New Trailing Arms

['68OrangeSunshine]

My '68 C/10 Stepside got clipped on the rear quarter in a collision last week. I'm thinking my OEM trailing arms may be bent.
Tracking bar or Panhard bar is bent. 12 - Bolt differential grinds like gravel when in gear. Broken axle, maybe? Rear wheel is tweaked, And original paint [RH] step fender is crushed.
Looking at the LMC catalog, they have stock type stamped Control Arms for $269 each. Also, I see some Tubular Tracking Arms for $600 a pair.
Are the tubular ones any better? Can the existing ones be straightened out?

[pjmoreland]

I don't have any experience with the tubular trailing arms, but I'm sorry to hear about your truck!

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

I don't have any experience with the tubular trailing arms, but I'm sorry to hear about your truck!

Know anybody with a 516 Orange Right Rear [passenger side] Step Fender for sale? [68 - 72]
J/K. But thanks for the commiseration. Guess it was the Law of Averages -- 49 years without a major accident.

Right now, I'm trying to keep Allstate from just calling it TOTALLED and selling it back to me with a Salvage Title.

[pjmoreland]

That's a good run! Mine came to me with a damaged driver side bed fender. Had to settle for one in green. Maybe you'll get lucky on the search for a replacement.

['68OrangeSunshine]

LMC lists repops for $580

I just listed a WTB for the fender.

[Joyridin]

I just put new trailing arms on mine and they are tubular. I haven't driven it yet, but they seem to fit really nice and are adjustable unlike the originals. I have no idea what you are ultimately doing with the truck, but if you are trying to keep it original, stay with stock.

[Dieselwrencher]

A friend of mine has had tubular trailing arms on his 950rwhp Duramax burb for years and has had no problems with them. I believe his were CPP's too. Sorry to hear about your truck as well.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Joyridin' -- I intend on keeping a stock stance, so maybe I don't need Tubular. Variability would just throw it all off. Guys lowering their rigs might find that handy.
Dieselwrencher -- Thanks, It ain't dead yet.

Anybody know how good the LMC stock trailing arms are?
I don't know if my OEMs are trashed yet or can be straightened out.
Panhard bar was bent.

[pjmoreland]

I've got a stock panhard bar you can have. It will need new bushings. If you want it, PM me your address and I'll send it your way.

[pjmoreland]

This guy's got some stock trailing arms for sale not too far from you:

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/p...468440995.html

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

I've got a stock panhard bar you can have. It will need new bushings. If you want it, PM me your address and I'll send it your way.

PM Sent.
Thanks, Brian

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

This guy's got some stock trailing arms for sale not too far from you:

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/p...468440995.html

Yeah. Casa Grande is about an hour up the road [I-10]. I did see some Craigslist parts, but I'm waiting on a diagnosis of existing situation before buying replacements.
Yesterday I made a deal on a 12-Bolt rear end off a '65 C/10 from a fellow First Gen Blazer enthusiast who has a shop. charlie of Kustom Rims, downtown at 6th AV + 6th St. He was not aware of our 67/72 website.
Also talked with a local differential shop about refurbishing of same.

[cwcarpenter98]

Bummer on the wreck, I hope you can get it back going soon.

If your current trailing arms are bent, I'd try to track down a good, used set before buying a new set. Most pairs of good, used ones that I have seen are less than a single, new arm from LMC.
If you're looking for an arm that doesn't flex as much, you could look for the C20 arms that have reinforcement plates on the top and bottom near the axle

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Bummer on the wreck, I hope you can get it back going soon.

If your current trailing arms are bent, I'd try to track down a good, used set before buying a new set. Most pairs of good, used ones that I have seen are less than a single, new arm from LMC.
If you're looking for an arm that doesn't flex as much, you could look for the C20 arms that have reinforcement plates on the top and bottom near the axle

Thanks, Christian
The guy in Casa Grande wants $125 for the pair. I think used original parts will be better than Chinese-made repops.
I haven't tried the junkers in Tucson yet. They may be cheaper, and at least closer.

[cwcarpenter98]

Even with your time to clean up and paint a good set of used ones, you'll probably still be under the cost of two repops.
Where you're at in the country doesn't have a ton of rust issues with the arms either, so that helps make it easier to find good ones.
Also, you can use any arm from 60-72

['68OrangeSunshine]

I didn't know the chassis design went that far back. Good to know.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

I didn't know the chassis design went that far back. Good to know.

Well, sorta
GM used the same trailing arms from 60-72, but on the 60-62 frames, the trailing arms are spaced out a bit farther than the 63-72 frames. From the beginning of the bed to the rear of the frame, the 63-72 frames are mostly the same. Where the cab mounts and the front frame horns are different. So not exactly the same overall, but similar enough to have interchangeable parts. Gotta love the GM parts bin

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Well, sorta
GM used the same trailing arms from 60-72, but on the 60-62 frames, the trailing arms are spaced out a bit farther than the 63-72 frames. From the beginning of the bed to the rear of the frame, the 63-72 frames are mostly the same. Where the cab mounts and the front frame horns are different. So not exactly the same overall, but similar enough to have interchangeable parts. Gotta love the GM parts bin

Meeting the guy in Casa Grande tomorrow. Local junkers got zilch.

['68OrangeSunshine]

OK. I'm in business, almost.
Met Lane in Casa Grande. Got a pair of caliche encrusted Trailing Arms for the C/10. $125, as he had said in the CL ad.
Then I noticed he had 68-72 Stepside Fenders. It took $350 to persuade him to break up a set, but he's a nice guy so he let me have it for that.
I saw a patina blue one on EBay for under $600, but only just.
I told him about the 67-72ChevyTrucks.com website. At first he didn't think he knew about it. Later when I got back with more cash, he said he had seen it before, but it looks different from a smartphone.
PJ's Panhard Bar hasn't come yet, but UPS says it's out for delivery and should arrive before an Hour and Five minutes.
I mean what would a Porch Pirate do with it? They wouldn't know what it's for...
An expensive but productive day

['68OrangeSunshine]

Well, as I was posting, UPS dropped off my new [to me] Panhard Bar at 5:51 PM MST.
So many thanks, Pat.
Now I have to acquire bushings, bolts, U-bolts, nuts etc. for a reassembly.

[pjmoreland]

Wow! A successful day!

['68OrangeSunshine]

Truly.
When I talked to Lane last night, he said he had a pair of step fenders, but was keeping them for a future project of slicing up two from each side to make a taller fender that ends just under the rail roll.
I said if you do that, you can't use a bunji hook to secure loads under the rails.
I learned long ago never to tell someone I thought their creative idea was stupid. Then they get pissed.
Andy Jackson won my point. [Or a whole stack of them.]
Anyway, Lane's a nice guy. He may look me up, as I gave him my 68OrangeSunshine handle.

Jeez, the patina blue fender from Cali on EBay just jumped to $685. I was sure it was $585 BIN yesterday.
Glad I nailed it down.
Probably a couple of months of peanut butter and jelly instead of steak and potatoes coming up, but still money well spent.

[cwcarpenter98]

Congrats on the successful day! I was hoping that you might be able to find a fender along with the arms, but didn't want to jinx it

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Congrats on the successful day! I was hoping that you might be able to find a fender along with the arms, but didn't want to jinx it

Exactly. I didn't mention that he said he had step fenders on the phone in my earlier post because I too was unwilling to jinx it. [Or let an unseen nemesis get there earlier and buy it out from under me. Like EBay snipers.]
As Margaret Hamilton's character said in the 1939 Wizard of OZ, ''These things are best done -- delicately.''
He did place his step fenders on the side of a shed in direct view, but 50 yards in the background. So he may have been playing some psychology on me, too.
Getting me to think about them and bid higher.

My personal view is that, if you stretched stepfenders to look taller, and come up to just under the rolled edge of the bedrails -- it would look like @$$. Even if you were an ace body panel welder. But nobody likes a buzzkill, so I kept my opinion private.

Anyway, my new friend, Lane, had a good day. He got almost $500 from me. And while I was following my GPS to the bank for more cash, he sold a '73 squarebody fleetside to another client. I saw it on a trailer southbound as I came back with a fistfull of dollars in my sweating hand.

Actually it was a real nice day for a run. Full sun, but a light breeze kept the desert cool. Held the 350 in the Jimmy mostly at 67-74 MPH. Hugged the right lane with the semis like a longtailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs... Good oil pressure, engine temps nominal.
Great day.

[cwcarpenter98]

Hard to beat a good day of tracking down parts and enjoying an old truck!