Control Arms and Ball joints

[Bigbirney]

AC Delco or MOOG? Anyone have experience with either for aftermarket. Similarly priced.
Thanks!

 

[guy from norcal]

I went with moog on mine.

 

[fiatdale]

Can’t go wrong with either.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

AC Delco or MOOG? Anyone have experience with either for aftermarket. Similarly priced.
Thanks!

I like the moog ball joints, can't speak to control arms.

 

[sumo]

I did moog lower ball joints for one main reason. They are greaseable.

 

[Bigbirney]

Thanks everyone!

 

[sneasle]

Looks like I'm going to be in need of ball joints on my suburban shortly. Any specific vendor that's recommended for the MOOG units? I see two different lengths listed on Rockauto, are they both compatible?

 

[kbuskill]

Looks like I'm going to be in need of ball joints on my suburban shortly. Any specific vendor that's recommended for the MOOG units? I see two different lengths listed on Rockauto, are they both compatible?

Ball joints are different depending on whether you have steel or aluminum lower control arms.

Aluminum control arms are thicker and require a thicker ball joint to seat properly.

 

[sneasle]

Ball joints are different depending on whether you have steel or aluminum lower control arms.

Aluminum control arms are thicker and require a thicker ball joint to seat properly.

Makes perfect sense, thanks!

Anyone have any recommendations on which MOOG control arms to go with? Seems they have a few different series that fit these vehicles.


Edit: looks like the options are narrowed as the type of knuckle (aluminum vs steel) matters. I'm not sure which one my truck is.

 

[Hi-psi]

Generally speaking, the aluminum lower control arms usually came on the AWD models in an effort to save weight. In the big picture, how much are we truly talking, a few lbs?

So, that said, if you're shooting for replacing the entire lower control arm as a unit, I don't see any benefit to going with the aluminum over the steel as the aluminum ones are usually more expensive.

Which one your vehicle currently has would really only come into play if you were opting for just replacing the ball joints as the steel vs aluminum arms take a different ball joint.

It's pretty easy to tell just by looking at them. The aluminum ones will be a lot lighter in color.

 

[sneasle]

So would aluminum arms mean I have an aluminum knuckle?

A magnet test indicates that the knuckle is magnetic, but the arms all appeared lighter in color. Maybe I need to go have a closer look.


Edit: Just went out and looked again, nice and dark in color, and a magnet sticks nicely. Steel is the winner.

 

[sneasle]

Got all the parts ordered and had a whole bunch of boxes show up yesterday. Looks like I'm going to have a fun holiday!

 

[Hi-psi]

It's not a hard job at all. Just make sure when you tighten up the control arm to frame bolts/nuts that you have the suspension pre-loaded to ride height.

Also, if you're doing the upper, make sure to mark or take note of where the cam bolts are before starting so that you can get the alignment set back to where it was before. Still good to get it checked professionally after, but making a mark will get you pretty close where it's not super critical.

 

[iamdub]

Copied from my build thread:

My $39 and $23 lower control arms were delivered today. They're listed and boxed as ACDelco Professional and they look legit- ACDelco parts labels with numbers, etc. Boxes were beat up but the arms have no damage, ball joint boots and studs had plastic shields, shiny black paint and the bare metal inside the holes and on the edges of the bushing bosses is clean and shiny with no rust. I was pleasantly surprised to see the ball joints have Zerk fittings. The plastic they're wrapped in has a sticker with "EXCK620888" (lower left arm) and "EXCK620889" (lower right arm). Searching those numbers leads me to believe they are Moog CK-series arms. Looks like I'll have matching upper and lower control arms, all with greasable ball joints. And I got both of these to my doorstep for less than what one arm cost before shipping. The only con is that one arm is missing the ball joint nut. For what I got these for, I can't complain!

Ordered from eBay, arrived in Amazon boxes with Amazon gift receipts inside. These came from the same seller, LH arm in smaller box, RH arm in ridiculously over-sized other box:

Grease Zerks!

So, to answer the "MOOG or ACDelco?" debate: In this case, it doesn't matter. These arms are the MOOG CK series, provided to ACDelco as their Professional line and manufactured by Shih Hsiang Auto Parts Co., Ltd.

 

[sneasle]

It's not a hard job at all. Just make sure when you tighten up the control arm to frame bolts/nuts that you have the suspension pre-loaded to ride height.

Also, if you're doing the upper, make sure to mark or take note of where the cam bolts are before starting so that you can get the alignment set back to where it was before. Still good to get it checked professionally after, but making a mark will get you pretty close where it's not super critical.

Thanks for that reminder! Yes, I do plan on doing that and will run it out for an alignment afterward just to be on the safe side.

... ball joint boots and studs had plastic shields, shiny black paint and the bare metal inside the holes and on the edges of the bushing bosses is clean and shiny with no rust. I was pleasantly surprised to see the ball joints have Zerk fittings. The plastic they're wrapped in has a sticker with "EXCK620888" (lower left arm) and "EXCK620889" (lower right arm). Searching those numbers leads me to believe they are Moog CK-series arms...

Grease Zerks!

So, to answer the "MOOG or ACDelco?" debate: In this case, it doesn't matter. These arms are the MOOG CK series, provided to ACDelco as their Professional line and manufactured by Shih Hsiang Auto Parts Co., Ltd.

I was looking for arms that were greaseable, and the only 'sure' ones I knew of were the MOOGs, so MOOG won out. I ordered CK80669, CK80670, CK620955, and CK620956. Mine look a little bit different from yours, and didn't come with the plastic covers/guards.

I split my order between RockAuto and Amazon, and I got some very interesting packaging with mine as well. One box was 60% full of those air-pouches, and that still didn't stop the stud from poking through the inner box. I think all 4 of my arms had the studs poking through, or starting to poke through the cardboard. Really wish they would pack them better, but I can't see any damage to the threads so we should be good to go.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

Generally speaking, the aluminum lower control arms usually came on the AWD models in an effort to save weight. In the big picture, how much are we truly talking, a few lbs?

So, that said, if you're shooting for replacing the entire lower control arm as a unit, I don't see any benefit to going with the aluminum over the steel as the aluminum ones are usually more expensive.

Which one your vehicle currently has would really only come into play if you were opting for just replacing the ball joints as the steel vs aluminum arms take a different ball joint.

It's pretty easy to tell just by looking at them. The aluminum ones will be a lot lighter in color.

View attachment 210579

The aluminum lower control arms didn't JUST come on the AWD trucks. We have them on our 2 WD Tahoe PPV. They do save weight, which should help a tiny bit with mileage. They appear just a durable as the steel ones, so I'd opt for the aluminum units just to save weight. Weight counts everywhere, and 1/2 of it is unsprung.

 

[Ilikemtb999]

Does anybody know if the strut mounting tabs are thicker on the aluminum arms?

 

[Bill D]

Detroit Axle sells front end kits on Amazon for just about anything, GMT 800 sets are very popular. and very cheap. Not sure about the GMT 900. They have been hit by trolls in their reviews saying that their control arms cracked or ball joints broke as soon as the truck was let down off the jack. Complete BS. Half the parts in the kit I purchased for my Cadillac DTS were Moog. The rest looked identical to the AC Delco parts and identical to Dorman.

Nearly all from China now, likely all brand names coming out of a couple global sourcing factories. No one, even a Chinese manufacturer is going to invest tens of millions in tooling just to intentionally make or sell cheap or defective suspension parts. Super rigorous 100% in process inspection. Not worth the hassle of dealing with the ramifications of NHTSA and lawsuits for death or injuries.

I purchased a full set front Suspension components (Aluminum die cast control arms with ball joints), Stabilizer links, inner and outer tie rods for $190

Dont be fooled by the Detroit Axle name. The Control arms and Tie rods in the set were from Moog. They are too busy crushing the competition with low prices to over list the details of the manufacturers of each part or perhaps they cant list them because of agreements.

OTOH For Steering components like Pitman arms, Moog is the only source I would buy from.

 

[5StarCustmSolutns]

Does anybody know if the strut mounting tabs are thicker on the aluminum arms?

Did you ever find this answer?

 

[kbuskill]

Did you ever find this answer?

@randeez probably can answer this. I remember he posted weight differences between the iron VS Aluminum arms. He is also running the newer aluminum spindles off the K2XX trucks if I remember correctly.