62 c10 crossmember ??'s

[aks62c10]

Is it possible to bolt later upper & lower a arms , drop spindles ---I.e. 73 and later with disc brakes to a stock 1962 front crossmember ? I have a 73 front crossmember already , but if I do not have to use it --- to use later arm's and brakes , that would be much easier .

[68c10owner]

Originally Posted by aks62c10

Is it possible to bolt later upper & lower a arms , drop spindles ---I.e. 73 and later with disc brakes to a stock 1962 front crossmember ? I have a 73 front crossmember already , but if I do not have to use it --- to use later arm's and brakes , that would be much easier .

Are you wanting to use coil springs as well or keep the torsion bars? I don`t know is the 62 crossmember has the pockets for coil springs. If you just want dropped spindles and disc brakes you can do that without changing the crossmembers.

[aks62c10]

Im actually converting to ART's cool ride kit for 73 and later c10;s withh drop spindles . So I will be removing the torsion bars , and using that kit instead of coil springs . I need to know if they will bolt up to an early crossmember , or if I have to change to a later c-member

[68c10owner]

I think they will. I seem to remember reading abut it, maybe in the disc brake stickey?

[83burban]

I believe that the uppers will bolt into place without any problems. The lowers will give you some trouble. I have a 62 as well, and I am planning on making my own lower control arms using the factory cross shaft. I am running air bags as well.

The difference between 60-62 trucks with torsion bars and 63 and later with coil springs is that the cross-shaft is secured by 4 bolts that are integrated into the cross-shaft itself then bolted to the cross-member. The 63 and later have their cross-shafts bolted up using U-bolts, kinda of like an axle.

When I build my control arms I am going to use the factory cross-shaft because then I can keep my cross-member, and I have bought everything for 73 and later trucks, ie. drop spindles, big disk brakes, ball joints etc. since parts are much cheaper and easier to come by. I will be buying a set of tube upper-control arms for a couple hundred from resto-mod then bolting them up and attaching the spindles. I will them make a lower control arm set out of spare steel pipe and do all my test fitting and such then once I have dialed it all in make it out of 3/6" plate and 1" .188" wall DOM tube.

I would much rather take the extra time to do custom suspension and do it my way just the way I want for maybe 100 in material versus purchasing the 800 dollar ART stuff. But if you want easier and quicker then do what everyone else says and bolt in the later cross-member.

Hope that helps - Kurt