Hello Everyone
I've spent some time searching the archives and researching most of the aftermarket upgraded rear control arms. Looking for some opinions on the best bang for the $$, upper and lower control arms. The most expensive aren't always the best, cheapest usually are not! Some of my Chevelles mods are in my signature, quick list;
Front, SC&C Stage 11, QA1 coil over BB springs single adjustable, boxed reinforced lower control arms Del-a-lum bushings, AGR Box, Old OE. 1 1/4” sway bar poly stuff, B body frame reinforcements.
Rear, Art Morrison Upper kit ( I believe designed for drag racing and work well for many years. Probably not the hot set up for cornering), boxed lowers with ploy bushings, QA1 shocks single adjustable, Old 7/8” OE. Sway bar, Springs I don’t know the rate they’re small wire diameter tall when not compressed and a lot of turns. Obviously on the light side, nice ride, Air lift bags running 4-5 PSI normally and 8-10 PSI with the cruise cargo and my girls.
I like the greaseable and rebuildable stuff, the Wolf Race Craft Spherical Billet Upper Control Arm Bushing caught my eye.
Now in a hard corner, the rear feels loose, but seems ok once it takes a set. Lingo?? I’m very happy with the ride quality now, a little more road feed back will be ok. Rear springs will probably be 11” Hyperco 5 ½ “ with adjustable spring shims, not sure on the spring rate yet. Then some good sway bars.
My car is street driven, aggressively any time I get a chance. I’d love to try a road coarse, slalom, etc. There’s not much of this type of racing around here that I know of.
You guy’s have some unbelievable rides in the PT Forum!
Thanks
Kirk
25 years trying to go in a straight line? Having way more fun turning corners! :thumbsup:

:confused; Left out the smilie, maybe PT. people don't like them!
You folks all run stock upper and lower control arms? Should I have posted this in the suspension forum? One or two people must have purchased aftermarket UCAs and/or LCAs, Autofab, CURRECTRAC, the ones on your car, Edelbrock, etc, UMI, and nobody has an opinion. Just looking for a little feed back from anyone that has, put'em in, whipped on them, adjusted, and whipped'em more!

Lowers - it really does not matter. Since you already have boxed and poly leave it alone.

Uppers - some difference here but a few posibilities out there that work. Big thing NO poly. Also no anti-hop bars as they raise the rear roll center which is not good for cornering. You want adjustable and some kind of Johnny Joint or similiar spherical bearing. Currie makes good ones, Wolf Race Craft are pretty good, and even Edelbrock are quite acceptable. Avoid heim joints for street use if you care about noise and wear factors.

Lowers - it really does not matter. Since you already have boxed and poly leave it alone.

Uppers - some difference here but a few posibilities out there that work. Big thing NO poly. Also no anti-hop bars as they raise the rear roll center which is not good for cornering. You want adjustable and some kind of Johnny Joint or similiar spherical bearing. Currie makes good ones, Wolf Race Craft are pretty good, and even Edelbrock are quite acceptable. Avoid heim joints for street use if you care about noise and wear factors.

Thanks for the reply Steve! I was suspicious of the anti-hop bars. The lowest adjustment felt a bit tighter, but still a little squirrely in back. The Currie products are definitely at the top of the list. 200 views, I was hoping a few would disclose what they're using for upper and lower arms! What are you running?
Thanks
Kirk

Can't go wrong with the Currie's. They are more expensive than most, but I'd say they are also the best of the bunch in performance, construction quality and strength and versatility.

run a set of adjustable edelbrocks for uppers.
and umi lowers with their relocation bracket..

or use the jegs lowers like i do, and use the bolt on umi relocation bracket.


aaron

I have curries on my car upper and lower arms there beefy as can be!

I run Edelbrock adjustables in the upper with new rubber bushings in the bunny ears.
I run stock unboxed lowers with poly bushings.

The El Caminos sit a bit higher in back than Chevelles, probably to allow for more drop with a load. So with the springs and ride height combination I *do* have wheel hop issues. I have since put in some Eibach springs that dropped the rear W_A_Y down. Have not really pushed it to see if that eliminated the wheel hop or not.

I am also considering the UMI lower relocation bracket idea. I want to take measurements of where things are and play around with it to see just how things change with the relocation brackets.

Excellent! That's what I was looking for looking for. Thanks to all that replied!
Kirk

I have the Edelbrock upper adjustables as well as their lower boxed arms....they also come with grease fittings. Curious about the problems with poly upper bushings if I have the Edelbrock arms? There shouldn't be a binding issue since there is a bit of clearance on each side of the differential ear bushings, or is it that the poly bushings don't flex top to bottom? I could see a possible binding problem with the lowers since their contact is just like the originals, pretty much full contact on both ends.....but the uppers are different on both ends, and the frame end of the uppers is sort of a johnny joint and snug, but not 'tight'.

I run the rubber bushings on the rear end for a few reasons:

1. I installed them not too long ago so I know they are good.
2. I do not want extra noise from the rear.
3. The arms still move in multiple directions at the same time just like they always have so having a bushing that bends as needed is still important.
4. I am lazy and did not want to R&R the bushings :D

Hello,
Thanks Steve and Aaron for the shout out! Our control arms and relocation bracket are a really good recommendation! You cant go wrong with the price or quality! If you have any other questions fell free to contact us and we well be glad to help!
Thanks Again,
Brad

Curious about the problems with poly upper bushings if I have the Edelbrock arms? There shouldn't be a binding issue since there is a bit of clearance on each side of the differential ear bushings, or is it that the poly bushings don't flex top to bottom? I could see a possible binding problem with the lowers since their contact is just like the originals, pretty much full contact on both ends.....but the uppers are different on both ends, and the frame end of the uppers is sort of a johnny joint and snug, but not 'tight'.


There should be NO clearance between the upper bushing sleeve and the control arms/frame/rear... You need to properly torque the bolts (I think about 85 ft-lbs), which will tend to squeezr the ends together and capture the bushing sleeve...

I also like to run NEW rubber bushings in the rearend housing... I might try the Wolf RaceCraft on my next project. You need a bushing to flex there, unless you have an arm that flexs (stock)...

Not much binding in the lowers, because of their angle (almost parallel) the bind is minimal with Poly... But the upper arms need to flex to articulate, or else both ends need to swivel/flex to avoid binding...

run a set of adjustable edelbrocks for uppers.
and umi lowers with their relocation bracket..

or use the jegs lowers like i do, and use the bolt on umi relocation bracket.


aaron

Hello,
Thanks Steve and Aaron for the shout out! Our control arms and relocation bracket are a really good recommendation! You cant go wrong with the price or quality! If you have any other questions fell free to contact us and we well be glad to help!
Thanks Again,
Brad

UMI Relocation Brackets? Are these designed to correct the suspension geometry
for "off the line/drag race" or hard cornering? Both? We're moving the arms from the parallel OE arrangement like the anti-hop bars do. Less lateral movement, changing the LCA angle? Maybe, some more of the experienced handling/road coarse folks will throw in here!
Any others looking to upgrade there rear control arms. Happened across this; http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/0708ch_chevy_chevelle_rear_control_arms/index.html
Maybe save you a little time in your search.
Heidt's Hot Rod Shop, these look pretty nice too! Anybody running these?
Thanks
Kirk

What the relocation brackets do is lower the rear LCA mounting point. This has the affect of shortening the Side Virtual Swing Arm formed by the intersection of the lines through the centerlines of the LCAs and UCAs. When the SVSA length is reduced it increases the torque jacking affect under accleration and lifts the rear or pushes the tires down. This can reduce/eliminate wheel hop and improve 0-60' times.

It is the same affect as the no-hop bars that are installed on the differential without the drawbacks of clearance and raised roll center issues.

Note that shortening the SVSA too much can lead to wheel chatter under braking, so there is a balance required here.

UMI Relocation Brackets? Are these designed to correct the suspension geometry
for "off the line/drag race" or hard cornering? Both? We're moving the arms from the parallel OE arrangement like the anti-hop bars do. Less lateral movement, changing the LCA angle? Maybe, some more of the experienced handling/road coarse folks will throw in here!
Any others looking to upgrade there rear control arms. Happened across this; http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/0708ch_chevy_chevelle_rear_control_arms/index.html
Maybe save you a little time in your search.
Heidt's Hot Rod Shop, these look pretty nice too! Anybody running these?
Thanks
Kirk



Hello Kirk,
What the lower control arms are designed to do is allow you to reposition the lower control arms for better weight transfer on initial launch. We have experienced that the best traction is the lowest hole on the brackets. If you have any other ideas feel free to contact me and I will be glad to help!
Thanks again, :thumbsup:
Brad

Not a "PT" guy buy love looking at 'em and watching 'em...

I have Edelbrock lowers and uppers and the connector brace between the forward mounting points. The nice thing about the eEelbrock uppers is they can be adjusted without removing either end.

I helped a buddy install his Chris Alston adjustable uppers and you have to remove either the front or rear each time you make an adjustment... which can be a real pain when you are trying to get your pinion angle nuts on..