Disc Brake Upgrade Reference Thread

[fryer1979]

I've got a slightly different question for you guys that have done this swap already. After the swap is done, how is the ride height for a full '73-'87 crossmember and control arms in comparrison to the original '63-'66 front end? Does the truck sit any higher or lower? Mostly I am just curious in a stock for stock contrast. Thanks

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by fryer1979

I've got a slightly different question for you guys that have done this swap already. After the swap is done, how is the ride height for a full '73-'87 crossmember and control arms in comparrison to the original '63-'66 front end? Does the truck sit any higher or lower? Mostly I am just curious in a stock for stock contrast. Thanks

Back when I did mine, it did not change the height so that I noticed. I did not measure it to know for sure. I did not do the complete crossmember swap, i only did the spindle/rotor/caliper swap.

If the coil springs are the same, I mean the original ones were for a V8 and the swapped in ones were from a V8 truck (or 6 cyl/6cyl) the heights should be close not counting any amount of settling in the spring...

[old_1966_GMC]

1963-1966/5 lug
post#1

Parts Swap:
From '73-'87 you can unbolt the upper and lower control arms with the spindles attached and bolt these pieces onto your existing cross member. (clarification needed on 5-6 lug)

well i finally got the front suspension from a 76 chevy c10 during the weekend everything getting rebuild rigth now i had a few question the suspension wasnt removed by me when i got it they had a quy uninstall it for free there were these little y looking spacer on there how are those spacer supposed to go. every truck ive look today at pick n pull were all diffrent and last can i just bolt in the suspension on to my existing crossmember sence my 305e v6 is in and still running.

[Captainfab]

Those little 'Y' spacers sound like the shims for the upper control arms. Those are used between the upper control arm shaft and the part of the crossmember against the side of the frame. The shims are added or removed during the front end alignment process to adjust the caster and camber of the front wheels. There's really no way of knowing how many and what thickness to put where without doing a front end alignment. Yes you can bolt the '76 C10 control arms to your '66 GMC front suspension crossmember. As long as it isn't a 3/4 ton. I would recommend upgrading to the larger '76 U-bolts used on the lower control arm shaft. You will need to drill out the holes in the crossmember to do so.

Originally Posted by old_1966_GMC

well i finally got the front suspension from a 76 chevy c10 during the weekend everything getting rebuild rigth now i had a few question the suspension wasnt removed by me when i got it they had a quy uninstall it for free there were these little y looking spacer on there how are those spacer supposed to go. every truck ive look today at pick n pull were all diffrent and last can i just bolt in the suspension on to my existing crossmember sence my 305e v6 is in and still running.