Front suspension interchanges

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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Guys, Im trying to figure out my front suspension.

I have a 71 Scamp, that at some point was switched over to the LBP and discs. I have a little bit of everything on my front suspension and steering. By this I mean..

I have 71 steering components, inner/outer tie rods and center link as well as idler and pitman arms.

Now where Im confused is what suspension components Im running. Im trying to figure out what LCA's and UCA's I have. Is there a way to easily identify these, being that I dont have sway bar tabs.

I have a set of 72 down LCA's with sway bar tabs that Im wanting to use but not sure if I can use these with the LBP discs. If I cant I will search for 73 and up LCA's. The reason Im digging into this is I want to gather parts for this winter to rebuild my suspension, and want to make sure I order the correct stuff.
 
The difference between the early and late LCAs is the placement of the sway bar tabs
otherwise they are the same
 
If you have OEM bbp and not some conversion, UCAs will be big ball joint or have the bushings made by Doctor Diff. If you have the tabs on the end of your LCAs they are for a 67 to 72 sway bar. Tabs more toward the center would be for a the 73 up sway bar.
 
cudascott said:
The difference between the early and late LCAs is the placement of the sway bar tabs
otherwise they are the same
Click to expand...

Ok that is good to know.

Oklacarcollecto said:
If you have OEM bbp and not some conversion, UCAs will be big ball joint or have the bushings made by Doctor Diff. If you have the tabs on the end of your LCAs they are for the 73 up sway bar. Tabs more toward the center would be for a 67 to 72 sway bar.
Click to expand...

I was actually just on PST's website looking at there kits. They have multiple kits for the 71 Scamp, depending if you had drums, KH's disc or single piston disc... Which got me thinking. I thought the Scamps came with drums up front and small bolt pattern. Your saying that it was possible they came with LBP and disc, if Im understanding correctly?

I do know the difference with the LCA's and sway bar tabs, I just didnt know they could interchange.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
If you have OEM bbp and not some conversion, UCAs will be big ball joint or have the bushings made by Doctor Diff. If you have the tabs on the end of your LCAs they are for the 73 up sway bar. Tabs more toward the center would be for a 67 to 72 sway bar.
Click to expand...

Okla:
You have it backwards on the sway bars.
The tabs on the end of the LCA's are for 65-72 sway bars.
In the center of the LCA's are for 73-76 sway bars.

 
Okla is right except tabs on the end are 67' to 72' and tabs more toward center are 73' up. it's not possible that a 71' came with LBP disks they would
had SBP Kelsey Hayes disc or drums. BBP came on 73' up if that's what you have someone changed them and you have the big ball joint UCAs.
 
straightlinespeed said:
Ok that is good to know.



I was actually just on PST's website looking at there kits. They have multiple kits for the 71 Scamp, depending if you had drums, KH's disc or single piston disc... Which got me thinking. I thought the Scamps came with drums up front and small bolt pattern. Your saying that it was possible they came with LBP and disc, if Im understanding correctly?

I do know the difference with the LCA's and sway bar tabs, I just didnt know they could interchange.
Click to expand...

You will need 73 up ball joints for your LCAs IF you are running lbp OEM disc brakes. It doesn't matter what your car came with if it has been changed.

IF you are running 73 up UCAs you will need the big ball joints.

The sway bar runs through the K frame on the 73 up but there are no holes for it on the 72 back K frame.

You need to identify what you have before you start ordering parts.
 
straightlinespeed said:
I was actually just on PST's website looking at there kits.
Click to expand...

After much looking I decided on PST's kit for my front end, I haven't purchased it yet but I'm gonna.

Can't beat the price for the complete kit. We also get a FABO discount.

Don't forget the ball joint socket!
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
You will need 73 up ball joints for your LCA's IF you are running lbp OEM brakes.
Click to expand...

It appears that really the only difference between 72/down and 73/up are the ball joints. According to Rockauto, and the Moog Parts on there, the control arm bushings, tie rods ends and the adjusting sleeve are the same for either years. At least I assumed correctly that I had 73 up discs on this car. This adds one more questions then..

As for the UCA's Im assuming that those have to be the large ball joints, since I have the LBP?!?
 
Bad Sport said:
After much looking I decided on PST's kit for my front end, I haven't purchased it yet but I'm gonna.

Can't beat the price for the complete kit. We also get a FABO discount.

Don't forget the ball joint socket!
Click to expand...

I just got there catalog and saw that socket. Are you going to go rubber or poly, super or regular kit. I was also thinking about the solid adjusting sleeve upgrade

I priced everything out on Rockauto for Moog parts, because I dont need some of the parts, like the idler arm and bumpers. It is a fraction of the price even with our discount. So Im kinda torn
 
straightlinespeed said:
It appears that really the only difference between 72/down and 73/up are the ball joints. According to Rockauto, and the Moog Parts on there, the control arm bushings, tie rods ends and the adjusting sleeve are the same for either years. At least I assumed correctly that I had 73 up discs on this car. This adds one more questions then..

As for the UCA's Im assuming that those have to be the large ball joints, since I have the LBP?!?
Click to expand...

Unless you have some aftermarket conversion to the lbp or have Doctor Diffs conversion sleeves. If you have a conversion then you will need the old brake drum lower ball joint.

I see people ordering parts that won't fit their car all the time so it will pay you to figure out what you have before you order parts. Posting some pictures might help to figure out what you actually have.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
You will need 73 up ball joints for your LCAs IF you are running lbp OEM disc brakes. It doesn't matter what your car came with if it has been changed.

IF you are running 73 up UCAs you will need the big ball joints.

The sway bar runs through the K frame on the 73 up but there are no holes for it on the 72 back K frame.

You need to identify what you have before you start ordering parts.
Click to expand...

I have the 72 down K frame because of the biscuit mounts.

Oklacarcollecto said:
Unless you have some aftermarket conversion to the lbp or have Doctor Diffs conversion sleeves. If you have a conversion then you will need the old brake drum lower ball joint.

I see people ordering parts that won't fit their car all the time so it will pay you to figure out what you have before you order parts. Posting some pictures might help to figure out what you actually have.
Click to expand...

I dont have a aftermarket conversion on the car. Just swapped over parts, about 99% sure of this. I can try to get some pics of the UCA's in a few, but it will be with the wheels on.
 
straightlinespeed said:
I have the 72 down K frame because of the biscuit mounts.



I dont have a aftermarket conversion on the car. Just swapped over parts, about 99% sure of this. I can try to get some pics of the UCA's in a few, but it will be with the wheels on.
Click to expand...

That dictates what LCAs you need if you are going to use an OEM sway bar.

Get some pictures of the disc brake calipers.
 
The calipers look like OEM so the lower calipers should be 1973 up.

To use the 72 back sway bar the 73 up spindles and calipers have to be switched side to side from the OEM position.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
The calipers look like OEM so the lower calipers should be 1973 up.

To use the 72 back sway bar the 73 up spindles and calipers have to be switched side to side from the OEM position.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you meant by lower calipers. Did you mean the LCA's. How do I determine if I have the larger ball joint UCA's.

That is good to know about the spindles. That will move the Caliper to the rear instead of the front correct? Is that going to be a issue then with my steering linkages?
 
straightlinespeed said:
Not sure what you meant by lower calipers. Did you mean the LCA's. How do I determine if I have the larger ball joint UCA's.

That is good to know about the spindles. That will move the Caliper to the rear instead of the front correct? Is that going to be a issue then with my steering linkages?
Click to expand...


Ball joints should have been there.

The ball joints remain in the same position, just the spindle and attached parts are switched. You will need longer brake hoses, most people use them for a Volare application. No issues with linkages.bb

If bushings/adapters aren't used the you would have the 73 up upper ball joints.
 
straightlinespeed said:
I just got there catalog and saw that socket. Are you going to go rubber or poly, super or regular kit. I was also thinking about the solid adjusting sleeve upgrade

I priced everything out on Rockauto for Moog parts, because I dont need some of the parts, like the idler arm and bumpers. It is a fraction of the price even with our discount. So Im kinda torn
Click to expand...

I'm going rubber.

This is the kit I'm getting, along with the socket.

http://www.p-s-t.com/s.nl/it.A/id.187/.f?sc=12
 
One other thing to consider is what year sway bar setup (if any) your plan to use. I didn’t see sway bar tabs on your lca's. I wanted to use the 73 and up sway bar so I'm also changing my k member. It sounds like you already have the bar and lca's for the 72 which would be fine.
 
For what it's worth, I went with all Moog stuff from rockauto and am very pleased with the results. I also replaced shocks, idler arm, pitman arm and leaf spring bushings. I found a rockauto 5% off code on here and the price for parts was damn decent.
 
Bad Sport said:
I'm going rubber.

This is the kit I'm getting, along with the socket.

http://www.p-s-t.com/s.nl/it.A/id.187/.f?sc=12
Click to expand...

That was the same kit I was looking at. Thanks for your input.

jalake said:
For what it's worth, I went with all Moog stuff from rockauto and am very pleased with the results. I also replaced shocks, idler arm, pitman arm and leaf spring bushings. I found a rockauto 5% off code on here and the price for parts was damn decent.
Click to expand...

I know and that is the tuff part. Im not sure which way I will go yet.
 
straightlinespeed said:
I know and that is the tuff part. Im not sure which way I will go yet.
Click to expand...

I struggled with that too, that's why I decided on the PST kit, it has everything you need and lessens the chance of not ordering something that you do need, or ordering it wrong.
 
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