebuilding the whole deal. I was thinking of buying the control arm with the ball joint already pressed in. Does anyone have experience with these? Recommendations? I think this will save me a headache...

[cadillac_al]

Yup, they save you a big headache. The only way I would use original control arms is if I thought I had to have Del Alum bushings in it. The original rubber is fine for a truck imo so I would just buy the new ones.

[Jotto82]

Originally Posted by cadillac_al

Yup, they save you a big headache. The only way I would use original control arms is if I thought I had to have Del Alum bushings in it. The original rubber is fine for a truck imo so I would just buy the new ones.

Any recommendations on brand? Best place to buy one?

[sweetk30]

i have rebuilt on stuff and its not that hard people . . . i got good used control arms and re-bushed and ball joint install on my own from a texas truck being parted out.

loan-a-tool for the ball joint press and your in the money with the quality YOU pic for ball joints .

so much stuff is re-popped these days and i have seen a lot of it and its not as heavy or strong as o.e.m .

but its up to you and your skill level . . . and if your changing lower arm's you will probably want a coil spring compressor tool for 2wd control arm style suspension that goes up threw the center of the lower arm and coil . the other outside style wont works. it can be done with a floor jack and big bar . be safe if you do lowers and control the coil so it dont fly out at you .

[Jotto82]

Originally Posted by sweetk30

i have rebuilt on stuff and its not that hard people . . . i got good used control arms and re-bushed and ball joint install on my own from a texas truck being parted out.

loan-a-tool for the ball joint press and your in the money with the quality YOU pic for ball joints .

so much stuff is re-popped these days and i have seen a lot of it and its not as heavy or strong as o.e.m .

but its up to you and your skill level . . . and if your changing lower arm's you will probably want a coil spring compressor tool for 2wd control arm style suspension that goes up threw the center of the lower arm and coil . the other outside style wont works. it can be done with a floor jack and big bar . be safe if you do lowers and control the coil so it dont fly out at you .

I’ve pressed my own ball joints before so its not that I can’t do it. I was going to replace the control arms anyway so I figured two birds with one stone. If nobody reputable makes one I would just press my own. I like to get ideas and feedback. See what’s out there. If moog made a setup I’d go with them. I don’t want junk parts. I used a pre pressed joint / control arm on my wife’s van and it worked out nicely. Plus my son helps and I try ymto simplify things so he can help as much as possible

[Richard2112]

I had considered this but info on the ball joints wasn't available so I pressed my own. I used Moog Problem Solver ball joints and am glad that I know which ball joints are in there.

[StorminNorman]

Are new 73-87 C10 lower control arms available ? I have seen them for C20's but the bushings and ball joints are different than C10.

[Jotto82]

Sounds like I should just disassemble it, inspect the control arms good and go from there

[bennylava]

Originally Posted by sweetk30

The other outside style wont works. It can be done with a floor jack and big bar.

Hmm... can you go into a bit more detail on how you did this?

[sweetk30]

https://www.ebay.com/p/Heavy-Duty-In...75.m4097.l9055

this tool goes in the bottom of the control arm and pulls the coil down in to it.

this lets you set the arm up in and bolt it down to the knuckle . lots of times the vehicle weight wont hold the car / truck down jacking up on the control arm .

i had to do this on my 2wd build cause it was a roller frame before driveline and body was in / on it.

[bennylava]

Originally Posted by Jotto82

Starting a little work on the front end and I’m planning on rebuilding the whole deal. I was thinking of buying the control arm with the ball joint already pressed in. Does anyone have experience with these? Recommendations? I think this will save me a headache...

I recently had a thread on this. To sum it up, I looked all over and I couldn't find quality lower control arms anywhere. I found quality uppers, and bought them. But some member mentioned that its nice to keep the factory steel, which is true. So I'll keep the old uppers and rebuild those when the new ones are finally worn out. Makes things somewhat easier that way.

But yeah I'd go ahead and just rebuild your factory lower control arms. Just get some Moog HD or Problem solver ball joints, and some Moog control arm bushings, and take everything to a local shop and have them press everything in for you. I did this, cost me $60 for the shop's labor. I ordered everything from rockauto, so I probably had something like $120 total into the rebuild of the lower control arms. That is a lot cheaper than a new set of quality lowers. If you can find them.

Originally Posted by sweetk30

https://www.ebay.com/p/Heavy-Duty-In...75.m4097.l9055

this tool goes in the bottom of the control arm and pulls the coil down in to it.

this lets you set the arm up in and bolt it down to the knuckle . lots of times the vehicle weight wont hold the car / truck down jacking up on the control arm .

i had to do this on my 2wd build cause it was a roller frame before driveline and body was in / on it.

Ok I think I see what you are getting at now.

[Jotto82]

So I’m going to just order the new ball joints and have them pressed in. I can clean up the control arms and paint them myself. Looking at cost alone I think this is a good route to go