forged or stamped control arms

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Schurkey

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
10,963
Reaction score
13,741
Location
The Seasonally Frozen Wastelands
I have not yet, since the Moog K6658 should be the same for forged LCA's. I will be using these as my choice for poly bushings and they should work. Thoughts?
I've been told that the Poly inserts work fine in the forged arms. Haven't tried it myself...yet.

Expect to have to fabricate the steel inner sleeves for the upper arms. Having a lathe makes this much easier. I don't. I had to do it the hard way. I was not able to re-use the original sleeves due to advanced corrosion.
You must be registered for see images attach


Other folks have purchased new bonded-rubber bushings, then cut 'em apart to salvage the steel sleeves for use with Poly inserts.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2022
Messages
5
Reaction score
5
Location
TN
I found this thread a day or so ago,


They dont but the bushings are the same iirc. I swapped to forged from a 2500 suburban and used the poly bushings

I haven’t thought of trying to cross reference the gmt800/900 LCA bushings to our trucks, but I believe that’s what that kit is for and I have no idea. I couldn’t tell ya to pull the trigger and be down $100 for something that wouldn’t work.

Looks like he used this kit, https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...k1500-pickup-4wd?q=Control+arm+bushings&pos=6
 
Last edited:

Papablunt

I'm Awesome
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Messages
126
Reaction score
239
Location
Colorado
I've been told that the Poly inserts work fine in the forged arms. Haven't tried it myself...yet.


Expect to have to fabricate the steel inner sleeves for the upper arms. Having a lathe makes this much easier. I don't. I had to do it the hard way. I was not able to re-use the original sleeves due to advanced corrosion.
You must be registered for see images attach


Other folks have purchased new bonded-rubber bushings, then cut 'em apart to salvage the steel sleeves for use with Poly inserts.

This is my problem.
Anyone know which bushings come with the sleeve?
 

Schurkey

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
10,963
Reaction score
13,741
Location
The Seasonally Frozen Wastelands
I've purchased Energy Suspension and Prothane bushing insert kits. Both supply the inner sleeves for the lower bushings, both omit the inner sleeves for the upper bushings.

Crazy...but that's the way things are.

Use the old inner sleeves as a guide for dimensions. The tubing will need to be smaller than 15/16" OD, but bigger than 7/8" OD. No doubt originally specced as metric.
 

pgutier1

I'm Awesome
Joined
Jul 1, 2021
Messages
290
Reaction score
353
Location
Bay Area, Ca
I found this thread a day or so ago,




I haven’t thought of trying to cross reference the gmt800/900 LCA bushings to our trucks, but I believe that’s what that kit is for and I have no idea. I couldn’t tell ya to pull the trigger and be down $100 for something that wouldn’t work.

Looks like he used this kit, https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...k1500-pickup-4wd?q=Control+arm+bushings&pos=6
This kit is for stamped steel LCA's...I don't know if there is a difference between the bushings for the stamped vs forged.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2022
Messages
5
Reaction score
5
Location
TN
From what I’ve gathered, it sounds like people have had success with the stamped arm poly bushings in the forged LCA’s. The forged LCA’s normally use just a rubber bushing with a steel inner sleeve, as opposed to the stamped units that have bushings with rubber bonded to inner and outer steel sleeves. If you were to use this kit with the stamped arms, I believe you are supposed to save the outer sleeve from the old bushing and insert the poly bushing into that old sleeve.

I guess there’s really only one way to find out at this point. Hopefully my upper bushing inner sleeves aren’t smoked so I can just reuse them.
 
Last edited:

H2C2Dutch

Newbie
Joined
Dec 21, 2021
Messages
14
Reaction score
20
Location
Nor Cal
I don't know about 2WD. All my experience is with 4WD.

Far as I know, there's THREE kinds of lower control arms; and just to be more complicated, there's two widths at the bushing end for the upper arms..

1/2-ton and 6-lug 3/4-ton trucks use upper control arms with the "narrow" spacing. 8-lug 3/4, and 1-ton trucks use the wider spacing on the upper arms.

K1500 vs. K2500 8600 GVW upper control arms.
You must be registered for see images attach


Stamped lower arms are just that--formed and welded sheet steel from the bushing end to where the ball joint attaches using four fasteners. The OEM fasteners are rivets; replacement ball joints come with four bolts to replace the rivets.

Bolt-in ball joint, removed for obvious reasons.
You must be registered for see images attach


...and the control arm it came off of.
You must be registered for see images attach



A newer version of the stamped arm apparently uses a permanently-attached (welded?) forged end with a press-in ball joint. I've never seen one of these in person.

And of course as we saw in the photo some posts back, there's the fully-forged arm, which also uses a pressed-in ball joint. This joint may or may not be the same as the pressed-in ball joint in the stamped arm with the permanently-attached forged end.

It's my understanding that the Polyurethane bushing inserts from Energy Suspension or ProThane (or, I suppose, anyone else) will fit any of the three styles of lower arms. The stamped arms either re-use the existing outer bushing shells; or you press out the original outer shells and press-in the "new" outer shells. The forged arms don't use outer shells, but--apparently--the bushing insert shape is the same as the others.
I have been trying to figure out what type my LCAs are on my 95 8 lug K2500. Do these pictures look like the second option you described as, "A newer version of the stamped arm apparently uses a permanently-attached (welded?) forged end with a press-in ball joint. I've never seen one of these in person."
 

Attachments

  • 20220528_202538.jpg
    20220528_202538.jpg
    320.4 KB · Views: 50
  • 20220528_202718.jpg
    20220528_202718.jpg
    337.3 KB · Views: 51

H2C2Dutch

Newbie
Joined
Dec 21, 2021
Messages
14
Reaction score
20
Location
Nor Cal
Just for future reference:

You can swap the half ton stamped arms to the 3/4 ton forged arms and with that get a bit more stiffness but also use the larger 3/4 ton lower balljoint.
So this is a direct fit/replacement? No other parts necessary to switch to forged LCAs other than the ball joint?
 
Top