Front suspension questions - big vs small bolt pattern

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George R

George R

Mopar Nutcase
Joined
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Location
Trumbull, CT
Are the LOWER controll arms the same from small bolt to big bolt disc brakes?
Are the LOWER ball joints the same from small bolt to big bolt disc brakes?
I have 73 Dart big bolt pattern and 69 Dart small bolt pattern parts to work with. Trying to put together a useable set of BBP parts for my 69 Dart.

Also, can the lower control arm bushing pivot pins be purchased new? This is the pin/socket the torsion bar installs into in the lower controll arm. I have 4 of them and 3 appear to be bent!

Thanks for any help you can provide.

George
 
George R said:
Are the LOWER controll arms the same from small bolt to big bolt disc brakes?
Are the LOWER ball joints the same from small bolt to big bolt disc brakes?
I have 73 Dart big bolt pattern and 69 Dart small bolt pattern parts to work with. Trying to put together a useable set of BBP parts for my 69 Dart.

Also, can the lower control arm bushing pivot pins be purchased new? This is the pin/socket the torsion bar installs into in the lower controll arm. I have 4 of them and 3 appear to be bent!

Thanks for any help you can provide.

George
Click to expand...

Pretty sure the lowers will work with the BBP set up. I dought the lower pins are bent, the bushing more than likely is bad making them look bent.
 
Thanks SG.
The car was hit on the right side, and I just want to be sure.
Anyone else?

George
 
I used the upper control arms with the bigger ball joints for my 66 Dart from a 73 Dart,sorry can,t help with the pins.I kept the lower control arms in the 66.
 
back in the day i used 72 or3 spindals big rotors and bolt patt.replaced upper arm too mine had baby ball joints drum car. and used new lower ball joints moog for dics brakes. all fit well but the new brake hoses took a differant frame mount. what the hose went threw. and if sway bar need to shorten the links the caliper hit on far left or right turn. i worked at a tire shop and had books and part to find out what fit. als
 
I used my same LCA's and lower ball joints when I switched to BBP George. DOnt know about the pivot pins though.
 
:scratch: I believe the lower arms will interchange from 69 to 73. The location of the sway bar mount and the ball joints are different though.

I have never seen the pivot pins reproduced and have not seen a bent one either. It would be highly unusual to have 3 out of 4 bent pins unless the cars they came off of were in a serious, really bad collision.

As a prior member mentioned, the pins may appear bent if the bushings are bad ?
 
Hi George
I believe if the car was equipped with disc brakes then the larger ball joint was used.
Also I live real close to you, off of Mohegan road, would love to see your car some day
 
George...

ALL lca's from 63-76 will fit. THe only difference is 73-76 have the sway bar tabs(if applicable) further inboard than the earlier ones. 72 and earlier a bodies ALL have small upper balljoints. All you need are the UCA's from a 73-76 a body for a BBP disc changeover.
 
when I swapped from SBP drums to BBP disks on my 69 Barracuda, I changed upper arms, and also the lower ball joint. I did not change the LCAs but did have to shorten the stud that attaches the sway bar to the LCA. I just used a short piece of all-thread.
 
1. Upper Control Arms, from 1973-1976 A-Body Disc Brake Car. (single Piston Caliper only) The upper control arms are needed because the A-bodies were upgraded to the bigger B-body balljoints in 73, which means you need the later a-body arms to get the bigger balljoint.
2. Spindles from 73-up A,B,E,F,J,M,R chassis disk brake car. Drum spindles don't work.
Note - the B,F,J,M,R spindle does have differences...
3. Rotors and calipers - A-body rotors were 11" and were also used on many other cars. Some 77-79 B and 79-81 R bodies used an 11.75" rotor. Both rotors fit all spindles above. You do however need to use the caliper bracket that matches the rotor diameter. There are pin-type calipers and sliding calipers. The correct one must be used with the corresponding bracket. Most likely you'll find all your parts together on one car. The less-desirable pin-type calipers were used on the E-bodies, while most other cars had the slider style calipers.
4. Divider block and prop valve from a donor disc brake car.
5. New Front Brake Hoses (Rubber)
6. New Brake Pads & Bearings (you must know what make, model and year of the donor car)
7. New Master Cylinder, Disc & drum, use 73-76 A-Body, with or w/o power brakes
8. 4.5" bolt pattern front wheels.
9. New Upper Control Arm Bushings recommended
10. 73-76 Lower Ball Joints are necessary. The stock lower control arms can be retained.
11. From the donor car, remove the (2) lines that are attached to the master cylinder, and use them on
your car. it just easier to use these lines than to bend up your existing ones to work.
 
Thanks a LOT guys. I printed out the responses so I can refer to them in the future.
I have:
1973 Dart disc upper controll arms (i will replace the bushings)
1973 Dart disc brake spindles, rotors & calipers
1969 Dart disc brake master (the car had small bolt discs from factory)
1969 Dart disc lower control arms (i will replace the bushings)
1973 Dart disc lower ball joints
Am I good?

As far as the pins, I can SEE one pin bent like crazy. I have 2 that are "a little off" when I spin them around, and 1 that it straight. Some of these parts I have no idea where they came from so I don't know the history on them. They may have been in an accident in the past as well.
When the gas station presses the pins out, I'll check them before he presses the new ones in to be sure they're straight.
I noticed on some of my lower control arms there is a steering stop, and others don't have it. Are the ones without it from the older car? I got all this junk with the car when I bought it.

George Gerhard-
You're more than welcome to stop by here anytime and see the car. I could use a second set of eyes on this front end.
Please don't expect too much; this car is NOTHING like the gold 69 I used to have! LOL
Hopefully it will be a real nice car one day. Anyway, I live right near the intersection of RT25 & RT111 on the Trumbull/Monroe line.
PM me and I'll respond with my cell number.

Thanks again guys. Sorry for all the questions, but I don't know where else on the net to go for this kind of help besides you guys & gals.

Plugging away.......

George
 
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