Lower Control Arms Help

[ItsMarty]

After fighting the riveted-in lower balljoints on my 1993 K1500 RCSB I decided to chalk it up as a loss and I’m currently in need of new control arms (we ended up heating the rivets up too much and melting the control arm).

I realize no one sells replacement lower control arms for our trucks, it seems some have used the cast/stamped lower control arms off the 96-2000 K2500’s with the press-in style balljoint but I was hoping someone could confirm this will work on a K1500. I’ll have to order a different set of lower balljoints but at this point it would be much better than dealing with these rivets again.

Did some 1500’s have casted/forged LCA’s or was this a K2500 and suburban thing only? The info I have found doesn’t specify this, or is a bit confusing. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

 

[alpinecrick]

The K1500 have stamped Lower C-arms with pressed in BJ's. Upper C-arms came from the factory with BJ's riveted in.

I be confused.........

 

[Jcauli82]

Grinding the rivets out isn't that bad how did you melt the lca? They are pretty sturdy usually do you have a pic?

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[evilunclegrimace]

The K1500 have stamped Lower C-arms with pressed in BJ's. Upper C-arms came from the factory with BJ's riveted in.

I be confused.........

The K1500/2500/3500 Originally came with stamped LC's that had a riveted ball joint. Later models came equipped with stamped/forged combos that had a pressed in ball joint and the very late models came with fully forged LC's with a pressed in ball joint. I don't remember the break down for the years but there is a thread that spells it out here on the forum

 

[ItsMarty]

Grinding the rivets out isn't that bad how did you melt the lca? They are pretty sturdy usually do you have a pic?

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I was able to knock the heads off fine, the issue I’m having is the rivet body is stuck in the balljoint. Hard to tell from a picture but the LCA started to warp pretty bad from the heat. They didn’t necessarily melt but I would rather replace them at this point. A buddy with a shop was heating the rivet with a torch while I used the air hammer to try pushing the rivet out, we couldn’t get the rivet to budge. Even knocked the heads off on both sides before starting.

Our theory is the balljoint is soaking up the heat from the rivet and the thinner control arm is what heated faster and gave instead. Possibly mushroomed worse than normal inside the balljoint when they were assembled? Him or I have never had this much of an issue with riveted balljoints, the uppers came out just fine atleast with a hammer and a punch.

 

[ItsMarty]

The K1500/2500/3500 Originally came with stamped LC's that had a riveted ball joint. Later models came equipped with stamped/forged combos that had a pressed in ball joint and the very late models came with fully forged LC's with a pressed in ball joint. I don't remember the break down for the years but there is a thread that spells it out here on the forum

I believe I found those threads but I had a hard time following if they would work on any K1500 or if they were for Suburbans/K2500’s only. Some said the fully forged LC’s also may give a slightly tighter turn radius? I’m assuming the K1500/K2500/K3500 all use the same control arm then? If so that would be great and I’ll start my search for fully forged LCA’s to swap in.

 

[Jcauli82]

I was able to knock the heads off fine, the issue I’m having is the rivet body is stuck in the balljoint. Hard to tell from a picture but the LCA started to warp pretty bad from the heat. They didn’t necessarily melt but I would rather replace them at this point. A buddy with a shop was heating the rivet with a torch while I used the air hammer to try pushing the rivet out, we couldn’t get the rivet to budge. Even knocked the heads off on both sides before starting.

Our theory is the balljoint is soaking up the heat from the rivet and the thinner control arm is what heated faster and gave instead. Possibly mushroomed worse than normal inside the balljoint when they were assembled? Him or I have never had this much of an issue with riveted balljoints, the uppers came out just fine atleast with a hammer and a punch.

**** just hit it with a sledgehammer

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[eran tomer]

detroit axle sell complete lower control arms.
anyone have experience with them?

 

[ItsMarty]

**** just hit it with a sledgehammer

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I worked on it with a 5lbs sledge on and off for about 2 weeks before deciding to bring it to the shop and hitting it with the acetylene torch and some quality air tools with a good compressor. With the metal warped/bubbled around the balljoint it’s time to just replace it.

 

[ItsMarty]

detroit axle sell complete lower control arms.
anyone have experience with them?

For the K series trucks? The only LCA’s I’ve found for the GMT400’s are all for 2WD’s