S10 LCAs vs G-Body LCAs

[jdpolzin]

Ok guys, I am having a heck of a time getting one of my bolts out of the LCA on my Grand National. The bolt has fused together with the bushing. I tried to press it out but it would budge. I tried to cut the bolt with a sawzall but it just eats the blades up. My plan was to get the stockers off, box them, put new MOOG K6421 bushings in, install ZQ8 bump stops, and new MOOG ball joints. I have already purchased all the bushings and ball joints. Now that I cant get this dang thing off, I have a feeling I'm going to end up butchering the control arm up a little. I searched for new control arms online and found that I can get replacement arms from Rockauto for a 98 S10 for $76 a piece. I'm thinking I may just go that route and be done with it. But, are the 98 S10 arms the same as the GBody ones? It would probably be much less work to just forget about the original rusted ones and get new ones. The only problem is that they wont be boxed but I dont think it would hurt me too much. I'm not autocrossing the car. They do not sell replacement arms for the GN. Thanks for the help guys! ------Jeremy

[jerome]

Different bushings bore or outside diameter I believe. Same arm otherwise.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/2093,25_Stock-Metric-Lower-Control-Arm.html

cheap and get the steel bushings

Jerome

[jdpolzin]

Check this link out from Rockauto.com. I could get the entire lower control arm with bushings and BJ's for $77. It says this is for the ZQ8 models but what is the difference? So the inside bore of the bushings is different? If it's larger, I just need to find control arm bolts for them then I'm good to go? Are the ZQ8 arms different from the regular arms?


Well I cant post the link but if you go to www.Rockauto.com, then Chevrolet, then 1998, then suspension, then control arms. You will see them. What do you think?

[megaladon6]

is there any advantage to the ZQ8 arms over the stock g-body ones? which del-a-lum bushings would i use if i did this? i have an 87 monte.

[jerome]

Correct me if I am wrong, but the GN arms are the same as any G-body arm. The G-body arm is 70 per side from Speedway Motors. I am not sure why you would want to deal with incorrect bushing sizes. If I remember correctly, the S10 has a different bolt on one of the bushings. Which means you would sleeve the frame. Either way, this is not something easy or fun to deal with. If the bushing was the wrong OD, then you would have to sleeve the control arm.

I do not think the ZQ8 S10 uses a different arm than the normal S10.

I don't know what your project is in terms of budget or other front suspension parts, but If you are planning on stock-style arms, then I would go with the stock arms from Speedway. Run either the steel bushings or Del-A-Lums. You should definitely go ahead and correct the geometry of the spindle if you haven't already. ATS spindle will do this. So will tall upper and lower ball joints and stock spindle. You will need to get adjustable upper arms or an offset cross shaft to be able to align this properly.

Jerome

[MonzaRacer]

The ZQ arms may have a slightly different steering stop as they have better brakes than the regualr S10s, provided the S10 arms are a true bolt in and if you locate ZQ spindles then you can swap in Corvette brakes much easier(like order the caliper brackets,bolt them on then switch the rotors and tada from the info I hve gleaned.

[megaladon6]

are the ZQ8 arms better/stronger/whatever than the g-body arms?

[jdpolzin]

Actually I have the ATS spindle with C5 brakes. The reason I liked the ones off RockAuto is that they already come with ball joints and bushings. I checked the speedway ones out and they want $70 for the arm and more for the bushings and the balljoints. I dont think the ZQ8 arms are any different but I really need to have this verified. I'm going to end up trshing my stockers on the GN and they are pretty rusty anyways. Yeah the GN has the same arms as any otehr G Body car. Am I reading the Speedway ad wrong or do they already come with bushings and BJ's? If so, thats a heck of a deal!

[darren@ridetech]

Different bushings bore or outside diameter I believe. Same arm otherwise.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/2093,25_Stock-Metric-Lower-Control-Arm.html

cheap and get the steel bushings

Jerome

G body has different id on the bushing.

[Eric Howell]

The ZQ arms may have a slightly different steering stop as they have better brakes than the regualr S10s, provided the S10 arms are a true bolt in and if you locate ZQ spindles then you can swap in Corvette brakes much easier(like order the caliper brackets,bolt them on then switch the rotors and tada from the info I hve gleaned.The arms, spindles and brakes are exactly the same as any other S-10. The 98+ Blazers had 2 piston calipers with divorced hubs, these are the only S trucks to use a different spindle.

ZQ8 package for the front was 1"-1.5" drop spring (depending on who you ask). Quick ratio steering box. Poly bump stops that are shorter. 33mm sway bar. And lastly Bilstien shocks.

[35spline]

Ok guys, I am having a heck of a time getting one of my bolts out of the LCA on my Grand National. The bolt has fused together with the bushing. I tried to press it out but it would budge. I tried to cut the bolt with a sawzall but it just eats the blades up

I ran into this problem while removing the leaf springs on my 69 Blazer. I used a torch to heat the rubber bushing until it basically melted out. Have something like a steel can ready to catch the mess as it drips out.

[HectorM52]

How about this... do you have ONE side off? Meaning, do you have one LCA off the car? If so, PLEASE get a caliper and measure a few things...

Measure the ID of the LCA bushing sleeve, do one measurement for the FRONT bushing and one measurement for the REAR bushing. We can probably assume that the holes in the frame are a similar size. And we can also probably assume that the OD of the bolt will nearly "match" the ID of the bushings. Right?

If you do that with the stock parts on your G-Body, then I'll do the same with my stock S10 parts. We can compare then put all these "guesses" to rest. Hell, I'm bored right now. BRB...

[HectorM52]

Okay... My new SPC arms seem to have the bushings of .500 front and .500 rear.

My stock S10 seems to have .500 rear and .550 front.

Maybe that's what people are referring to?

Remember, I'm measuring ID of the sleeves going through the LCA bushings.

[jdpolzin]

Hector, I just cut the bushings out of the arms Friday night. maybe someone else has a set available to measure?

[HectorM52]

I'd be willing to bet that the .050 difference in the front bushing has a lot to do with it. I tried to install my LCA's today and they won't fit due to that difference. My .550 bolt won't go into the .500 hole.

[Marcus SC&C]

All G Body arms will interchange but some require a bit of work and they`re not all exactly the same. `78 G body (technically still A body till `81) have 1/2" bolts. The rest are metric. Early G body arms have a straight leading edge. Later ones have the front edge rolled 180* to make the arms more rigid.

Simple fix for the S10 bushings,just drill the bushing sleeves out to .550",done. SPC makes the inner sleeves thick to allow for that. Takes all of about 5 mins. S10 guys have been doing that with G body arms for years. Mark SC&C

[s10cyncrvr]

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2008/02/th_another126-1.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v607/s10cyncrvr/SecondTimeAround/another126.jpg)

Here you can see the ID difference between the two. S-10 one is on the left, G-body on the right.