The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 64 C10 - Front End Upgrade

Hi Everyone, I've searched but I can't find the answer to my question. I was hoping to tap into the vast knowledge base here for folks that have been in a similar circumstance.

I have a 64 C10 that I'm looking to upgrade to power steering and disc brakes. I've purchased an 83 Chevy P/U (1/2 ton 2WD) as a parts truck to take the entire front end. I have removed the front end and am looking to rebuild it with new parts before I install it in my 64.

I need to purchase the following parts;

- Inner and outer tie rods
- Upper and lower ball joints
- Control arm shafts and bushings
- Pitman arm
- Idler arm

My questions are the following;

1. Should I replace the control arm bushings with the standard ones for the 83 1/2 ton or use 3/4 ton? Will the 3/4 ton bushings work in the 1/2 ton control arm or are they different? The original ones from my 64 look much beefier than the ones from the 83 1/2 ton

2. Should I stick with ball joints for the 83 since I'll be using the 83 control arms?

3. Should I scrap the 83 control arms and just rebuild the ones from my 64?

Sorry for the questions. If I've missed a thread that covers the topic, please let me know.

Thanks in advance

When I swapped in power steering, I bought a kit from REZ Engineering. I don't know if they are still in business, but their kit was great, it came with the plates to bolt the steering gear to, and the instructions showed where to make the cut on the bumper bracket. I did this in '98, so I don't remember all the details, nor do I have the instructions. You have the parts from an 83, so you don't need a kit. However, you'll have to shorten the steering shaft to accommodate the power steering gear. I had already replaced my control arm bushings, so I didn't need to do those. Mine is a C20, though, so it has the steel bushings, not sure if the C10 bushings are steel or rubber in the 64 or the 83.

If you use the 83 control arms, replace with 83 parts. If you use the 64 control arms, you'll need 83 lower ball joints for the disc brake spindles.

Thanks for the reply Shane.

I continued to do some research and have come up with the following configuration;

- 73-87 upper and lower ball joints (new)
- CPP 2.5" drop spindles (new)
- 73-87 inner and outer tie rods (new)
- 73-87 adjustment sleeves (new)
- 84 upper control arms (from donor truck)
- 84 crossmember (from donor truck)
- 64 lower control arms (from my truck)

I really want to use the 64 lower control arms because the consensus appears to be that they are superior to the 73-87 shafts.

I'm hoping the above configuration will work, and hopefully the info will help someone in a similar situation.

If you haven't bought the parts, the parts list may be wrong.

73-87 lower ball joint.
60-66 upper.
I'd try to steer you away from CPP, but maybe they have gotten better.
73-87 outer tie rods
60-66 inner tie rods
stock adjuster sleeves
stock upper and lower control arms

I have done this swap with items listed above, while using the stock cross member. Not sure if your parts list will work completely, but if you're swapping everything, it may. There are different approaches. I tried to go the easy route with a kit. But the kit I bought, well, let's just say that I had to replace 90% of the parts because they were ****. In essence I only used the spindles, calipers, and pads from the kit. Everything else I used was bought new or reused from my truck.

Hi Shane, again, thanks for the reply. I appreciate your experience with this. It's a bit new for me. I have an idea of what I'm trying to accomplish, but I can't seem to find consolidated information in one singular place. I'm also to post on other popular Chevy forums because of the administration protocols..

As a result, I hope I can continue to speak out loud here and spitball some ideas until I've come up with a final parts list. At this point, replacement parts haven't been ordered as I want to ensure I've scrutinized the list so I don't get stuck with parts I can't use.

At a high level, my plans for the truck are to do a 4/6 drop to get a nice level stance. This seems to be the most practical drop for me and ensures I don't have to C-notch the frame.

A few questions regarding your revised parts list;
- When you say stock upper and lower control arms, are you suggesting I would use both the upper and lowers from my 64? I've read there are some differences in 73-87 upper arms vs 63-66. I definitely would like to use the 64 lower arms for the beefier shafts
- Do you have a recommendation over the CPP arms? Belltechs? I've read some early claims against the CPP arms due to quality/customer service concerns but I haven't seen much recent feedback
- In regards to drop spindles, I assume I'm shopping for 73-87 spindles. Will the 60-66 upper BJs fit correctly?

Any additional feedback on anything I may have overlooked or have incorrect, please feel free to help me set it straight.

Thanks for the support

I'm no expert. I do recall being in the same situation you're in, though. Do I buy a donor and swap it all over? Or do I find what I need at a junkyard? Those are mostly picked over here, and mainly have newer vehicles. Do I buy a kit? Granted, this was about 16 years ago.

So I bought the kit from CPP. I thought it was a great way to go. And then the unboxing of items. This kit was engineered, if you will, around using your stock suspension. The calipers were good. The spindles were too, along with rotors, dust back plates or whatever they're called. Everything else was metric and of poor quality. The ball joints, the nuts maybe caught 40% of the threads. First bump in the road and they would have failed. Got new Moog ball joints. Stock upper, 73-87 lower.

Tie rods, sleeves, poor quality and metric. The sleeve wouldn't thread onto the stock inner tie rods because of the metric thread pitch. So I got new outer tie rods for 73-87, and new inner stock tie rods and used my stock sleeves.

The bearings were no good. New 73-87 bearings purchased. The brake hoses they provided were wrong, had to get special ones made but you make it work with the correct brake hoses for whatever 73-87 truck. You'll have to match up the ends. I'm assuming you're going power disc brakes? If going power disc, try and find a kit that provides the proper mounting for the booster.

You can take many different approaches to see this to fruition. When I say stock, I mean parts made the year vehicle you have.

I don't know anything about drop spindles or the various control arm manufacturers. You may need different control arms if you drop it? I prefer my trucks to sit at stock height and have full function of being a truck. Hopefully someone else will help with drop spindles and lowering your truck.

You can use your stock control arms if leaving it stock height or going with a mild drop, but you need the 73-87 lower ball joints, spindles, outer tie rods, etc.

Swapping in power steering, if there is a kit, go that route. But I have read of others doing the swap without one.

I forgot, you have the donor vehicle. So it all depends what you want you use from it. If you're going to use the new control arms, use upper and lower. If using your stock arms, use upper and lower. You need to use the stock center steering arm and idler. I have spelled it out on how to use your stock items. Once you pick a direction, stay with it.

The easy way to convert a '63 or later C10 to PS, PB, etc., is to harvest a complete front end assembly, cross-member, etc. from any C10 that has disk brakes up to 81-82. Unbolt the '63 assembly, 16 bolts, bolt in the later model assembly, A direct swap requiring the elongation of two bolt holes to get them to line up.. An afternoon job. Once the swap is made then you can survey the new assembly for what repairs are needed.
We have done three of these swaps on '63-66 C10-20 trucks.
The best part about using the entire late model assembly, including the cross-member, etc., is that all of the geometry is set for modern disk brakes and power steering.