Fabricated Control Arms, Material Sizing

[CTX-SLPR]

Howdy,

Back to work on "Improving GM's Suspension" on my '64 Riviera. Since nothing is catelog beyond stock parts, I'm doing it old school way of fabricating pretty much everything sorrounding some OEM major parts. While I toyed with the idea of using Coleman Racing's build your own spindles since they would keep my stock wheel bolt patern and bears I decided that in the end it would be cheaper and simpler to use a pair of C5/6 uprights for more product support and more wheel options.

I've been staring at various aftermarket manufacturers adjustable A-arms. This formulated the basic design of using my stock upper control arm bushings (the cross shaft is way more complex than the A/F/X/B-body cross shaft with a bend to clear the upper spring pocket) and weld on tabs to pick up clevis type rod ends for the adjustable piece of the A-arm and have a similar plate welded to a Spindle Taper with one free and one fixed clevis on the other end. Now the big difference I noted between the Speedway and Coleman racing parts was the standard shank diameter for the Speedway stuff was 5/8in fine while the Coleman stuff was 3/4in fine. Which is recommended for my ~4000lb Riviera? Is aluminum hex strong enough for an upper control arm? Will 3/8in thick tabs/plate be strong enough?



Thanks,