Upper Control Arms

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Red Beard

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I've been looking for upper control arms for a disk brake 73-76 A Body.
I've got 9" brakes and I want to swap to disk. I've just seen some information that implies that I could also use 66-70 B Body or 70-74 E Body UCA's. Anyone know about this.
 
you can use the upper control arms from any 73-76 A-body. Your signature line says you have a 76 Scamp, if it's for that car you are all set.

In 73 mopar consolidated on the B/E body size ball joint on all car lines. This was with the drums or disks.
 
Yes, it is a 76 scamp, but it has 9 inch brakes currently, and I was told that the upper control arms were different between 9" 10" and disk. So are you saying the 9" brake uca's will work if I want to change to 11" disk ?
 
It is my understanding that they revised across the board so all A-body front suspensions used the larger ball joint. The spindle will be different between brake types but the control arm and ball joint was the same.
 
Dave - maybe the change was only to Disc brake cars ?

Red - Drums on a 76 is kinda rare. What bolt patern does it have ?
 
Adam, I am almost 100% sure (never say never with mopar) that 73 and up A-bodies went to the bigger Ball Joint regardless of whether you had disks or not.

Moog P/N K772 is listed for;
62-79 B body
65-73 C body
70-74 E body
73-76 A body (no mention of brake type)

Moog P/N K704 is listed for;
68-72 A body only

Even with 9" drums the only change would be to drill out the hole in the spindle to accept the larger joint, doesn't seem to make sense to inventory two control arms and two ball joints to avoid a minor modification to a machining operation.

Red, Control arms are not specific to the type of brake.

Prior to 73 there were 9" drums, 10" drums and disks. The same spindle was used for the 10" drum and disks, 9" drums had there own spindle. The all used the same control arms.

Starting in 73 there were only 9" drums and disks and each type had there own spindle the lower control arm remained the sam as before but the upper control arm was changed to accomodate the bigger ball joint.

The disks were of a different design than the 72 and earlier disks. The 73 and up disk brake swap with the 73 up upper control arm is a popular swap onto 72 and older cars because the rotors and calipers are more readily available and are quite a bit cheaper plus the 73 up design is more trouble free.

If you are looking to swap disks onto your 76 it should just be the matter of locating the disk brake spindles and caliper brackets. Calipers, rotors and breaks can be purchased at Autozone (or what ever chain you frequent).
 
Adam, they are 9" drums with the small bolt pattern. Also had 9" drums on the rear with small bolt pattern. Originally a slant six car, I'm just getting ready to drop the 360 in it when my swap kit gets here from Schumacher.
 
Just note; A lot of those "Who To's" may state the safe answer, not the whole answer.

I would check before investing in another set of control arms. Every part outfit that has ball joints for old mopars only lists one size for 73-76 A-bodies with no differentiation for brake size/type and it's the bigger one that is alos used on B/E bodies. They will all list a different part number for 72 and older.
 
His car has small bolt pattern wheels and drums so someone along the way has changed it over (this is common practice among stock racers as the drums weigh less and can be adjusted to have no drag). It no longer has the 73-76 control arms. You can't just swap in a ball joint because the body is larger as well and it will not screw into the control arm. You can not drill out the control arm to accept the larger joint either.

You'll need the spindles, caliper brackets and upper arms from a donor car. You can buy calipers, rotors, and bearings new from the aftermarket.

I just took a set of these arms off my race car as I installed Magnum Force adjustable tubular arms on my car. That is an option also but a $300 to $400 option. If you are interested PM me and we'll work something out.
 
check out the march 2005 issue of mopar muscle it has an exaustive list of parts cars you can get front suspension/front disc brake parts from to convert to disc brakes. plus as a bonus you get to see brett johnson's cuda wich is how i found out about this site.
 
I know the history of this car very well. My Grandmother bought it brand new in '76, my uncle got it in '91, and gave it to me in 2000. Right now with 54,000 on it it is just the way it came off the lot. Here are some pics. I did put the wheels on it, and it was VERY hard to find 5x4" bc wheels.
scamp_sides.bmp
 
Nice looking Scamp! Takes a while to download those bmp files though. If you convert them to jpg it would make viewing easier. :wink:
 
Guitar Jones said:
His car has small bolt pattern wheels and drums so someone along the way has changed it over (this is common practice among stock racers as the drums weigh less and can be adjusted to have no drag). It no longer has the 73-76 control arms.
Click to expand...

Mopar continued to use the small bolt pattern 9" drums on A-bodies until the end of production. There is no reason to think someone swapped those parts on.
 
:D I'm in heaven. Found everything I need today. With any luck I'm looking at 5-6 weeks til completion. Of course, that's ASSuming every thing goes as planned. :scratch:
 
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