Lower control arm identification

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May 22, 2017
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Hey folks. I'm kinda up a creek here. I've got an older Harris copy chassis modified dirt track car. I've been told it's about 4 different front end stubs by 10 people. I'm in search of a lower balljoint that will fit this car. I got a little wild and tried to bump the wall last week and tweaked the spindle. I was able to identify it as a G Body or an S10, I found one at the local auto wreckers and it is an exact match. After I disassembled the old one I discovered the lower balljoint was about shot. So again... assuming it was a G Body car insurance went to the auto parts store and got a balljoint for a G Body. The new replacement is about 1/4" smaller diameter than the one that I removed. The taper on the shank matches up with the S10 but not the lower control arm. Any guesses on what car I really have?
 

307 Regal

Royal Smart Person
Oct 21, 2009
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pontiacgp, MC96, or StreetStock#72 might have an answer for this.
 

UNGN

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Sep 6, 2016
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The Std lower ball joint for nearly every GM rwd car from the 1970's to the 2000's is the K6145.

An "oversize" K6145 would be .020" oversize and not .200" oversize...

The exception to the K6145 rule is the '71-76 B-bodies (Caprice) got a K6141, which is 2.2" in diameter instead of 2.0"

I would check the K6141 at the autoparts store to see if it fits.
 
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pontiacgp

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Mar 31, 2006
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for lower control arms unless it is aftermarket or modifications are done to the frame the only ones that fit are G body or S 10 lowers. Has the front clip been changed to a Chevelle clip? The geometry of a Cevelle from clip is better than a G body clip. We use to run truck ball joints in the lower control arms but they had to be shimmed and welded in place cause they were a smaller diameter housing but they had a larger diameter stud and we had to taper ream the spindle so they would fit.
 
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MC96

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Dec 7, 2015
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You probably have nova arms on a metric clip. 68-72 X bodies and 67-69 F body arms physically fit our frames when swapped side to side. It moves the ball joint about 1-1/2 out and 1-1/2 forward. HRP sells them fairly inexpensively compared to a restoration place.

As far as ball joint Afco probably makes a cheap hybrid for that as it is a very common set up. Howe would have a better one.

Unless you're running IMCA, you might be better off just buying an Allstar tubular one with a screw in ball joint sleeve
 
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May 22, 2017
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Ok. After about 297 phone calls... one leading to the previous owner. (Over 10+ years) I've came to the conclusion that somewhere along the line, someone has oversized the original G Body control arm to accept a balljoint from a 75 ish Chev C20 2WD pickup. Purchased a moog style rebuildable joint for said pickup and disassembled the joint to have it machined down to fit the S10/G Body spindle. Now that I've been banned from Napa... I've finally figured out the mess. The next guy who ends up with this car WILL get a parts list for what is where and what vehicle it's from. I see the method behind the madness, I just wish I wasn't having to start from ground zero to come up with everything.
 
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May 22, 2017
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for lower control arms unless it is aftermarket or modifications are done to the frame the only ones that fit are G body or S 10 lowers. Has the front clip been changed to a Chevelle clip? The geometry of a Cevelle from clip is better than a G body clip. We use to run truck ball joints in the lower control arms but they had to be shimmed and welded in place cause they were a smaller diameter housing but they had a larger diameter stud and we had to taper ream the spindle so they would fit.
You are dead on. This is the only logical explanation
 
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UNGN

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The Truck Ball joints were taller, but the diameters are .100" smaller than a G-body so they need shimming/welding as pgp said, or they fall out.

If it has G-body lower arms, I would just put a good set of G-body arms on it with modern, Rebuildable Howe tall joint and greaseable ub machine solid bushings.
 
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