help ,i sold my 66 c20 today and the new owner has rang to say that both wheels now point inwards as the idler arm has gone over center ,it now points forward)causing one of the steering arms to bend,(shes not best pleased,)now some one has had a look and said its not stock suspension and steering,so i was wondering what other suspensions bolt up to the frame,(as i will need to get new parts),,,,,,it all looks factory to me , also will there be any part numbers on stuff like rod ends ....bob
1963 to 1987 chevy truck front suspensions are mostly the same where they bolt to the frame but if you could post some pictures of the suspension we could get a better idea of what it really is
You can probably get by with using the control arms for a 73-87 Chevy truck. However the front crossmember unbolts and the 73-87 truck crossmember will bolt in. These trucks use two different brake sizes the thicker rotors use different ball joints on the bottom and a different axle stub on the spindle. The control arrms and everything else is the same. The thinner brake rotors won't fit on "big" brakes spindle. When I lower one these trucks I run into this all the time. I have had two different spindles sent to me one time. And another two different ball joints on the drivers and passsengers control arms. And while you are doing the swap go ahead and section that crossmember a 1.5". That little bit really helps. These pics arent mine I use them for reference.
Bob glad you sold the pickup ,sorry to hear its broken and seems you gotta sort it out .....what you replacing it with ?
okay-how in the heck did they manage to get the suspension to do that? I would imagine it was accident damage- might not be your fault!
skimmer hoping to look at a 50 ford in la next week,if i aint got the truck back!!!!!bob lux blue.she said it was on full right hand lock and as she straitened up she knew something was up. she also said both steering arm are bent,,ill take pics
It has to do with the mount that holds the pitman arm most likely. I'll get my brother droplord49 to give more details tonight. He fixed one before that did that. .
What is the benefit of sectioning the cross member? If the engine mounts are now lower, how do you compensate for the trans mount? This might be over-thinking it, but would lowering the engine in the cradle make the truck handle a little better? Brad
Sectioning the crossmember lowers the truck half an inch ( I stated it wrong the first time). Kinda like a frame Z you raise the suspension up in the truck. The benefit is you can still be low but have some extra suspesion travel. So with lowered springs (3") and spindles (2.5") and the crossmember mod (1/2") you get 6 inches of drop. And your suspesion travel has the travel of the truck being dropped 5.5 inches.
Is C20 a 1/2 Ton? I thought mine said C10, but it's been a few years. I installed a complete 79 1/2 ton front end to the original cross member. Everything bolted right in except I had to drill one hole for the Idler arm because one is straight and one is bent(Can't remember which is which). At the same time I installed Bell Tech spindles to get a 4"drop, 12" disc brakes, 5 bolt spindles and it handled and stopped a lot better!. Then I put a 71 pickup rear end in it, (to make the rear end 5 bolt too) but since my rear brakes were new, I used the 66 backing plates and the 71 drums = didn't even need to bleed the rear brakes! I also got a couple of long U Bolts and some 2 or 2 1/2 " sq. tubing and lowered the back end at the same time. Hope that helps
Those front crossmembers hang down pretty far... If you want to go low, how's about a Fatman Fab Mustang II crossmember? They bolt in.
went to see the truck today,both wheels was facing the same way,full left hand down,so the idler arm was pointing to the steering box side,both inner tie rods were bent,the idler arm could not be moved back even with a crow bar so we undid the tie rod first,still stuck then the idler arm and everything went back into place,so we bolted it back together to try and work out how it went wrong,moving it lock to lock and then recentering it,with the pitman arm strait with the chassis the idler arm is already a few degrees back towards the steering box so when on full left hand down the idler arm is close to where it was when it was stuck,both spindle stops hit newer brackets that were welded on so the lock is not as good as it should be but we thought maybe one of the spindles had gone past this causing the problem,im goner get new tierods and get the steering and trackin reset and see what happens
center link too short? the idler should be straight when the pitman arm is straight, the center link is what sets this
If you're still shopping for front ends, try to get the 73-87. 72 will fit, but it uses the old style bushings that are much more expensive to replace. 73 up looks like a big nut and washer. Here's a '73. You can see the '72 in sir's post.
Does the truck have power steering? If so on the 66 a power box wont fit un less you space it out from the frame or notch the frame so it will fit. The box may be spaced out so fare that it lets the Idler go past center in a full left turn. Just a thought you might want to check out.
two more things to look at close. 1 make shure the frame has not cracked out around the box. 2 make shure the rivits arnt broke on the small crossmember in front of the box. one of these problems may alow enough flex for the idler to go past center.
flynj1,no power steering but thanks for the pointers and just to let you guys know what playing with american tin is like for us brits i just paid £87($156)for 2 inner tie rods from a uk supplier, i could have waited till im in socal next week to get em but i want to get the lady driving and if it turns out that the steering aint c20 i can send em back,,bob
what he said, the 6 bolts through the bottom line up perfectly and the 2 holes are on the side that need to be drilled.
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