Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

[Garry E.]

Were there differences in the upper and lower A-arms between the various years of the midyears....? I am going to replace both the left and right pairs of arms on my '64 at some point in the future...... will any set of midyear arms work, or were there differences between the years that I should be aware of.....?

Garry Eastwood
#38705

[Richard M.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

According to the 53-82 catalog, Group 6.168 says they fit 63-82. Not sure if there were any differences in the years. Sometimes later OTC parts are different from earlier production parts.

http://www.gmpartswiki.com/getpage?pageid=40725

[Michael G.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

Were there differences in the upper and lower A-arms between the various years of the midyears....? I am going to replace both the left and right pairs of arms on my '64 at some point in the future...... will any set of midyear arms work, or were there differences between the years that I should be aware of.....?

Garry Eastwood
#38705

Garry,

I did some swapping of control arms on my last project due to condition. A-arms from the 70's and 80's will work fine. There's plenty of them out there.

[Joseph S.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

Gary, The upper cross shaft on 63 and 64 cars is a square shape. Sometime in 65 they changed to a rounded shape.

The lowers are the same from 64 right up to 82. Avoid 63 lowers as they are missing a reinforcing plate at the front.

Good luck, Joe

[Gene M.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

Gary, The upper cross shaft on 63 and 64 cars is a square shape. Sometime in 65 they changed to a rounded shape.

The lowers are the same from 64 right up to 82. Avoid 63 lowers as they are missing a reinforcing plate at the front.

Good luck, Joe

In fact it is not uncommon to see early '66 model with a mix bag of square and round A arm supports even on the same car.

[Joe L.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

Were there differences in the upper and lower A-arms between the various years of the midyears....? I am going to replace both the left and right pairs of arms on my '64 at some point in the future...... will any set of midyear arms work, or were there differences between the years that I should be aware of.....?

Garry Eastwood
#38705

Garry------


1963-82 upper a-arms, exclusive of the shafts, are the same.

Most 1963 lower a-arms lack the reinforcement added in late 1963. In about 1978, the lower a-arms received a minor change involving the steering arm stop. The difference is virtually imperceptible. So, for all practical purposes, the 1964-82 lower control arms are the same.

[Mike E.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

How bad are they? Minor pitting can be filled with a high build epoxy primer then topcoated and made to look like new. Here are a few before and after shots of mine from my January built '65.

On replacement you need to make sure the ball joints rivets have never been replaced and drilled out for bolts. If they have, the holes will be too large for standard rivets will not work. Larger rivets might be difficult to be made to look correct.


















Mike

[Gene M.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

Mike,
Your A arms look excellent.

[Garry E.]

Re: Upper and Lower A-arms on midyears....

All.....

Thanks for your responses...... I don't think my arms look as bad as the "befores" that Mike had..... maybe I'll try working on them before replacing them..... Hopefully, they'll come out looking as good as Mike's !!

thanks again...

Garry Eastwood
#38705