Alright guys, I'm getting ready to start designing and building the suspension for my 68 c-10. The truck will sit on airbags, have 5 lug bolt pattern to fit the rims i'm going with, be able to lay frame, have a good ride, and be made from as many oem style parts as possible. I've decided that I will try and use a disk brake spindle from a latter model truck and build my own arms to suit the airbags and overall position of the spindle. This will be my first time building control arms so i'm looking for some good learning info. If anybody has links or good books for suspension designing and the building of control arms please share!
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Control arm build
- Thread starter d_rock
- Start date
onewaydave
Well-known member
Not into the bag thing, but this site is full of them. I'm in the 60-66 area getting metal work done by someone that makes my skills look pre-schoolish.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/
astroracer
Well-known member
What are you looking for in performance/over all handling? Type of steering? There are a lot of variables you will need to work out before you start building. You may want to simply swap over to a later model front suspension. Or put the truck on a late frame...
Mark
Mark
rodknocker
Well-known member
Being that this is your first time making suspension parts, i hope either your are a certified welder or you are going to have your welds and designs checked by someone who is. Its easy to miss one little calculation and ruin a good day of cruisin.
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Stooge
Well-known member
What are you going to do to make it lay frame? New control arms are nice and can correct camber and toe, narrow the track width but only changing control arms will still only lay out on the control arms/ crossmember. Need to z or get a raised crossmember ( porterbuilt, scotts hot rods etc) and with either of those, pprterbuilt you can use stock arms, and with the scotts kit you need to use their arms i believe.
Have you thought about just cupping the lower arms to gain a few inches of bag compression to let it sit a little lower, and save yourself the trouble of building a whole new set of arms?
Have you thought about just cupping the lower arms to gain a few inches of bag compression to let it sit a little lower, and save yourself the trouble of building a whole new set of arms?
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Being that this is your first time making suspension parts, i hope either your are a certified welder or you are going to have your welds and designs checked by someone who is. Its easy to miss one little calculation and ruin a good day of cruisin.
I'm confident in my welding. I weld all day on equipment that see's tons of abuse and if my welds break, it could kill someone. I take it seriously.
What are you going to do to make it lay frame? New control arms are nice and can correct camber and toe, narrow the track width but only changing control arms will still only lay out on the control arms/ crossmember. Need to z or get a raised crossmember ( porterbuilt, scotts hot rods etc) and with either of those, pprterbuilt you can use stock arms, and with the scotts kit you need to use their arms i believe.
Have you thought about just cupping the lower arms to gain a few inches of bag compression to let it sit a little lower, and save yourself the trouble of building a whole new set of arms?
I haven't set my mind to any plan yet, still in the design stage right now. I basically thinking of using a 2" drop spindle from an s-10 as my starting point. since the tie rod end on that spindle would be in front, I could easily mock up a rack and pinion setup for my steering. After I figure out my ride height and if I want it to lay frame or not, I could then figure out what I want for track width with my rim and tire choice, build up a jig to set the spindle where it needs to be and then fab up some upper and lower control arms to the position of the spindle. I just need to do some reading so I can maintain the correct geometry so I don't run into a bump steer issue or something like that.
diesel research
Well-known member
S10 steering and suspension is largely based off of gm MID size car platform. Sure that this is the most appropriate donor platform for a half ton?
Well aware others have used ford compact car suspension, gm vette, etc, but just wondering?
Well aware others have used ford compact car suspension, gm vette, etc, but just wondering?
S10 steering and suspension is largely based off of gm MID size car platform. Sure that this is the most appropriate donor platform for a half ton?
Well aware others have used ford compact car suspension, gm vette, etc, but just wondering?
It would just be the spindle which I believe has close to the same size ball joints as my truck currently has but I'll have to research a bit more before I pull the trigger. Project is put on hold for awhile now as I just picked up a new project car (1971 pontiac GT-37) and the truck is more of a putz around project when i'm in between other builds.