Identifying c-arms, spindles and tie rods

[botsdots]

All,

I picked up a '63 LWB C20 a few years back. Last week, I converted it over to power steering which was fun. I ended up with an '80 pump, '73 gearbox and hoses from a '79. Everything fit perfectly. I took the truck to an old school alignment shop here in San Diego (great place, btw) and they said my ball joints needed replacing and that it couldn't be aligned because 1) the tie rod adjusting sleeves are frozen and 2) the upper control arm bushings are frozen.

I decided to "rebuild" the front end and am wanting to replace the following:

upper/lower c-arm bushings
upper/lower ball joints
inner/outer tie rods
tie rod adjusting sleeves

Napa wants $200 for *each* lower c-arm shaft assembly for the C20

It looks like the control arms came from a junk yard since they have a bunch of yellow writing on them, so I'm thinking the prev owner may have converted them over to C10 control arms. Also, the idler arm is bolted to the frame vertically, straight up, which was more c10-ish. My hubs are 6-lug and they use taper roller bearings.

Does anyone have tips on how to identify make/model for my c-arms/spindles/tie rods?

For example I noticed the C20 ball joints have 6? holes instead of 4. Are there other tell-tale signs?

[michael bustamante]

I think 73 and up lower control arms for 3/4 tons are actually wider than the 1/2 tons but Im not sure on this. 71 and up outer tie rods have a different thread width (thicker) and will not thread onto a 63-70 sleeve

[botsdots]

According to the 60-66 factory assembly manual, the control arm setup was identical for C10 and C20, but I think I'm missing an amendment or something. Based on some research, I think the tie rods are 5/8-18 for the 1/2 tons. I need to pick up a thread gauge and check mine.