Brand Recommendations for front end components.

[Vbb199]

Unfortunately moog and timken are getting hit or miss on where they’re made. For that reason I like to get that stuff local so I can read the box and look at the part. You may spend a couple hundred bucks more on the parts, but divide that over the life of the parts—it’s not a big deal over 50k+

Just so long as we dont get anal retentive over specs on control arm bolts......

 

[legopnuematic]

Something that I had learned too, is avoid heating the old bushing rubber if possible, it turns into a gooey mess that gets on everything and still find patches of it over a year later..

 

[Frankenchevy]

Just so long as we dont get anal retentive over specs on control arm bolts......

If more people were anal retentive, the quality of available parts would likely be higher.

 

[SquareRoot]

Time for a dana 60 swap. Ball joints...lol

 

[Vbb199]

Time for a dana 60 swap. Ball joints...lol

Its 2wd,



i did however swap a kingpin 60 under my s10 to replace its pathetic IFS, which recently took about a 5 foot jump in the air......

Had it been balljoints.... my truck would be broken.

 

[1lejohn]

I 've bought some MEVTECH parts, for my 04, 2500 ,and the old 85 K-10. They seem to be a heavier casting . They have more metal then most of the other brands I've used. I don't have any wear data on them yet. Time will tell! Rock Auto stocks them.

 

[MikeB]

Moog parts from Rock Auto. Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings for control arm shafts and sway bars. Just be sure to use the grease in the kit.

And if anyone tells you the ride will be rougher with poly bushings, well it's truck, not a Cadillac! And I seriously doubt if you'll even notice a difference.

 

[MikeB]

Please send me a link documenting a Chinese company's purchase of Moog from Federal Mogul/Tenneco. I know that Moog has a plant(s) in China, as well as in France, Great Britain, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea and many more countires.

Thanks.

 

[Catbox]

We just did the whole front end on our 1995 Suburban a few weeks ago.

I used all MOOG parts that the boy sourced and ordered.
Loaded upper control arms, lower ball joints, tie rod ends & adjusters.

About $450 in parts and a few hundred on tools we may or may not have needed.
We had it aligned for $70 with a one year warranty.

But that is far less than the estimated $1300-1600 to have a shop take care of it for us.

It was our first foray into frontend suspension work.
Overall it was not as bad as I had thought it would be.
We went to YouTube University and that demystified a lot of the stuff.
We dove right in and got it done.
It took us two days time to get through it all as ours is a 4wd model.
We also put in a new front drive axle as we found a torn CV boot.

 

[PeteJr]

I'm a little late on this but.......
I used to work for TRW Automotive, which was eventually sold to Federal-Mogul. Great engine & chassis parts (I'd say it if I didn't work there)
I worked on the NASCAR Cup program and ALL of the teams then used TRW or Moog parts. Both excellent.
Just my .02 cents for what I learned while in that business, I would NEVER buy anything serious like chassis parts at Auto Zone.
TRW is gone now as a distributor in the USA, but Moog will probably be my choice when I buy parts unless there's a better source. Safety is my main concern for a 38 year old truck with mostly original chassis parts.

 

[Raider L]

@Vbb199,

I'm pretty much familiar with Energy Suspension since I did my entire suspension front to back, including leaf spring bushings, seriously consider doing that. Doing the leafs in ploy because it will help control body roll in the back. And a 'burb needs it in the butt. I also replaced the dust boots on the A arms and the tie rod dust boots as well. It really saves your ball joints from dirt, water, grime. The poly will not crack, slit, or split letting in dirt and water. That's what kills ball joints and tie rod ends. Mine are still tight after over twenty + years. Energy Suspension was what I choose when I rebuilt my truck by a off road shop here in town that everyone used. Also get a set of traction bars for the back including a torsion bar for the back. You won't believe how stable that truck will be. You'll be very pleased.

 

[Raider L]

@PeteJr,

I wouldn't buy parts from AutoZone either. Back in the early '90's AutoZone was under indictmernt from the FBI and the part of the gov. that is over imports/exports for having counterfeit parts in their stores. The, oh yeah, Customs Dept. busted three warehouses in China full of counterfeit parts destined for AutoZone. They were factory Ford parts and the boxes had the exact logos and print and everything on them except for a small part, and that was the counterfeiting part of the operation. From that time on I didn't buy "parts" from them. I'll get oil and liquids like that but no parts. How they're still in business must be one of those gov'ment deals, you know?

I get most all my stuff off the internet and I've had real good luck ever since. I look at how many sales they've had on Ebay and that is pretty reliable.

 

[Raider L]

@legopnuematic,

In the photo of all the parts piled up, how did your A arms get silver like that? Were they sand blasted, painted? Man, that is a pile of new parts! I would have been so excited I wouldn't have been able to contain myself. Is that a new front cross member as well? What is that copper looking bar there in front of the cross member? Did you paint the frame or have it powder coated? With what you spent on parts did you think about getting tubular A arms? That's what I wanted to do but back in '95 no one made the lower and no one made a upper A arm except for a 2" drop, nothing stock height like now. I wish I had the money to go tubular except I want to keep my coil spring, NOT a coil over set up. Plenty of people make them these days, CPP, QA1. Western Chassis, a bunch. Even LMC makes a set of tubular A arms for a coil spring for about $375 or so per side. Not bad.

 

[ali_c20]

For my c20 project I ordered all Ac Delco professional. Will see how that works. Same price range as Moog problem solver part. Bushings are Energy Suspension. For the leaf springs I will go for the Offroad Design Kevlar bushings and greasable bolts.

 

[legopnuematic]

@legopnuematic,

In the photo of all the parts piled up, how did your A arms get silver like that? Were they sand blasted, painted? Man, that is a pile of new parts! I would have been so excited I wouldn't have been able to contain myself. Is that a new front cross member as well? What is that copper looking bar there in front of the cross member? Did you paint the frame or have it powder coated? With what you spent on parts did you think about getting tubular A arms? That's what I wanted to do but back in '95 no one made the lower and no one made a upper A arm except for a 2" drop, nothing stock height like now. I wish I had the money to go tubular except I want to keep my coil spring, NOT a coil over set up. Plenty of people make them these days, CPP, QA1. Western Chassis, a bunch. Even LMC makes a set of tubular A arms for a coil spring for about $375 or so per side. Not bad.

The A arms and whole rest of the frame and suspension were all media blasted, then coated with Tamco's truck chassis black. The crossmember is original to the truck, just refurbished, the copper was just a support to hold the frame up when I was painting it. The frame is also painted with Tamco's truck chassis paint. I never did a total on the cost to refurb the control arms but it was likely under $100 a side.

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