My Ride Tech lower Strong arms are too narrow!

['71cutlasluvr]

I hope this is appropriate for the ER. My hands aren't dirty cause my frame is stripped, painted and supported by tacked welded angle iron to suspend it for easy access during the suspension install.

I waffled a long time over coil overs or air bags, and finally decided on the latter. I purchase just the front and rear Shockwaves and the front lower a-arms as I have SPC upper a-arms and ATS spindles.

I drilled the 3/4" hole (was 5/8" stock) to accept the front Shockwave. I then tried to insert the lower strong arm into the chassis. It didn't Fit! Thought I was losing my mind so installed the Hotchkiss lower a-arms I had installed several years ago and they slipped right in! What the heck??

I measured both arms and the inside bushing to bushing dimension for the strong arms is 3/16" NARROWER than the hotchkiss (and I assume, stock) a-arms. I called the salesguy at ridetech and he's flabberghasted. They have sold thousands of these strongarms for gm a-bodies and I'm the first one to have a fitment problem. If it was 1/32 or even 1/16" I could do some massaging but 3/16"? Might as well be a foot off. I shouldn't have to.. this is supposed to be a bolt in update.

ridetech doesn't list olds cutlass' as one of the muscle cars their products will fit, but I was assured that the same setup for a chevelle would work. I had no reason not to believe him since the Hotchkiss pieces are for a chevelle also....

Be advised, the frame has never been in an accident and I had a frame alignment shop straighten what little was needed while it was on the hotchkiss suspension before I primed and painted the frame. It's dead straight. No damage at the a-arm mounting points.



Thought maybe I should go coil overs but that setup uses the same strong arm a-arms.
I really wanted to make this work.... didn't really want to mess with coil overs and the air shocks made sense as I'm getting older.

I bought from RT since they have a stellar rep and have a highly rated customer service department. But I think I'm gonna get a cold shoulder on this since there seems to be no explanation as to why this is happening. I'll probably take a hit on shipping and maybe a restocking fee. I would really like to avoid that!

Anybody ever run into this with ride tech strong arms on their a-body chassis?? If so, how did you make it work? I'm $3k in the hole and have wasted two weekends on this mess. All input would be appreciated.



'71CL