Front Lower Control Arms

I have been looking for hours for replacement front lower control arms. Through different websites (Jegs, summit, rock auto, etc.) The only thing that has been coming up were bushings and upper control arms (when I specified for lowers). Any help would be awesome. I figured I might as replace what I can since I’ll be doing other front end work.

1997 Chevy K3500
454 Cubic Inch

Have you tried LMC truck?

I know the control arms for 4x4s are next to imposable to find, and being a 3500 probably makes it worse. You may be stuck to replacing the bushings and ball joints.

They're not wear parts. You don't replace them, you replace the ball joints and bushings if they need it. The whole lets replace this as an assembly is a more modern idea.

So, let's say your truck is from the north east, and 31 years old. Then they become a "rust" part. I've had a really hard time locating any, I thought i found some at a salvage yard's online site, ordered them, and then got an email back saying "actually, we don't have those." Figures.

I need both front lowers, and the steering knuckles.

I've looked at a multitude of "gmpartsXYZ.com" sites, none of which have them showing as "discontinued". Jegs, Summit, LMC, Rock Auto, none of them show any aftermarket replacements either. Of course, you can find the 2WD ones no problem. I've got a 1990 K1500, so they'd be different than your one ton, but I'm in the same boat as you here.

I've reached out to Stephen Watson of Offroad Design to see if he has any leads. If i hear anything back, I'll post an update.

Wish i could post in the "Wanted" forum, but alas even paying my $20 doesn't grant me that privilege yet...

P.S. your K3500 is bad ass. If you strike out on the control arms, and have the cash and desire, you should look into a solid axle swap. If you plan on adding any lift, it might be worth it in terms of reliability.

Does your truck have forged or stamped LCA? Assuming since it's a K3500, and both my K2500 and K3500 have forged arms your truck would have the same?

@454cid is right, not a wear item, kind of f_cked up considering you can get replacement LCAs for the GMT800 trucks. It sure would be nice to be able to replace the whole unit for our trucks, but there's sort of a way to "replace" the whole thing depending on how motivated you are.
I've been plotting to swipe a set of lower arms from a local salvage yard to refurbish/recondition/rebuild (what ever phrase fits your fancy) in prep for rebuilding the front end on my 96 K2500; in turn freeing up a set of arms to recondition for my K3500.

Maybe try eBay for ease of convenience? Car-Parts.com or Row52 if you're adventurous and want to pull your own?

They are discontinued. Junkyard is your best bet, but since you are rust-prone area probably car-part, ebay or similar.

I just posted a thread on a GMT800 brake upgrade on the brakes & axles sub-forum. Watch the video and the guy mentions you can use GMT800 lower control arms with the knuckle swap. Seems like a decent amount of work though, but honestly, not much more than replacing control arms to begin with. Depending on the rust you have you may actually just replace everything from a truck from the south.

Good luck.

esva_rig said:

So, let's say your truck is from the north east, and 31 years old. Then they become a "rust" part. I've had a really hard time locating any, I thought i found some at a salvage yard's online site, ordered them, and then got an email back saying "actually, we don't have those." Figures.

I need both front lowers, and the steering knuckles.

Click to expand...

If your knuckles have rusted so badly that they need to be replaced, what does the rest if the truck look like?

The best way to find control arms for our trucks is doing a part number search on ebay.

Kinda got a question to add to this post, would anyone happen to know if they 2005 lower control arms for a 4x4 silverado fit in gmt400s? Ive located those and was curious if anyone had tried them.

Here’s a great parts truck in the NE. It’s not being “parted out” but lots of goodies on this one: