I'm in the process of swapping out some LCA's that are sway bar tab-less along with some .865 6 cyl. torsion bars. I realized the LCA's I'm installing have a smaller diameter shaft then the one's I'm replacing.

Gold - removed, black - new replacements



Gold pivot shaft = .945 dia, black pivot shaft = .810 dia - this is at the base of the stop flange which goes into the K member




I assume I want the larger of the 2 shafts in the LCA's, is that correct or does it matter? I'm also assuming the control arms I bought with the shafts & tabs must be from a lighter engined car.....

Please advise & thanks a lot.

Evan

Your Black ones came out of a 73-76 A body car.
Shafts, and LCA's will Not interchange between the two body styles.

I belive those black ones are A-Body LCA's. I used A-Body LCA's on my E-Body set up when I used 73 C-Body spindles. A-Body LCA'S are 3/16" longer. A-Body pins are different too. Strut rods won't line up either, unless you use a design with a rod end like Hotchkis, etc...

Here are some pictures to compare....

A-Body on the left.... E-body on the right. Notice the steering stops that hit the lower ball joint.
I then painted them gold ( A-Body)

A body & B body LCA's DO NOT interchange between the two different body styles.
Believe it or not A Body LCA's are longer in their overall length than B body LCA's.
So if you were thinking about putting A body LCA's in a B body, your going to have some serious suspension, alignment issues.
Either surgically remove the tabs from your black ones, and then weld them onto your gold ones, or buy repop tabs from Hotchkis, and weld those onto your gold ones.
Too bad you already did the restoration, rebuilding, work on your existing arms.
Wish you asked before you got this far along.
Sorry, but appears that you have a bit more work in front of you now.

Yep, that sure is a Custom application.

So it sounds like I ended up with some A body LCA's thinking they were B body one's.

How do I verify that - part number stamped into them? Length measurement? anything else? I didn't wrinte the number down & I can go check it but the stamped number on the gold ones (taken off car) is exactly the same as the number on the black one's (bought at swap meet as B body LCA's) would A body & B body have exactly the same number stamped into them?

Also, what would the shaft diameter difference be associated with, is it like torsion bars where there's a chart specifying diameter's?

And yes it would of been perhaps better to ask before going to the trouble but when buying at the swap meet & they "look" identical & w/o being a mopar LCA guru it made sense to take them to the shop & have bushing pressed into them.

here's some more pic's - same numbers, apparently doesn't mean anything if they're different...


defiant length difference, about a 1/2" shorter...





different shock mount position...



So I'm hosed, I bought these from a guy at the swap meet who told me they were B body, unless I cut off the tabs I have to chase another set. Can anyone tell me with certainty that the gold ones are B body, if so I'll likely swap the tabs - if I did that is the tab placement on the A LCA's the same as the B LCA's, can I use it a measurement template?

Thanks for the help.

Anyone got a set of B LCA's w/tabs they want to trade for a set of rebuilt A's w/tabs

Hotchkis sells LCA tabs at a reasonable price. On their website. They are about twice as thick and stronger. Just get the placement specs from someone here that has some E-body or 70-72 B-body tabbed LCA's

Your camera takes very good clear pictures, and i did notice faintly, in one of your pictures, that on the front "plate" of your black ones you can see the letters VL stamped into it, by the sway bar mount tab.
Those letters are the letter "code" for the A body arms, meaning Valiant - Lancer.
The other 2 letters are the code for lower left & lower right.
If you can see RW on your gold ones, those are the code letters for B & E body LCA's.
If you ever run across LCA's with the letters PD stamped into them, they are early-mid 60's B Body arms, which will also can be used in a E body automobile.
Yes, you can remove the tabs from the black ones and then re-weld them on the gold ones.
Tabs will in the same location that you require.

Those are nice arms.
How original do you have to be?
Why not just leave the A body ones alone, sell them to somone who really needs them, and just buy repop tabs from Hotchkis, as i mentioned in my other posting.
They have a damm good product, and are made out of real thick, heavy duty metal.
They will cost you 45 dollars.

I do hate the idea of ruining the arm by chopping off the tabs. I'll likely look at Hotchkis for the tabs, thats cheap for tabs & finding new arms is a pain in the a**.

Realistically what are the A arms worth rebuilt with Tabs like this? Are B's more sought after?

I did blast them clean & spray with 2 coats of catalyzed epoxy so they're ready to rock & roll....just not on my car - boo hoo.

The gold arms have new red ( I assume ) poly bushings, all I heard about poly was its harsh vs. stock rubber which is why I opted for stock rubber on the black arms - question is which way would you go now, new rubber or throw them in with the poly bushings?

BTW - thanks for the education on LCA's, its quite helpful & I appreciate it.

Someone gave me this for E-Body's.... I think B-Body's(69-71?) are the same?
Hope it helps?
Best thing to do is buy the Hotchkis tabs or make your own, assemble everything then tack weld on the tabs then remove to finish weld. That's how I did it? Hope that helps?

Thanks guys, I ordered a set of tabs from Hotchkis today. Sounds like i can use the A arms as a template for tab location, is this diagram accurate as well?

Guess I'll throw these is the A body parts section, maybe someone will want them.

I guess all the lessons along the way are part of the fun!

Thanks again,
Evan

1973 b body arms are 1 inch longer I know because I have taller 1973 body spindles and 1973 lower arms on my early a body

Yep they are longer( I thought it was more than 1"?) but they look different.
We adapted them to a e-body circle track car we are building.