New Control/A- arms

[Houston Ben]

Hi All,
I am looking to replace my upper and lower control arms. I can get a fully assembled loaded moog OEM style upper control arm from summit for $65 a piece and both lowers from CPP for around $530 or so.

Are they worth it?

I really don't want to work on the control arms and am looking for a plug and play type situation.

Thanks,

Ben

[edward61]

Dorman offers upper and lower control arms also.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

Are they worth it?

Weirdly enough you already answered your question in your question

I really don't want to work on the control arms and am looking for a plug and play type situation.

Not even close to worth it compared to just getting some new busings and ball joints but that's not what your looking for.

[Houston Ben]

I see what you are saying. I could rework the lower arms but one has a good size ding in it where the swaybar bolts up tweaking the swaybar bushing. The rest of the bushing are pretty much crap as well and I don't want to take the time to redo them. I will look at the Dorman lowers and the moog uppers.

[foamypirate]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

I see what you are saying. I could rework the lower arms but one has a good size ding in it where the swaybar bolts up tweaking the swaybar bushing. The rest of the bushing are pretty much crap as well and I don't want to take the time to redo them. I will look at the Dorman lowers and the moog uppers.

For what it's worth, I paid a shop $100 to replace the bushings in the control arms when I rebuilt my suspension. It was well worth it, and WAY cheaper than buying new arms, and you essentially get the same "plug and play" you are looking for.

[gasmn1620]

I bought a set out of the pick-n-pull yard and rebuilt them using moog parts and energy suspensions bushing. Made it plug and play. I have my stock stuff still. planning on cupping them for bags and having them powdercoated.

[slotard]

Originally Posted by gasmn1620

I bought a set out of the pick-n-pull yard and rebuilt them using moog parts and energy suspensions bushing. Made it plug and play. I have my stock stuff still. planning on cupping them for bags and having them powdercoated.

that's what I would suggest before dropping 7 bills on new oem replacements. Around here there are plenty of no rust squares in junkyards. I wonder whether you could find ones in decent shape used on eBay etc and then have a shop rebuild them. Still likely half the price vs the lowers you quoted.

[Houston Ben]

LMC has new OEM lowers for $149 each, does anyone know what brand they use? I usually like to do this stuff myself, but this is something I just really don't want to do nor have the time to do.

Thanks for the replies all!

[MalibuSSwagon]

I replaced one of my upper arms, it rusted out on me so better to replace with new.

[Shady Rascal]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

LMC has new OEM lowers for $149 each, does anyone know what brand they use? I usually like to do this stuff myself, but this is something I just really don't want to do nor have the time to do.

Thanks for the replies all!

Just a minor detail, but "OEM" means "original equipment manufacturer". The General was the OEM. Anything aftermarket is going to pale compared to genuine. A factory arm rebuilt with new Moog bushings and ball joints is as good as you can get.

[MalibuSSwagon]

But is it actually OEM GM or an OEM replacement? A quick search shows that GM has discontinued the lower control arms for 10-30 series, appears you can still get uppers. LMC is famous for re-selling aftermarket parts at a huge markup.

[Tom]

Call them and ask

[Houston Ben]

That's the plan for to day!

[Houston Ben]

Called LMC, they have the lowers for $150 per but have no clue on what type of ball joints and bushings are in them so I think I will skip in them.

Current stock ones are beat up and one has a good ding in it tweaking the bushing for the sway bar but still works.

CPP has the lowers but I also have to buy the sway bar which will cost around $650

I am going to ask in the suspension forum and see if any vendors have any deals going on. I am starting to think replacing parts instead of new, just need a shop that can do a good job.

[85 Money Pit]

I got an awesome price on my sway arm bushings, 4 ball joints, 4 control arms, idle and pitman arms, tie rods, dust caps, brakes and rotors from Rock Auto.com for under 500 buck.

[Luke M]

Originally Posted by 85 Money Pit

I got an awesome price on my sway arm bushings, 4 ball joints, 4 control arms, idle and pitman arms, tie rods, dust caps, brakes and rotors from Rock Auto.com for under 500 buck.

Were you able to find lower control arms from Rockauto.com? I checked their website and they only list uppers, not lowers.

[65standard]

I just did my upper and lower control arms. All 8 bushing cost me $72 shipped, all moog parts. Took about 4 hours. Mine were really rusted and stuck.

If you're willing to buy all new arms, why not get tubular ones.

[midnight rambler]

Ben what did you end up going with? I'm now in the market for lowers as I just bent mine.

[Houston Ben]

Hi Midnight,
I went with moog complete stock looking uppers from summit and CPP tube lowers with sway bar. I am not to happy with the CPP arms or sway bar though. Both my CPP arm ball joints were crap right out of the box and I had to eventually switch them out for moog ball joints. the sway bar appears to be not long enough for the placement of the holes and sits weird. If I were to do it again, I would spend a little extra cheddar on PB or something due to the crap I had to go through to make these work out of the box.

Now that the moog joints are in they work great. I did write CPP about my problem and they sent me a new ball joint but it was just as bad as the ones that came with the arms. VERY SCARY TO DRIVE!!! check my build thread for the install for when they were new.

[midnight rambler]

Thank appreciate the update. Think I just located a set of used lowers from a buddy. I hit a pothole and bent both side 3/8 of inch. Glad you got it sorted out.