Upper control arm shims

[Swampyankee74]

Just noticed on my 74 someone at some point in time put the half round shims behind the horseshoe shims. Did they do this just to gain a little more space or accident? Were these shims just to adjust camber? I have a small tweak in the horns of my frame, I have a body guy going to straighten it for me. When I get the truck back I plan on pulling the front suspension apart and doing new bushings and springs. Should I just take the shims and put them in there correct order? Or could I be messing up camber or something else I'm not aware of?

[Swampyankee74]

1

[JohnnyPopper]

Wow-where to start?

Did you pull that girl out of the swamp? a salt water swamp?

It looks like some things might break before they come apart.

Not to alarm you, but the rust level is pretty severe, but hey, what are a few microns of rust between fellow SB lovers, right?

In the grand scheme of things, the shims, round or horseshoe are designed to adjust camber and castor, and yes, there is a delicate balance between the two. Hard to tell if they compensate for an accident or just sloppy specs from the assembly line.

I would advise you to look at it from a 30K foot view- your upper control arm bushing need replacement, which would suggest that the upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, lower control arm bushings, pitman arm, AND idler arm need replacement.

Once that is in your rear view mirror, have an alignment pro get your shims in order.

One recommendation on taking her apart- I have used PB Blaster to get parts free without breaking (most of the time). I now use Superzilla. Can't begin to tell you the difference. Their website will sing the praises. Hope this doesn't violate the endorsement clause of this website. I'm sure bd will have a sharp eye on this...

She will drive, track, and handle like a brand new girl...assuming her rear end is in good shape 

[Swampyankee74]

Haha, no salt pond. The frame is actually in really nice shape. The control arms are not quite as bad at they appear. Ive been squirting everything with pb blaster for about 2 months, she'll come apart. But you got me thinking about getting new control arms now. Yes I have all new bushings for the hole chasis, ball joints and tie rod ends, also sandblast and chasis saver. All after the tweak in the front dog bones is fixed. Yea I got a project going, but trying to do her right. She's almost stripped, should have it to the body guy who's gonna tweak the frame back this week.

[Swampyankee74]

The truck had a couple small front end collisions.  I'm thinking someone(not the factory) put that together on purpose like that to gain a little or just didn't know the order of shims

[Swampyankee74]

I see on rock auto you can get complete moog upper control arms with bushings and ball joints for $70 or acdelco for $130. I'm leaning towards ac Delco any thoughts Johnny popper? I don't see any lowers on there.

[bd]

Looks like the product of inexperienced hacks...   

Good eye!  The backs of the upper control arms are dished concave to mate with convex washers.  The mutually curved surfaces allow the washers to rotate so that the flat horseshoe shims used for caster/camber adjustment are evenly clamped across their width irrespective of the angle formed between the frame rails and the control arm shafts.  The design helps to keep the control arms firmly anchored to the frame.

I always prefer to use Delco service parts when available, followed by Moog.  But as these trucks trail into antiquity, finding preferred parts grows more difficult.  Alas, Google can be your friend.   

[VileZambonie]

You know someone is not from New England when they think that rust is bad 

Get yourself an induction heater, those things will come right apart.

[Swampyankee74]

I've never used and induction heater, I'd like to try one out. Maybe Santa will bring me one this Christmas. I have oxi acetylene and an aray of tips. She'll come apart. So far I've been lucky stripping her down to this point. Everything so far besides the carage bolts on the wood bed have just unbolted.

Vilezambonie I beleave we live in the same area, I'm in voluntown ct. I'm quite a ways from this point, but do you know anyone in the area that is qualified to align these trucks? I used to use jand j alignment with is now quercias in norwich. Still the place to go for these old trucks?

[JohnnyPopper]

I lived in Maine '68-70. Know the reason my dad hosed off the '62 Olds Dynamic 88 every day during the 'salted roads' season.

Swampyankee, look at you! A lot of work you will be proud of. Look forward to the finished product...

[Swampyankee74]

Me too! Make a nice solid truck, all new brakes, bushings, steering and a new drivetrain. And put the old worked out body back on her, for the time being anyhow.

[Mike81K10]

I would look at local part stores for the Moog upper control arms with bushings and ball joints. Compare prices among different stores. Then you will not have to pay for shipping and if there is a problem with the part(s), it can be returned straight to the store. Also keep in mind when I was buying my parts I found Moog has two levels for their parts. One is a higher quality level part than the other and the prices are different.

[Chevygold]

I've just done my front end, grit blasted the arms and springs then rebuilt with all new bushes and a good dose of Por15 and they look brand new now, funnily enough the ball joints were all sound, even though they were probably original as they were rivetted in, after setting up the tracking the transformation is like night and day! Just as well as shipping to UK made new arms prohibitive!
Graham

[VileZambonie]

I've never used and induction heater, I'd like to try one out. Maybe Santa will bring me one this Christmas. I have oxi acetylene and an aray of tips. She'll come apart. So far I've been lucky stripping her down to this point. Everything so far besides the carage bolts on the wood bed have just unbolted.

Vilezambonie I beleave we live in the same area, I'm in voluntown ct. I'm quite a ways from this point, but do you know anyone in the area that is qualified to align these trucks? I used to use jand j alignment with is now quercias in norwich. Still the place to go for these old trucks?

Induction heater is great when the torch will be too destructive or dangerous. I'm probably about 30-40 miles away and can't recommend anyone for you in your area, unfortunately. I do them myself and don't know anyone other than me, not to sound cocky. Shim alignments have been gone for a long time now and most places do toe and go's.

[JohnnyPopper]

Well in all fairness to the remaining alignment techs, if you bring them a frozen set of shims, bolts, etc. and expect full service without some charge to make your vehicle 'workable', where do we go from there?