Anyone swap their trailing arms?

[weever82]

My trailing arms are looking pretty old and "beat up" looking. Was thinking about taking them off to be powdercoated and put in new bushings and then I seen these on ECE website. Look pretty nice. Say they are heavy duty and come with all the bushings.

Thoughts? or anyone has done this? Would love a pic of them on a truck.

Thanks.

Weev-

[C10 Ad1CT]

Pretty expensive option. They look good tho. What's better about those than stock?
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[starfire58]

I just installed those arms on my '71 a couple weeks ago. They are nice. They are heavy rectangular tubing,all 1 piece and are capped on both ends so no moisture can get inside them. They also came with U-bolts,spring retainers and grade 8 hardware and have poly bushings installed in them. Overall, I was very impressed with them. They are great quality and came powder coated and ready to bolt in. I can take a pic of mine installed tomorrow. The bed is off the truck so you can see them well.

[Tx Firefighter]

That's a lot of scratch to spend if your current arms are solid. A set of poly bushings and powdercoat will be about 250 dollars cheaper than buying the ECE ones. That's 250 dollars you could use to buy other stuff.

[dmw319]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

That's a lot of scratch to spend if your current arms are solid. A set of poly bushings and powdercoat will be about 250 dollars cheaper than buying the ECE ones. That's 250 dollars you could use to buy other stuff.

Agreed.

I recently pulled my trailing arms off (during rear spring install) because they were rusting pretty bad on the rear ends and splitting. Bought another set off a board member here for 120 shipped and plan to spot weld the seams to reinforce them and then clean/paint them up and theyll be good as new. Might save you some dough to look around the board or locally on craigslist or something and see if you can find a set in better condition than yours if they are unusable.

On the other hand, depends what you are trying to build. I am just building a driver quality weekend cruiser. If you are wanting a show quality, fully restored, top notch rebuild and best of the best... it might be worth buying those from ECE if your other components are going to be similarly beefed up. Up to you!

[FirstOwner69]

If you decide to stay with originals, try forum member t korinek. He usually has some and is in Mesa, so you could save shipping.

[casey g]

im building these right now!
3 inch drop

[67chevemall]

I would rebuild the OEM ones no doubt about it

[weever82]

Originally Posted by starfire58

I just installed those arms on my '71 a couple weeks ago. They are nice. They are heavy rectangular tubing,all 1 piece and are capped on both ends so no moisture can get inside them. They also came with U-bolts,spring retainers and grade 8 hardware and have poly bushings installed in them. Overall, I was very impressed with them. They are great quality and came powder coated and ready to bolt in. I can take a pic of mine installed tomorrow. The bed is off the truck so you can see them well.

I would love to see some pics! Thanks!

Weev-
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[Andy4639]

If I ever get the extra cash I'll be buying a set of these. I installed the "No Limit" shock relocator kit on mine and these will work with it. Porter builts want. There's have no provision's for the shock kit, and yes I called and talked to them about it. They wouldn't make me a set.
A factory set in good condition is OK but they need to be biffed up some. I don't have the welder to do it, so these will be a added bonus to the truck when and if I ever get them.

[big_al_71]

I have had the ones from ECE for about 4 years now and they are excellent and money well spent.
they are solid, no flex and look great ..
If you have the money I say go for it...

[johnny58]

Stock Car Products sells a nice set of original style arms for about 300$. I was always told that the originals were designed to have flex in them and if not the front mounts would eventually fail. However if you've run these for 4 years that puts doubt to that. Is your truck a daily driver?

[benny70]

Originally Posted by casey g

im building these right now!
3 inch drop

those are sick! we just installed cpp tubular trailing arms, along with tubular control arms


Untitled2 by benny7012, on Flickr


Untitled by benny7012, on Flickr

[starfire58]

Originally Posted by big_al_71

I have had the ones from ECE for about 4 years now and they are excellent and money well spent.
they are solid, no flex and look great ..
If you have the money I say go for it...

big al- Hows the ride w/these arms? My truck isn't drivable yet. I just wondered if you could tell the difference over stock. I looked into repro. stock arms and ECE's arms were actually only a few dollars more and came with u-bolts and poly bushings and hardware. I was also impressed w/ the design and strength improvement.

[big_al_71]

Originally Posted by johnny58

Stock Car Products sells a nice set of original style arms for about 300$. I was always told that the originals were designed to have flex in them and if not the front mounts would eventually fail. However if you've run these for 4 years that puts doubt to that. Is your truck a daily driver?

Originally Posted by starfire58

big al- Hows the ride w/these arms? My truck isn't drivable yet. I just wondered if you could tell the difference over stock. I looked into repro. stock arms and ECE's arms were actually only a few dollars more and came with u-bolts and poly bushings and hardware. I was also impressed w/ the design and strength improvement.

My truck is not a daily driver, it is a weekend cruiser that gets driven hard with a built 406. there is zero flex and in combination with the front muscle sway bar from ride tech this truck drives like it is on rails with zero bouncing nor body roll. I am giving you opinions of these arms on two different set ups I have had thus far first three years it was on a static drop and now it has been bagged for one year and of course bagged is even better.

[johnny58]

Thanks for the info. I've yet to start on the rear suspension. Thought about building my own and hanging coil overs behind the axle with a full length track bar. We ran truck arms on our late model stock car and that thing would really squat and hook up coming out of the corners. There is so much different info out there, it's nice to hear real world. I'm running a built 402 big block and I plan to bang on it. Any thoughts on the coil over idea?

[67ctener]

Great product
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[big_al_71]

Originally Posted by johnny58

Thanks for the info. I've yet to start on the rear suspension. Thought about building my own and hanging coil overs behind the axle with a full length track bar. We ran truck arms on our late model stock car and that thing would really squat and hook up coming out of the corners. There is so much different info out there, it's nice to hear real world. I'm running a built 402 big block and I plan to bang on it. Any thoughts on the coil over idea?

building your own and adding coil overs should work very good. I think that there are several companies that make such great products that you could not go wrong either way.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by johnny58

Stock Car Products sells a nice set of original style arms for about 300$. I was always told that the originals were designed to have flex in them and if not the front mounts would eventually fail. However if you've run these for 4 years that puts doubt to that. Is your truck a daily driver?

Why would you want flex in the trailing arms? They are what hold up the weight of the truck. I would think you want them as stiff as possible and with good springs and shocks it should handle as good as it can. (truck)
Nascar uses a simlar setup to this and I have never herd them state they want them to flex.
big_al_71,
as always your truck is just NICE!

[ol_skool_chevy]

they run the Same trailing arm as our trucks on NASCARS,,,,,if they can run 200 plus miles an hour....i think they are fine..no need to make better

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by ol_skool_chevy

they run the Same trailing arm as our trucks on NASCARS,,,,,if they can run 200 plus miles an hour....i think they are fine..no need to make better

But as everything else on a stock car they have been modified!

[67ctener]

Stocks arms are plenty good. Have you seen Stacy davids 67 c10 copperhead build?? He put a 572bb in it with stock arms. I would image you would get flex given the I-beam design but they do also make flat plate to box then in to "stiffin" them up. So the day you turn your drive line into a candy cane I'd then worry about beefing up your trailing arms
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[seafoam68]

I think the deciding factor here is horsepower. If truck is a daily driver, stick with stock. If truck has lots of ponies and sticky tires, the stock ones can come apart since they are just two pieces of thin metal tacked together. Guess it is like the old saying, if you want to play, you gotta pay. Lol.
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[ol_skool_chevy]

Originally Posted by 67ctener

Stocks arms are plenty good. Have you seen Stacy davids 67 c10 copperhead build?? He put a 572bb in it with stock arms. I would image you would get flex given the I-beam design but they do also make flat plate to box then in to "stiffin" them up. So the day you turn your drive line into a candy cane I'd then worry about beefing up your trailing arms
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test show if you tack weld the seems every 6 inches with greatly decrease the flex in the stock arms...I did mine that way...although Im not pushing a 572....every little bit helps I suppose..

[cubber]

I bought a set from Classic Parts. Fully boxed square tubing, $50 more than a new stock type set. I like em.