Im in the process of my front disc brake swap and was wondering, now that everything is off should I just replace my upper ball joint or replace the whole upper control arm or just rebuild them? The upper control arm frame is straight, but was just wondering if I would be better of replacing it now?
-Im also going to replace my lower control arm

 

ball joints ask a few people on here the remade control arms dont fit and are thinner metal. only way id replace them if theres cracks in it if i do im going coilovers with tubular ones or http://www.opentrackerracingproducts.com/index.html

 

... i'll take that as a no

 

are they worth rebuilding them now or nahhh?

 

 

if theres cracks in them or rust holes then replace them. yes rebuild them with better ball joints and energy suspension bushings.the bushing will have to be pressed in you can have any garage do that for you.if you have to buy replacement ones the opentracker ones are well worth the money better bushings bigger ball joints.

 

i was talking about (rebuilding) ball joints and shaft kit.

 

I have been doing the same thing to my '66, although the upper control arms appear to be OK, Plus I had documents from when I bought the carthat the front end had been rebuilt including upper control arms,I did replace the upper joints again,I am replacing the lower controls, not because they needed replacing but because I wanted to replace the Ball joints because the grease boots had a Hole in them anywayI found out that the Ball jopintsare built into the lower control arms, I was very disappointed in finding out after I purchased the new lower arms/ball joints that the aftermarket ones are not made as well as the original in fact the ball joints are pressed in and have
a tac weld on either, I just simply didn't like this after compairing to the original riveted ones, in the begining I had read where the ball joints alone can be replace by drilling out the rivets and purchasing new ball joints and using grade #8 bolts , but I could not find these anywhere, However the good thing by purchising new lower arms is even though a bit weaker looking everything is new
and they come with new bushings installed, will have peace of mind knowing you went ahead and replace all ((New)) instead of rebuilding them.
as for the upper control arms I didn't ever hear anything from under the front or any squeeking sounds or rubbing noises so after inspecting them I felt they were OK, But if you ever hear something like spring crunching sounds or squeeking then you may want to change out the bushings and coil spring insulators.

 

You can rebuild the original with a shaft kit and ball joints. That would be my first choice. However, it is common for the shaft mounting holes on the upper arm to have worn and the arejust large enough that the won't accept a new shaft. Moog used to manufacture a replacement with rubber bushing to repair this situation. But, if your arms are in that condition, I would just replace them, or, if you are good with a welder, I believe you ca buy a roller bearing conversion kit.

Anyway, the simple answer is to just replace the whole arm. I had the same problem mentioned above with my originals (found out after stripping them and phosphate coating, doa) I gotreplacements from laurel mountain. Canadian made andseem to be good quality components. Havent mounted them yet, so Ican't comment further.

Good luck.

 

I bought new when I did it last time, but if I had it to do over again, I would rebuild them if I they could be. I ended up pulling the "new" ones in a couple hundered miles, and replacing with Global West stuff.