Upper control arm advice

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RockinRobin

RockinRobin

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I have been running OEM control arms since rebuilding all of the stock front end stuff 10 years ago. This is a car that goes wheels up every pass. I'm wondering if I should go aftermarket on control arms at least, but which ones to get? QA1 looks good but not adjustable. Adjustable ones don't come with ball joint. What have you used and what holds up to wheels up abuse?
 
RockinRobin said:
I have been running OEM control arms since rebuilding all of the stock front end stuff 10 years ago. This is a car that goes wheels up every pass. I'm wondering if I should go aftermarket on control arms at least, but which ones to get? QA1 looks good but not adjustable. Adjustable ones don't come with ball joint. What have you used and what holds up to wheels up abuse?
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I ran the QA1 upper and lower on my car before switching to rack and pinion front end. They worked good and although aren’t adjustable, still provided more positive caster than stock control arms. Magnum force makes a control arm that you can adjust without taking the eccentric bolt out and winding the rod end in or out. If you’re going to spend the money, those are the ones I would get. However, the QA1 are a good upgrade from stock.
 
Magnumforce double adjustable UCA’s are not something I’d run. Their reputation is pretty lousy.

SPC UCA’s are double adjustable and use a much better design than the Magnumforce double adjusters. @BergmanAutoCraft sells them. Not cheap but very easy to use and you can dial in pretty much any alignment numbers you want.
 
72bluNblu said:
Magnumforce double adjustable UCA’s are not something I’d run. Their reputation is pretty lousy.

SPC UCA’s are double adjustable and use a much better design than the Magnumforce double adjusters. @BergmanAutoCraft sells them. Not cheap but very easy to use and you can dial in pretty much any alignment numbers you want.
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SPC does not have them for A Body.
Bergman does not have them for A Body before 1973
 
RockinRobin said:
SPC does not have them for A Body.
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Yes they do, I have a set on my Duster. BergmanAutoCraft has them.

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Here’s the link, it does appear they are currently on back order but I’m sure Peter will have information on that

BAC/SPC 1.0 Upper Control Arm - Bergman Auto Craft
 
72bluNblu said:
Yes they do, I have a set on my Duster. BergmanAutoCraft has them.

View attachment 1716274155

Here’s the link, it does appear they are currently on back order but I’m sure Peter will have information on that

BAC/SPC 1.0 Upper Control Arm - Bergman Auto Craft
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  • 67-72 A Body, with late disc spindles. In other words, the big ball joint.
  • Spoke to Peter at Bergman just now. they are big ball joint UCA's, but QA1 does make a UCA for the small ball joint. Not as adjustable but it already comes with positive caster so should be able to get the readings I want out of it.
 
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RockinRobin said:
  • 67-72 A Body, with late disc spindles. In other words, the big ball joint.
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Yes, exactly. Large ball joint. You didn’t say small ball joint, and the previously mentioned Magnumforce and RMS UCA’s are both large ball joint as well.

If you don’t specify the year of your car or that you have small ball joint arms you’re going to get different answers. My Duster is definitely an A body, and it absolutely has SPC UCA’s, and even it’s OEM UCA’s were LBJ. So yeah, saying OEM UCA’s doesn’t mean small ball joint.

I believe your only small ball joint tubular UCA option is the QA1.
 
72bluNblu said:
Yes, exactly. Large ball joint. You didn’t say small ball joint, and the previously mentioned Magnumforce and RMS UCA’s are both large ball joint as well.

If you don’t specify the year of your car or that you have small ball joint arms you’re going to get different answers. My Duster is definitely an A body, and it absolutely has SPC UCA’s.

I believe your only small ball joint tubular UCA option is the QA1.
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Yes, it looks that way. I would like to have the adjustability, but not at the cost of giving up my Wilwood brakes.
 
i didn't
RockinRobin said:
Nope. For the 73 and newer a body. I called them. They want me to buy their ucas then spend another thousand to swap to b or e body brakes/spindles.
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realize
RockinRobin said:
Nope. For the 73 and newer a body. I called them. They want me to buy their ucas then spend another thousand to swap to b or e body brakes/spindles.
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sorry didn't realize you were still runnung the baby ball joints...
 
RockinRobin said:
Yes, it looks that way. I would like to have the adjustability, but not at the cost of giving up my Wilwood brakes.
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You could ream the spindles to accept the larger ball joint, you can buy the ball joint reams.

I wouldn’t let an old set of wilwoods dictate my suspension options, but that’s just me.
 
72bluNblu said:
You could ream the spindles to accept the larger ball joint, you can buy the ball joint reams.

I wouldn’t let an old set of wilwoods dictate my suspension options, but that’s just me.
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Hmmm, where can I get one of these ball joint reams?
 
RockinRobin said:
My fault. I posted this in Suspension as well and listed all of those particulars in that post. I forgot to do it in this post.
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Well there’s your problem, no need to double post stuff either

RockinRobin said:
Hmmm, where can I get one of these ball joint reams?
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Speedway sells them, I’m sure they can be found elsewhere
 
RockinRobin said:
Thanks! I went to college in Lincoln, Ne. so I am familiar with Speedway
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Perfect. I haven’t looked them up super recently but I’ve definitely looked into doing it before and they had the correct ream to do it
 
I'm looking into this type of UCA myself. I have a line on a complete used front suspension with some "adjustable" upper control arms, I'm not sure but they look to be Hotchkis. It seems that the only way to adjust them is to remove the eccentric bolt and screw them in and out, which seems like a lot of work to get them where you want them past the stock settings. Another thing I noticed with the exception of the QA1 arms for the A bodies is the absence of bump stops. I know they are attached to the frame and the QA arm looks to have a tab to make contact.
Do the other brand arms factor this into their design?
 
I don't see the need to go any farther than QA1 UCA's. I have them in my dart (and 3 b body cars) with no complaints.

In a drag car you are typically focused on the following:

-Suspension travel
-Bump steer
-Equal side to side caster sweep
-a solid upper bump stop (used as a travel limiter in some cases)

In an a body the upward suspension travel it limited by the UCA contacting the frame rail.

There is more clearance with a tube UCA than the fancy adjustable bling model, which I still don't see the need for on 99% of the cars out there unless you simply like shiny things to talk about at the local car cruise.

Just food for thought. I still run the original KH style rotor and a set of SSBC aluminum calipers. Car stops good from way over 130.
 
I'm upgrading a 72 Demon with SB to BB. I'm doing a 73 up disc brake conversion and its just an up graded cruiser. It does however have the small ball joint UCA,but I have new small balljoints and adapters to fit the larger spindles so that works OK. Whenever rebuilding a front suspension I always use the K7103 bushings and they seem to work quite well. My last build though, I did add bigger T-bars, adjustable strut rods, reinforced the lower control arms and used the BAC delrin bushings and matching pivots. I also added a Hellwig sway bar.
All of this was pretty expensive so I cheaped out and got KYB shocks. That car a 70 Duster looks and handles great with 17 wheels and low profile tires and KYB's but I'd liketo up grade the shocks though.
I tend to agree with you on going "extra", but the used,
recently upgraded suspension has, lower control arms, the adjustable UCA,s and strut rods, Hotchkis shocks, all the brake parts as well as front and rear sway bars with hardware at, what im I'm hoping to get, well below the retail price of new parts and have some extras and leftovers to resell or use on another project. Not that I need one but as most of you know...
 
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71Demon528 said:
I ran the QA1 upper and lower on my car before switching to rack and pinion front end. They worked good and although aren’t adjustable, still provided more positive caster than stock control arms. Magnum force makes a control arm that you can adjust without taking the eccentric bolt out and winding the rod end in or out. If you’re going to spend the money, those are the ones I would get. However, the QA1 are a good upgrade from stock.
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Trusted source, good to know that.
 
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