Upper Control Arm ANYONE TRY THESE???

[Risko1]

I want to replace my upper control arms on a 66 Satellite and came upon these. Any members know anything about them or have used these arms?

http://www.andysautosport.com/plymo...suspension/control_arms/spc/spcp00433223.html

 

[Propwash]

Never heard of them.....One thing from an engineering standpoint, with all those threaded and bolted joints, you would think a cast or welded tube control arm may have better tensile strength along with better torque transfer. Could be way off mark here, but that's a lot unions in between, on a part that recieves stress from every angle.

Bright side is the adjustability I guess. Best of luck if you buy them. Would be really interested how they work out for you.

 

[Cranky]

Those are something I want to run. What's wrong with the stock setup? Those look not only heavier but more scary too.

 

[5.7 hemi]

I dont see any reason not to use them, alot of people use that style for circle track as I have read in the past.

 

[super-bee_ski]

I'm with Cranky on this:
I can not understand why guys want to BIG spend money for upgrade tubular suspension A-arms,especially for the cars "WE" own.
I can not make my 70 Superbee handle like a Trans-AM or BOSS 302 period! We have "B-bodies" and they were not cut out for Trans-AM style road racing.
The way I see it: go ahead and spend your hard earned money BUT the originals are great for what we build and do with them.
Only my opinion.

 

[5.7 hemi]

I'm sure there are plenty of guys that would disagree that b body's can't handle.

 

[Jim Bob The Dancing Bear]

Tell Dan "The Man" Wiseman that B bodies are not supposed to handle. His is no where near stock but outruns modern cars in autocross on a regular basis.

He is using the stock syle suspension. Mainly Hotchkis TVS.

 

[Kern Dog]

I'm sure there are plenty of guys that would disagree that b body's can't handle.

Absolutely! Tell Tom Quad or Mike Musto!
The guys at XV thought that the B body platform was better suited to track performance than the E bodies....

 

[super-bee_ski]

-As 5.7 hemi stated: Dan's setup is not stock, Hotchkiss upgrades.
-I'm sure Dan "The Man" Wiseman's car is far from stock with truly thousands of dollars into the front suspension.
-MOPAR Superbees and Roadrunners were Taxi Cab style autos with large motors, stripped down to run OR "out-run" everything on the street. A muscle car.
-Of course, if you throw lots of money at anything, even a MACK truck you can lower times on a slalom course.
-BUT: Lowered MOPAR B-bodies suffer from a lack of adjustability. All available CASTER is lost in order to get CAMBER backto spec, causing instablility at high speeds. Tubular A-arms solve these geometry issues by relocating the BALL JOINT, regaining your adjustability and YES improve your cornering.

-My point here is NOT to make anyone angry, sorry if I did. The original POST was by a juinor member asking if a set of Tubular A-arms at a cost of $350 + shipping and handeling are good for his car.
-I say NO. If he is just replacing the A-arms.
-Put the money into all new bushings and perhaps PSTs "FAST RATIO STEERING LINKAGE" kit for $239. Money well spent.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Oops!
as "Jim Bob the Dancing Bear" stated: Dan's setup is not stock, Hotchkiss suspension upgrades.
hemi 5.7 did not say that,
Sorry Jim Bob & hemi 5.7...
Super-bee_ski

 

[67 coronet]

i have adjustable uppers in my 67,but i used the soilid ones with the adjustable end links.not sure about the picks of those with bolts going vertical through the arms to creat the link.seems like it needlesly creats a week point.the only advantage i can see to those is being able to do major adjustments without dissasembly.i only had to pull mine apart once to get close enough for the camber bolts to work.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Super bee ski, as the donald says, "YOUR FIRED", LOL!!

 

[ilm65]

I've got adjustable uppers from Magnum Force (check out their website)--they give me a lot more positive caster and eliminate the car's "drifting". One of the most significant and noticable changes you can make to improve steering and handling; I'm all for 'em.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Okay then,
I stand corrected...
Thanks guys!

 

[5.7 hemi]

Ok, you can punch the time card back in, your re-hired, lol!!

 

[Jim Bob The Dancing Bear]

There is some correction that B bodies can benefit from. For the money I think Firm Feel or Hotchkis is the way to go.

But it all depends on what you want your car to do. If you are not going to push your car's limits, use stock a-arms with offset bushings (much cheaper and will help geometry to an extent) or as Bee-Ski says just stock or poly bushings. Then drive the pee out of it.

I have a Hotchkis TVS and drive my car aggressively compared to most. I will get more aggressive as other upgrades come in, (drum brakes are ok but not great)

Risko, What are your intentions with your car? Why are you wanting tubular a-arms instead of stock? These a-arms have loads of adjustment and may be overkill if you are not racing. If you just want to switch to tubular a-arms I would look at Firm Feel or Hotchkis my self. No one is chiming in that has used these particular a-arms. I have seen a couple of posts (this forum and others) on these arms, I believe they where designed for circle track, but I haven't read or met anyone running them yet.

 

[snakeoil24]

I don't like that design for the street, too many joints and bolted together. This is an accident waiting to happen. Dirt track guys don,t drive on the street every day. also Id like to see a gusseted apex point around the ball joint.

 

[Hemirunner]

I don't like that design for the street, too many joints and bolted together. This is an accident waiting to happen. Dirt track guys don,t drive on the street every day. also Id like to see a gusseted apex point around the ball joint.

I agree. I wouldn't put that Arm on a 3800# car and drive it anywhere on a public road. Relying on the shear strength of 1 bolt holding that whole mess together in a hard turn with a two ton car is just asking for trouble. How durable is it when you hit a midwest pothole at 75mph on the interstate

 

[splicer]

Put Hotchkiss upper adjustable a-arms and strut rods on my 64 Polara...these two pieces allowed me to get some up to date caster and camber specs into the front end geometry and the car has much better straight line stability as well as steering responsiveness....well worth the trouble

Splicer

 

[Cranky]

I'm with Cranky on this:
I can not understand why guys want to BIG spend money for upgrade tubular suspension A-arms,especially for the cars "WE" own.
I can not make my 70 Superbee handle like a Trans-AM or BOSS 302 period! We have "B-bodies" and they were not cut out for Trans-AM style road racing.
The way I see it: go ahead and spend your hard earned money BUT the originals are great for what we build and do with them.
Only my opinion.

I meant to say I wouldn't want to run those but I think you understood what I meant lol. Also, you can make a 'B' body handle very well using stock A arms etc....and using better bushings and sway bars. Heck, I got my 66 Belvedere to do a lot better just with different than stock alignment numbers and larger tires and wheels.