I - driving it daily - have put 6000 miles on my 72 CS since September. That's a lot of miles on an old car like this one, and I can feel the entire front end wobble around. If I lift one tire, I can move the wheel 1/4" in and out, and I know for a fact that my bushings are 40 years old and very, very dead. My left LCA had a stress fracture that I welded before assembly, so they're far from mint. Right now I have factory FE2, except for a 1-1/4" front sway bar. Apart from the A-arms, I'm planning on doing the jeep steering box swap.

Given the amount of miles and the weather and roads over here, I'm seriously considering a massive overhaul of the front end. To be quite honest, the A-body suspension geometry is irreparably atrocious, and going 70 MPH, a rapid freeway lane change makes the front tires squeak. What happens the day a deer/bike/moped/child runs in front of my car and I have to make evasive maneuvers?

So, I've been looking at tubular A-arm sets. The UMI sets interests me, with their taller ball joints, which do what the B-body spindles do, without swapping spindles. As far as I can gather, positive camber arms and control arm shafts only diminish the problem, while taller spindles move the roll center of the wheel, actually fixing the suspension. I'm afraid that they'll be overkill, though. Can taller balljoints be had for both LCA and UCA? As I understand it, taller ball joints need different UCAs due to the different angle, which means it isn't an easy solution.

I put every MOOG part I could think of that needs replacing in my front end together at Rock Auto: $261. That includes the positive camber control arm shaft. The UMI set is $1220, and includes everything I put in the Rock Auto shopping cart. Is the fixed geometry, higher strength and non-stressed steel, higher ride quality, peace of mind, and safety for myself and others, worth the thousand dollar price difference? I can't decide.

 

I prefer the Moog parts with the stock control arms, just call me old fashioned I guess. Have never had any issues with the stock setup.

 

There's a ton of details in this area, so be prepared to go down the rabbit hole.

Mark at SC&C (scandc.com) is a great resource and wrote a book on A-body handling. It's a little tough to navigate, but there are lots of pearls of info on his website.

I think the price for tubular arms is atrocious. I would have stuck with stock lowers, but I got a set for a song. They are stronger, some have caster improvement built in, and some allow for easy ride height adjustment. If you commit to improving the geometry, then new uppers are a requirement. The moog shafts are really to fix frame droop. They can kinda-sorta work for tall ball joints if installed backwards. It's still a crapshoot on getting good alignment, though. Take a look at the different upper arms offered - the ones for tall joints are vastly different.

Tall lower ball joints help improve the caster situation and also reduce bump steer by getting the steering arms higher. Mark sells Howe units, and I think some traditional ones can be sourced - I saw one reference somewhere, but didn't record it.

On the Moog parts, did you get all of the steering components? Just that set tends to run $250-$300. Every last part is a wear item except the pitman arm....

Bushings are a large topic, too.
Rubber: stock, has deflection problems, soft ride. Fine for a daily.
Poly: doesn't deflect, but can squeak if not installed and maintained properly or if you're just unlucky. somewhat stiffer ride
Delrin: must be maintained, ride similar to poly but won't squeak.

When folks talk about binding problems they're talking about the rear. You can run whatever type and whatever mix of bushings in the front.

I had never realized how bad the stock specs are. The baseline caster is around +1deg. Modern performance caster specs are usually around -4deg!

 

I've been reading threads all over the place, basically anything I could find without paying for it, including the long section on the Olds FAQ. That was one of the places where it's explained why the taller effective spindle height is needed to fix the suspension conundrum. A fair few tubular arm sets don't change that, including most of the cheap ones, which I'd otherwise at least consider (though I don't necessarily trust Chinese steel or welds for parts as critical as these).

It sounds like new control arms are the only real way to fix the geometry, at least new uppers. With the lower developing stress fractures and having dead ball joints and bushings, I'm wondering if they're worth saving, though.

No, I didn't add all the steering parts to the Moog estimate, but those parts wouldn't be included by the tubular set anyway, so the comparison still stands.

I ordered new Moog bushings for the entire rear. It has the 15/16" sway bar, boxed LCAs and the frame supports, so not much more I'd do there initially.

I was gonna go rubber, but the tubulars come with poly. Wouldn't mind delrin, they look like they only need grease.

And yeah, the front suspension design was designed by someone who didn't want people to turn these cars - and/or was drunk that day.

 

After rebuilding the front end in Lady, I cannot say the stock design is bad. For everyday driving, it is fine - when it is all in good shape! After 40 years rubber breaks down. Cars were not well maintained as well as they should have been. Many thousands of miles take their toll.

Driving mine was a challenge when I got her, sloppy and constant steering corrections.
After I rebuild it was like night and day. The addition of Bilstein shocks, a rear sway bar and stiffer front springs helped, too. Steering box was rebuilt also.
Certainly no slopper. Even swinging a fast u-turn in a highway with four passengers was non dramatic.

Now if you like carving corners when turning, get the tube setup. However the poly bushings will cause you to feel more of the road. Richard's (gearhead78) did this conversion and I rode in the car. It was quite nice though, especially when he carved corners!

 

I like carving corners - so I ordered a set of UMI arms.

I had too much money anyway... >.>

 

Do a build thread as you progress through replacing the front end? It'd be interested to see how it is when complete. Maybe a nice winter project for myself, if I ever get the motor dialed in correctly.

 

I'll take pictures, if I remember so, of course.

 

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