I am Rebuilding my front suspension and wonder what you guys that have bought upper control arms think about there quality. What brand did you buy? How much? how long ago? Do they seem as strong? I havent decided to rebuild or replace. What about spring mounts? again brand? how long ago? Thank You for your input
I have most recently used the master rebuild kit offered by Laurel Mountain Mustang - parts house. Made in North America and very decent quality in both material and fabrication. The Asian imports can be downright dangerous, thin metal, and fasteners that snap before hitting the torque specs. My advise, stay away from anything imported unless it is Canada or Mexico.
They are not always rebuildable. I got mine from C.J. PonyParts several years ago. I like the OEM style better (non-greaseable), but they cost twice as much as the aftermarket units with the greasable bushings.
Discount Auto Parts has Dorman's for $59 each online. I'm not sure if they're greasable though, it doesn't say.
You may want to check out mine and others opinion about the stuff I got from Laurel Mountain... http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=95746&page=4 Plus I'll add... While the uppers and spring mounts are OK, the hardware all appeared to be soft grade bolts... What I did was press out the original bolts and reinstall them in the new stuff, also one of the shafts was no where nearly centered but that's easy enough to fix once the bolts are out... For the most part I think the lowers just plain suck, the boot isn't anywhere nearly like the original, so tall they are squashed when installed into the spindle... The cotter key opening is too far up shaft to be inside the castle nut towers(see link), had to use washers to locate correctly... Also the opening for stabilizer bushings use a stamped washer instead of the crimped in flair on the orig, I'll defiantly use different lowers when I rebuild my Fairlane's front end... And here's what I was talking about when I stated the shafts were not centered, this will effect the ability to correctly align the front end... Notice the lower LCA has the shaft centered to the left of pict vs the upper that I'd already adjusted and reinstalled orig bolts... I used the orig bolts for spring mount as well...
Maybe they changed vendors - I bought my kit 4 or 5 years ago. My parts did not look like what is in your pictures. The parts I used were as good or better than the OEM parts. Wish I could remember the name that was on the packaging. But I do remember it was made in Mexico.
Yeah Brian(cjtorinoman) told me the same thing, was very happy with the LM kit he bought a couple years ago...
Has anyone used the Dorman parts? How is the quality? I need to purchase uppers and lowers probably right after Christmas.
Too bad. Sounds like they now carry the same junk found at every swap meet. Wish I could remember the manufacturer. On a side note - Scott Drake carries made in USA control arms too.
I personally wouldn't trust nothing if Dorman had anything to do with it. A good UCA will ball joint cost around $90 each. The cheap China UCA are made out of thin/soft metal and will bend if you stepped on it.
I recently installed a front end "kit" from Laurel Mountain and the only problem I really had was similar to Krazy's post about adding spacers/washers so I could put cotter pins through the castle nuts...no big deal. The way I look at is, I'm just glad these wear type of parts are even available. The kit got me back on the road. Some of the pieces are clearly inferior to the originals which I am hanging on to, and plan on rebuilding them at my leisure for future use.
suspension thats why I inquired....our oem upper control arms were a compromise of strength,weight and cost when they were designed and new. I saw the Dormans, thats what everybody wants to sell you and they seem flimsy. The Moog Lowers I purchased two months ago from rockauto had taller than correct ball joint boot and cotter pin hole to high (the cotter pin hole to high-I have seen that for decades) They do not seem to have OEM strength and I will probably add a gusset. what about the spring mount?
Well I haven't seen one up close and personal but from pictures, I'd take them any day over the ones I got from Laurel Mountain that are apparently same as Moog...