C2500 upper front A-arm on 93 C1500

98_k1500 said:

This is why 8 lug outers cannot be swapped to a 6 lug truck. Well, they can, but it can't be aligned. Do i have all that straight?

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What do you mean by outers?

Not sure I'd agree with different mounting location for the arms. It's in the same place on the frame.

Richard

The steering knuckles... They can't be swapped between a 6 lug and a 8 can they?

You might wanna go back and read like.. 4 or 5 of the replies in this thread. The only thing really keeping you from swapping the spindle is the upper ball joint. Now when you start talking 6 lug and 8 lug, it's unclear if you mean K1500 6 lug, or C2500LD 6 lug. I'm talking strictly 2WD stuff here. There's no difference in the front end setup between a C1500 and C2500LD other than a 6 lug rotor that is otherwise the same as a C1500 rotor. The spindle is the same. Control arms are the same. Ball joints are the same. A C2500 8 lug/C3500 forged upper control arm can be swapped in, though the upper ball joint will not fit the C1500/C2500LD spindle. You can redrill the upper arm to use the lighter duty ball joint. Or, you can swap in the C2500 8 lug/C3500 spindle, rotor, caliper...

Richard

Sorry, i was thinking about a 4x4, but had no idea these were interchangeable on the 2wd's

This is the lowered & bagged suspension forum so generally 4x4's don't get discussed much.

But just for grins here's an '88 C1500 that started life as a reg cab stepside with V6/5 speed, belonged to another member here, I assisted with donor truck parts (from a '96 & '98 C3500) and some of the labor/ideas for him to convert it to full C3500 dually suspension, static slammed. He already had installed a crazy cammed big block in it.

Spindles, rotors, calipers, forged uppers - all 1 ton parts. Install not 100% finished (you can see the sway bar isn't in yet and he hasn't fastened the tie rod end.)


Full floater 14 bolt and DJM flip kit


He also installed drop shackles and pulled several leafs from the 1 ton pack. I'm not much for pulling leafs but in this case it made total sense because he would never use it like a 1 ton so it didn't need a full pack. We even ground off the bump stop pads from the rear axle housing in order to gain maximum clearance. The front is drop spindles and drop springs that were cut even further for more drop.


Richard

I got ya, Good info tho.

Thank you someotherguy

someotherguy said:

You might wanna go back and read like.. 4 or 5 of the replies in this thread. The only thing really keeping you from swapping the spindle is the upper ball joint. Now when you start talking 6 lug and 8 lug, it's unclear if you mean K1500 6 lug, or C2500LD 6 lug. I'm talking strictly 2WD stuff here. There's no difference in the front end setup between a C1500 and C2500LD other than a 6 lug rotor that is otherwise the same as a C1500 rotor. The spindle is the same. Control arms are the same. Ball joints are the same. A C2500 8 lug/C3500 forged upper control arm can be swapped in, though the upper ball joint will not fit the C1500/C2500LD spindle. You can redrill the upper arm to use the lighter duty ball joint. Or, you can swap in the C2500 8 lug/C3500 spindle, rotor, caliper...

Richard

Click to expand...

So can't I swap in the forged arms and 2500 spindles and keep my 1500 rotors?

M3n7alPiracy said:

So can't I swap in the forged arms and 2500 spindles and keep my 1500 rotors?

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Unlikely, but haven't tried. There's no real advantage to any of that part-swapping if you're retaining your 1500 rotors, other than the forged uppers look cleaner. If you want to swap those in but keep your 1500 rotors, keep your 1500 spindles then too and just re-drill the couple holes on each upper arm for your 1500 ball joints.

Richard

someotherguy said:

Unlikely, but haven't tried. There's no real advantage to any of that part-swapping if you're retaining your 1500 rotors, other than the forged uppers look cleaner. If you want to swap those in but keep your 1500 rotors, keep your 1500 spindles then too and just re-drill the couple holes on each upper arm for your 1500 ball joints.

Richard

Click to expand...

Good deal! I guess I was thinking the forged are less likely to break in a minor collision. and maybe handle a little better, stiffer, more responsive, less alignments needed?