The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 1965 Chevrolet C10 - Idler Arm replacment

1965 Chevrolet C10 long wheel base, stepside

Idler arm replacement.

Hi folks, I had my mechanic figuring something out on my old truck last week and he mention the idler arm should probably be replaced.

So, I have a replacement one on the way, but I have not done this job before.

I thought I would ask in here if I need any special tools to do it. I looked under there I and see two bolts with nuts and a castle nut.

However, wise men learn from the mistakes of others, so I thought I'd ask for any tips or advice.

Thanks.

-Woog

Woog - You will likely need a small tie rod "pickle fork" like this one to separate the rod ball that attaches your idler link to the center steering link. Otherwise it's just unbolting the idler from the frame.

I've found the easiest way to get a tapered ball stud loose is to loosen the nut till it's even with the end of the stud. Put a jack under it and put a little pressure on it (based on the stud pointing down as in Dan's diagram), then hold a BFH tight to the side of the eye and smack the other side with a hammer. They usually pop right loose. If you can't put a jack under it (stud pointing sideways or up) you'll need to use either a pickle fork like Dan suggested (I don't like those as they tend to tear things up a bit) or a puller similar to the attached pic (available for ~$25 from NAPA.)

Either one of those tools are available on loan from places like AutoZone. Also, when I was looking for an idler arm for my 66 C10, the one that everyone said fit, did not. I found a new old stock idler on eBay that did the trick. FWIW, I’d just use a pickle fork to remove the old one. It won’t damage anything that you’ve not going to replace any way.

Thanks for the replies, folks.

-Woogeroo

Post a pic of yours when you get if off. If it matches the new one I have that didn’t fit my truck, it yours for cost of postage. That’s assuming I can find mine .

Thanks again for the tips folks.

After numerous blood sacrifices(ow!my finger!) and some mild civil engineering(due to strange previous owner things) I finally got the new idler arm on.

yay.

My dad's old pickle fork worked great on the tapered bit, that was the easy part.

Old trucks are fun.

-Woogeroo

Woog - If the tapered joint was the easy part, I hate to think what you had to deal with on the portion mounting to the frame. That's supposed to be the easy part, with just two bolts w/washers and nuts to remove.
Was the trucks PO a self-taught wannabe engineer?

1965 Chevrolet C10(frame, body, most of the interior, rear axle and what is left of the wiring harness).

Gdads51,

well, every time something new on my truck breaks, it turns into a civil engineering project with a open ended deadline.

Mainly because whoever put this truck together must have had good knowledge of a Chevrolet parts interchange manual as every time something new breaks half the fun is figuring out what year chevrolet truck it is from.

So, on this adventure, everything was going fairly well, nice day to be crawling around under the old iron, had my tools out and the top idler arm bolt that goes through the frame, on the inside, the frame had been cut/notched and instead of it being removed, it was hammered down into the channel and over the top bolt/nut that I needed to get to, to remove the idler arm.

I did some prybar action, which of course slipped and lead to some fine cussing and blood sacrifices. But if it doesn't make you bleed, it isn't really yours, right? Hah! At least that is what I tell myself.

I finally got it pried up enough to slip a wrench onto the nut so I could get the bolt out of the frame, yay.

Then I had to clean up my wound and wrap myself in band aids, then get back to work.

The idler arm I bought from classic parts had these super long bolts with lots of shoulder and plenty of thread, so the thread was not enough for me to tighten things down. So, emergency trip to the hardware store. Luckily I have a really good hardware store with 90% of the fasteners known to mankind, so I went over kill and got grade 8 everything, bolts, nuts, lockwashers. I got them a smidge longer as the new kit has a spacer/bracket thing that goes on the inside of the frame rail that the bolts go through.

Got back home and I am pondering how to reinstall the slightly longer bolts with that section of frame in the way. I wasn't sure I could get in there with a grinder wheel to cut it off... pondering maybe drilling a hole in it, but that looked like it might go bad and cause more problems. So, I decided to try to grind a notch in place in the notched and bent part as I could not get it to budge any further with the tools I have. Dremel tool, here we go!

So, after some grinding and sanding and more grinding with the dremel tools and different wheels, I got it notched where the bolt and nut fit beautifully and then I had to wiggle it all together.

But yeah, the pickle fork whapping with the big hammer was the easy part and the least painful.

Old trucks are fun...

-Woogeroo

Woog - Oh the trials and tribulations my friend. So very glad you got it whipped into shape with only a little blood loss and your stint at "fine cussing" I'm sure made everything come out just perfect in the end. It just isn't fun unless we have to work twice as hard as we should to get the deed done - lol! Until the next trial present itself...

Dan