1979 Chevy C10 Control Arms - Send Your C-10 To The GYM!

The lower control arms are heavy, so be prepared to grunt or have someone help. If you are going to detail the front of your chassis, now would be a good time!

CPP's new control arms mount to the crossmember using the OE clamps to eliminate confusion. The design of the lower cross-shafts also provides more ground clearance for the lowered crowd, which you'll appreciate. Check out CPP's lower bump stomp; it is a progressive, closed-cell, foam polyurethane design.

With the crossmember mounts tightened up, position and install the lower ball joint into the spindle. If you need spindles or want to go to a dropped spindle, CPP has those, too. Don't forget to install the new cotter key.

Here's the CPP tubular upper control arm in place with the original alignment shims. Snug up the bolts, but before attaching it to the spindle, install the coil springs. Also notice the upper shock mount here. GM used a single shear (one-sided) mount on light-duty trucks, and many of you out there have broken them. CPP makes these double-shear upper shock mount brackets to solve this problem; it also has new shock studs. It's a smart and inexpensive upgrade.

With the lower control arm installed and mounted to the spindle, the upper can now come off. Doing it this way saves from having to mess with the brakes. Also, before removing the upper control arm, count any alignment shims that may be used and write it down.

Next, tighten up the upper ball joint hardware and reconnect the shocks. Always use Grade 8 hardware when replacing suspension components.

With all that out of the way, it was time to reevaluate the sway bar situation. Somewhere along the line, the '79 got a small-diameter aftermarket sway bar that wasn't going to cut it now, plus it didn't line up with the new lower control arms.

CPP makes the shorter sway bar brackets, especially for lowered trucks, to help keep the sway bar from scraping. The one to the right is in the previous non-stock location. To use the CPP or a stock sway bar, we needed to locate the brackets back a few inches. If your truck came stock with a sway bar, it would've been riveted at the rear to the bottom side of the radiator crossmember (upper left-hand corner), roughly where the bracket on the left is shown. To install the brackets in the correct location, that rivet needs to be removed.

The whole assembly was removed from the truck, brackets and all. Remember to have an extra set of hands to help lift heavy parts.

With a bolt in the rear hole, it's easy to figure out where to drill the front hole. Start with an 1/8-inch pilot hole and work your way up.

When it's all said and done, it should look like this-a far cry from the unsightly OEM pieces, huh? Not only that, but they are much stronger than the old stamped-steel control arms. These parts are also engineered to work with the '63-72 C-10 trucks as well, and should help all lowered models gain some clearance on the blacktop.

The 3-inch coils brought down the nose another inch from the before shot, and gave it just the right amount of rake...

...Unfortunately, all of CPP's super cool suspension pieces can't be seen from the road, but at least there's peace of mind knowing they're there! Call CPP today, or log onto www.classicperform.com and see what it can do for your truck.

Bingo. With the new CPP heavy-duty 1 1/4-inch sway bar secured to the new brackets, the rear mounts nicely to the new control arms and does so with a clean, almost custom appearance.