B or E body Tubular LCA on A body

408STRKR said

Hey guys,

Purchased the 17 in rally’s from year one for the 69 Valiant. Rears fit great, fronts with 225 wide still rub fender lip at times.
I have read that B and E body arms are shorter by 1/16 to 3/8, will they fit an A body k frame/ spindles?
Basically trying to gain more neg offset on the spindle.

thoughts?

Jay

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Yes, the B/E LCA's are shorter. But unless you add fully adjustable UCA's, like Hotchkis or SPC, you'll have a really tough time getting your camber settings even close to right. Not to mention shorter control arms make the suspension geometry curves worse. You'll also likely need adjustable strut rods too, since the rear mount point will move.

I know of one gentleman that used A-body LCA's on his Challenger. Basically he was looking to improve the geometry curves and using longer control arms does that. He used Hotchkis UCA's (which also change the geometry on an E body), made his own strut rods, and did a few other custom deals (C body spindles) and then worked the whole thing out with a suspension geometry program to make sure it all worked from a handling point of view.

There's no way I'd venture down that road just to fit a set of rims that have the wrong backspacing. Using the shorter LCA would already worsen the geometry. Then you'd need the adjustable UCA's to shorten them to get your alignment right. The UCA's will set you back a good $400 or more. Plus the adjustable strut rods. And after all that and an alignment your suspension geometry curves would be worse than stock.

Not a good idea IMHO.