Western Chassis Tubular upper control arms

[CudaJason]

Anyone have any experience with these? They are a little less expensive than others out there. Im contemplating on getting a set of tubular uppers for my 66 Barracuda, just to have the extra castor. I had not seen these talked about before and figured i'd ask. I have used other stuff from Western Chassis in the past with good results. Any input would be appreciated. Here is a link to them.

1960-74 Mopar, Dodge, Plymouth A-Body Tubular Upper Control Arm Set

 

[dano]

No but I will tell you with most all tubular upper A arms you might need to grind part of the support gusset to get full drop. Just a FYI.

 

[TT5.9mag]

Tubular UCA install questions

 

[abodyjoe]

never heard of that place.. personally i'd go with a known brand that guys here have used with success... are you running large bolt pattern brakes? "These 1963-74 Plymouth and Dodge A body tubular upper control arms are designed for use on vehicles that have converted to the late '73 thru '76 spindles."



Firmfeel Mopar Suspension and Steering

Adjustable Upper Control Arms for 62-76 A-body

https://qa1.net/products/upper-cont...wcB&gbraid=0AAAAADpNVTUpJhp_CSNGOnXw0TyHwRY_b






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[CudaJason]

never heard of that place.. personally i'd go with a known brand that guys here have used with success... are you running large bolt pattern brakes? "These 1963-74 Plymouth and Dodge A body tubular upper control arms are designed for use on vehicles that have converted to the late '73 thru '76 spindles."



Firmfeel Mopar Suspension and Steering

Adjustable Upper Control Arms for 62-76 A-body

https://qa1.net/products/upper-cont...wcB&gbraid=0AAAAADpNVTUpJhp_CSNGOnXw0TyHwRY_b






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Yes, I've already upgraded to 73 to 76 a body discs and big ball joint upper control arms. i haven't had the car aligned yet but I'm sure its way off. i tape measure aligned it when i got it back together, but it feels like it needs way more castor, I've only put 5 or 6 miles on it shaking down little issues.

 

[CudaJason]

never heard of that place.. personally i'd go with a known brand that guys here have used with success... are you running large bolt pattern brakes? "These 1963-74 Plymouth and Dodge A body tubular upper control arms are designed for use on vehicles that have converted to the late '73 thru '76 spindles."



Firmfeel Mopar Suspension and Steering

Adjustable Upper Control Arms for 62-76 A-body

https://qa1.net/products/upper-cont...wcB&gbraid=0AAAAADpNVTUpJhp_CSNGOnXw0TyHwRY_b






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I like the Rielly Motorsports ones. Hadn't seen those before thanks!

 

[abodyjoe]

I like the Rielly Motorsports ones. Hadn't seen those before thanks!

have had a set on our dart for a decade or so now..

 

[abodyjoe]

Yes, I've already upgraded to 73 to 76 a body discs and big ball joint upper control arms. i haven't had the car aligned yet but I'm sure its way off. i tape measure aligned it when i got it back together, but it feels like it needs way more castor, I've only put 5 or 6 miles on it shaking down little issues.

cool.. was just making sure.

 

[abodyjoe]

you can run the moog offset bushing in your stock arms too for more caster.. be a ton cheaper.

just install as the diagram shows. not the bushing directions..

you would need two sets. Moog Chassis Parts K7103 Moog Control Arm Bushings | Summit Racing

 

[CudaJason]

you can run the moog offset bushing in your stock arms too for more caster.. be a ton cheaper.

just install as the diagram shows. not the bushing directions..

you would need two sets. Moog Chassis Parts K7103 Moog Control Arm Bushings | Summit Racing

View attachment 1716487268

I have though about this, but the control arms I used were pretty crusty, i blasted them and painted but they were so pitted up, i kinda hate them even though no one will see them. I may still use the offset bushings, we shall see.

 

[72bluNblu]

Those Western Chassis UCA's look exactly the same as the ones sold by PST, Magnumforce, etc. I'd be willing to bet none of them are actually manufacturing those UCA's, they may very well be the same exact UCA's.

That particular tight "V" shape UCA will need clearance cut into the UCA mounts. Some of the more "U" shaped UCA's don't need that because the arm comes straight out from the mount, the "V" shape puts the angle on the arm and it interferes with the mount. The modification looks something like this

The K7103 offset bushings are good, it just depends on how much caster you need. For 15" wheels and up to 225's you don't need a TON of positive caster, if you can get +3° or +4° it's enough. And that's usually possible with the offset bushings.

If you're running wider tires than that though you start needing more positive caster to control the tracking issues you can get with wide front tires. Like the 275/25/18's I run need about +6° to really negate that tracking effect.

 

[CudaJason]

Those Western Chassis UCA's look exactly the same as the ones sold by PST, Magnumforce, etc. I'd be willing to bet none of them are actually manufacturing those UCA's, they may very well be the same exact UCA's.

That particular tight "V" shape UCA will need clearance cut into the UCA mounts. Some of the more "U" shaped UCA's don't need that because the arm comes straight out from the mount, the "V" shape puts the angle on the arm and it interferes with the mount. The modification looks something like this

The K7103 offset bushings are good, it just depends on how much caster you need. For 15" wheels and up to 225's you don't need a TON of positive caster, if you can get +3° or +4° it's enough. And that's usually possible with the offset bushings.

If you're running wider tires than that though you start needing more positive caster to control the tracking issues you can get with wide front tires. Like the 275/25/18's I run need about +6° to really negate that tracking effect.

That's kind of what i was wondering, it it does make sense. So far I'm leaning toward Reilly Motorsport or QA1 uppers if i go the tubular route.

The front tires are not huge, I believe they are 205 65 15, But not sure, I've bought tires for 4 old cars in the last 6 months and cant keep them all straight in my head...... I think ill just take it down and have it aligned and see where I'm at as far as castor goes, depending on how much more i need will most likely dictate which direction i go weather K7103 bushings or tubular arms. not a canyon carver car but i like things to handle as they should and not like a seal on a slip n slide.

Really my concern is that i put a set of super stock springs in the rear and it is considerably higher in the rear than stock, which is the look i wanted for it, as that's how my father in law wanted it when i started this project about a year and a half ago. Knowing that the higher the rear end, and a slight rake to the front will only decrease castor is what has me thinking about control arms in the first place.

 

[CudaJason]

This is the car, as you can see it got some rake so i'm sure the castor is way way out of wack.

 

[72bluNblu]

That's kind of what i was wondering, it it does make sense. So far I'm leaning toward Reilly Motorsport or QA1 uppers if i go the tubular route.

The front tires are not huge, I believe they are 205 65 15, But not sure, I've bought tires for 4 old cars in the last 6 months and cant keep them all straight in my head...... I think ill just take it down and have it aligned and see where I'm at as far as castor goes, depending on how much more i need will most likely dictate which direction i go weather K7103 bushings or tubular arms. not a canyon carver car but i like things to handle as they should and not like a seal on a slip n slide.

Really my concern is that i put a set of super stock springs in the rear and it is considerably higher in the rear than stock, which is the look i wanted for it, as that's how my father in law wanted it when i started this project about a year and a half ago. Knowing that the higher the rear end, and a slight rake to the front will only decrease castor is what has me thinking about control arms in the first place.

The raised rear end will definitely reduce your caster, although if you can get a few positive degrees with those tires you should be fine. While you have a pretty good rake I doubt you're losing much more than 1/2 a degree of positive caster there.

As far as the tubular UCA's go the only thing I would say is that for a street car you're better off sticking with bushings vs heim joints at the UCA's. So I would look at Firm Feel's UCA's Firmfeel Mopar Suspension and Steering or the QA1's if you end up going that route.