If I put spherical bearings in my upper housing ears on an A-body 12 bolt, do I still need to run the swap upper control arms or can I just run a regular G body upper and let the Spherical handle the mis-alingment?
A-body 12 bolt, sphericals, and UCA's
- Thread starter red barn
- Start date
I have a 12 bolt rear out of a 68 Chevelle that has been in both a 79 Grand Prix and is presently in 78 Cutlass.
I have Metco arms that are spherical at the frame mounting point but I just crawled under the car and they are square to the mount. So a standard bushing looks like it would/should work on that end.
The ears have TRZ bushings and they are only using about 1/2 of thier travel. They could be misaligned more with no bind.
The arm length may be an issue thou.
To get the pinion angle correct your arms will need to be around the 10.5" area center of hole to hole.
I think Gbody are 11.5" ?
Hope that helps.
I have Metco arms that are spherical at the frame mounting point but I just crawled under the car and they are square to the mount. So a standard bushing looks like it would/should work on that end.
The ears have TRZ bushings and they are only using about 1/2 of thier travel. They could be misaligned more with no bind.
The arm length may be an issue thou.
To get the pinion angle correct your arms will need to be around the 10.5" area center of hole to hole.
I think Gbody are 11.5" ?
Hope that helps.
Thank you. Just to clarify I would be using a double adjustable upper like a TRZ, Iceman, UMI, or Edelbrock with a rod end at the chassis side. Just wondering if I can use the regular G body double adjustable upper that I have laying around or if I need to order the swap arms still
No problem.
As long as it could be made either long or short enough everything else will be fine.
I did have one small issue with the TRZ bushing, it was still ever so slightly loose when installed.
Could be I just got a thinner casting knowing GM tolerances.
Walked around Home Depot with the bushing trying to fine something with the right I.D.
I think this was a Rigid Electric box fitting, my rear is now UL approved! :lol:
I did have to clearance the ID with a grinder (2 minutes), installed one on either side. Looks kinda trick!
As long as it could be made either long or short enough everything else will be fine.
I did have one small issue with the TRZ bushing, it was still ever so slightly loose when installed.
Could be I just got a thinner casting knowing GM tolerances.
Walked around Home Depot with the bushing trying to fine something with the right I.D.
I think this was a Rigid Electric box fitting, my rear is now UL approved! :lol:
I did have to clearance the ID with a grinder (2 minutes), installed one on either side. Looks kinda trick!
I haven't messed with these cars that much but the angles on the ears on a Chevelle housing are not the same as the ones on the 7.5 rear. I would get the swap arms it can't hurt. Then you can run bushings or the heim joints in the housing. The rear in my car is a different animal all together.
I have sphericals in my 12 bolt housing and the upper arms are straight with sphericals on the frame end also. The housing end sphericals make up for the misalighnment.
If you already have a set up G-Body adjustable upper control arms i know that you can get a set of upper bucket replacements from Ryan at UMI taht will fix the angle for the arms. They will fit right onto the old control arms and i think they run like $40 for the swap. Shout at Ryan on UMI he'll hook you up.
Barry i was going to powdercoat my 12 bolt black but after seeing yours silver i think i just had a change of mind. Yours looks great.
Barry, he likes the way your rear looks, eewwww! :lol:
I guessing that's silver hammertone by Rustoleum?
I guessing that's silver hammertone by Rustoleum?
The paint is actually POR-15 that I was going to topcoat with black but after seeing it silver I liked it so I left it that way. Back to the original question, if you don't have the arms made for the 12 bolt swap, I think you should have sphericals on both ends to eliminate any binding. In my case I made the arms out of 6061-T6 and adapted the sphericals to the housing with home made bushings.
