Before boxing my lower control arms, I tack welded in a few pieces of pipe to keep them rigid. I still have the original supports somewhere.
I used a ball joint press from Harbor freight to do mine. Beat using the drill or pair of big sockets.Splurge just a dollar or two more and get new capscrews for those arms. Depending on the mfgr they might be drilled for SAE fractional instead of metric.
Also, if you get the complete set of upper and lower control arms, like the set that I purchased from Hotchkiss, they come with the poly bushings for the ears on the differential housing. The factory bushings that currently reside in those ears are as old as the car they come in. It will take some serious encouragement to dig them out and install the new ones.
When I did mine, I had to drill out the rubber in multiple places to be able to first punch out the inner sleeve and then collapse and extract the outer shell. After that I used a wire wheel on a drill motor to clean the ears out to clean metal. The new sleeves got stuffed into the freezer and left there to cold soak. (Mine actually lived in my downstairs freezer for around 10 !! years before I finally got around to doing the exchange) The colder they are, the better/easier they will drive into place but not with a large hammer. I used the sleeves from a ball joint installer as well as the installer "C" clamp to push mine into place. With the heavy clamp you can use a breaker bar and go manual or opt for air and use an impact gun.
Nick
I have a very low tolerance for rust and I couldn't find anything in the local yards that wasn't too far gone.Any Monte SS would have them if you look in the salvage yard. Would work for any HD suspension parts F41 braces you can bounce off any G Body to pick and choose.
Someone bought my old Toyota project so the build has begun. (I'd planned to sell it next spring and build next late next year but the offer was too good).Splurge just a dollar or two more and get new capscrews for those arms. Depending on the mfgr they might be drilled for SAE fractional instead of metric.
Also, if you get the complete set of upper and lower control arms, like the set that I purchased from Hotchkiss, they come with the poly bushings for the ears on the differential housing. The factory bushings that currently reside in those ears are as old as the car they come in. It will take some serious encouragement to dig them out and install the new ones.
When I did mine, I had to drill out the rubber in multiple places to be able to first punch out the inner sleeve and then collapse and extract the outer shell. After that I used a wire wheel on a drill motor to clean the ears out to clean metal. The new sleeves got stuffed into the freezer and left there to cold soak. (Mine actually lived in my downstairs freezer for around 10 !! years before I finally got around to doing the exchange) The colder they are, the better/easier they will drive into place but not with a large hammer. I used the sleeves from a ball joint installer as well as the installer "C" clamp to push mine into place. With the heavy clamp you can use a breaker bar and go manual or opt for air and use an impact gun.
Nick
Google “ used g-body parts”. Also I think he’s called ElCamino Central in California and Dixie Restoration ( one of the sponsors) they have some used stuff as well as they may know who is good for used parts. Unless you can find someone on here that knows good used parts people and/ or have themLocal yards in central Indiana didn't have anything that wasn't rusted to nothing.
I have a very low tolerance for rust and I couldn't find anything in the local yards that wasn't too far gone.
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