62 C10 suburban/ 72 suspension Advice needed

[68Classic]

Hey all,

I'm in the inception of starting my suspension and chassis mods & need some advice based on everyone's experience. I've started working on my 62 suburban and will be changing to 5 lug. I'll also be putting it on bags and plan to go as low as I can (within reason $$$) I have out of a 72 C10 the entire front cross member and suspension & 12 bolt rear. My question is. Is it more cost effective to rebuild & restore the old 72 front cross member and suspension which will include airbags (it needs every bushing and ball joint replaced and bag cups fab'd into the control arms, cleaning and paint), or purchase new aftermarket upper and lowers, ready to go? I'm not sure if I'll need to move the control arms up and forward to accommodate the wheels and tires. Hoping to run 20's if I can afford it.

thanks for your insight, I'm excited to get this underway.

[HO455]

Welcome aboard! Looks like a great project.

I don't have any experience with the earlier Burbans so I don't know about the need to move the control arms forward. With the 72 suspension there is a benefit to moving the lower control arm shaft to increase caster. I believe that it will be the same for your 62. See this link.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=501241

As far as the cost comparison I believe it was about $400 for MOOG parts when I did mine back in 2016. One nice thing about going aftermarket is there won't be any cleaning and painting, just mock it up to be sure it all does what you expect and then assemble.

There is also a limit as to how low you can go with the factory arms. The quality aftermarket parts will give you a nicer ride at a lower ride height than you can get with the factory arms. So there are some benefits to increased cost. Have you read the "Make it Handle" thread?

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=419251

Another big expense for bags is having a good quality controller for the ride height. I used manual valves on mine and the short coming is your always having to add air to make up for the miniscule leaks in order to maintain the ride quality. Just 4 or 5 PSI makes a difference in the ride. This forced me to either step up ($$$$$$ money wise) to computer controls or go back to springs. For me the need to raise and lower the front suspension wasn't important enough to justify another $1000-1500 for controls.

If you decide to go with the factory arm style I have a pair of front lower control arms that I modified for air bags on my Burban. I ended up going back to springs on the front of mine and no longer need them.

This link goes to how I modified them. Scroll to post 237 to start. I used mine with factory spindles so I could have gone lower with dropped spindles but I didn't want the loss of ground clearance that comes with dropped spindles for my truck.

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...698377&page=10