Flipping upper A-arms?

[a squarecan]

Hey guys,

I have a real quick question for you guys. I have read that you can flip your upper A-arms over(as well as the ball joint) to correct ball joint angles at lower heights; Is this true? I plan to replace my upper and lower A-arms eventually, but for now I would like a little less expensive fix before I swap over.

Thanks
Keith

[DM310]

I would like more info also on this

[fastbagged68]

Ok guys here is the deal! Take your driver side and put it on your passenger side. Flip the ball joint over so it goes into the spindle. This corrects balljoint bind and angle on extremely low 63-87 chevys. I have done this to a few air bagged 63-72. If pictures needed I could maybe tract some down!

[a squarecan]

Thanks for the info Fastbagged!

If you have pix that would be great, but if it is a hassle to wrestle some up, don't worry about it!

Thanks
Keith

[DM310]

Sounds good to me. I always thought you had to do something to the lower arms at the same time........

[fastbagged68]

Here is a look at one.

[Jaredm82]

If I remember right, it doesnt let your truck lift very high? I mocked it up a few years back to see how itd work because I heard the same thing. It works for the low part but I dont think you can raise your truck very high? I dont remember?

[a squarecan]

Thanks for the pic!

It doesnt look as bad as I thought it would. I was also concerned about the height part as well. looks like the tip of the a-arm will lock on the spindle? You can only get so much lift out of the front any ways so it may not be an issue, just things I wanna look into before throwing them on my truck.

Thanks again
keith

[Jaredm82]

if you have your truck apart why not just throw them on and run the suspension through it full range of motion and see for yorself. I swear something hits but I cant remember what! Let us know

[fastbagged68]

It rubs at the pivot point on the arm at full lift. You can gring down that part of the crossmember. Do it and you will see where it rubs at. Doing your control arms like this lets you ride at a low height with your ball joint squared!

[a squarecan]

Thanks for the info! I need to decide what year spindles I am going to swap over to so when I do this I can replace my 40 year old ball joints with new ones.

Man I can't wait til I can start working on my truck! So many other obsticles just to get to work on my new toy!

Keith

[Jaredm82]

I would go with 73-87 w/ 1.25" rotors. That way you can get DJM 3", they dont widen your track and they are cheaper than most... and i think you only have to upgrade one ball joint

[a squarecan]

Originally Posted by Jaredm82

I would go with 73-87 w/ 1.25" rotors. That way you can get DJM 3", they dont widen your track and they are cheaper than most... and i think you only have to upgrade one ball joint

Thanks for the advice Jared, Do you know if it is the upper or lower Ball joints you have to change?

Thanks
Keith

[DM310]

you can get the 3" spindles for 1" rotors also FYI

[Jaredm82]

I think its the top ball joint but Im not positive. go to a parts store and run part numbers on different years. Yes, you can get the 1" rotor spindle, but that is a lighter duty brake, and Im pretty sure those spindles cost more than the 1.25" rotor ones. Man it seems like I did all this swapping and dropping 20 years ago because I cant remember jack!!!

[a squarecan]

Ya I saw that they made spindles for 1 inch rotors, but considering I plan to run a bigger wheel up front it is probably a better idea to go with larger brakes. As mentioned the 1 inch rotor spindles actually cost more which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Keith

[LONGHAIR]

Volume..........lower demand, higher margin of profit.

[BeerMonkeY]

so, you only need to sawp the uppers, right? and can you use the stock lowers or do you need to use tubeular like in the pic? im very interested in the now for my burb. do yuo use the stock ball joints? i already have djm 3" spindles

[Jaredm82]

no, you just need to flip flop your upper a arms and flip your upper ball joints, then grind where the arm hits the crossmember.

[camaro__thunder]

I have one that hasn't been asked... Does this help with the steering shaft angle ? Could you cut a U in the arm and add a piece of U cut pipe (reinforcement of course) and not have to deal with the steering joints ? THANKS

PS: Borgeson is proud of the joints

[Jaredm82]

No I think it will actully put the arm more in the steering shaft's way. Since my steering is raised 1.5" and my body lowered 1.5" I adjusted my colomn to where the shaft almost went straight into the box. about a year later my bx leaks like crzy becaiuse of the minute angle at the ragjoint. Ya I know what you mean, borg is definetly VERY proud of their peices, and so is every other ujoint company!@!!

[fastbagged68]

I was just looking at my buddies roommate peice of sh!t RV. It has one of our front ends on it. The Steering box is raised up. This could solve that problem. Do a search to see if the Van steering box are raised up. If you want I will have my buddy take a picture of it.

[Jaredm82]

oh no, its been like that for a few years and it jsut finally started to leak, im guessing its from the very minute angle. Anyways, I just lowered the body down so I am getting another U joint.

[FirstGen]

Can anyone tell me if flipping the upper a-arms will bring the top ball joint in a little more or out? I am looking for a way to bring it in a little more (more negative camber)with out hacking stuff up...

Thanks.

[fastbagged68]

Flipping ball joints wont change the lenght of the control arm. If you want more camber take out your shims if you haven't yet.