Suspension parts

Charliebrownwds

Original poster
Member
Feb 1, 2018
18
Illinois
Hello guys. I have my 03 Tb due for some front suspension work. As far as replacing control arms upper and lower what brand do you guys recommend. Im looking at Ac delco mevotech and moog. Any experience with these? Let me know my tb will appreciate it.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
Any of those three are pretty reputable. Not knowing the specifics I would go with the cheapest price which I would guess to be about the same. There are issues with moog on other components but there they should all be about equal.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
For personal reasons, I never recommend mevotech. I've had cracked components and their ball joints don't really last.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
For the upper I kinda go with whatever as the upper ball joint is in the knuckle. I think I had Dorman on mine.
For the lower I'd go with Moog or similar because of the ball joint. Not a fan of Mevotech, but maybe their pro line is OK. Their basic line is meh at best, IMO.
 

Reprise

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Jul 22, 2015
2,724
I did the opposite of @Sparky - Moog (ball joints) in my uppers, and putting in Dorman LCAs in the spring (sitting on the shelf). Just did the uppers over the summer & less than 1000mi on them. So I'm probably not a great source of info. I was curious re: Sparky's experience, so I kinda (?) hijacked the thread.

Sparky - how did the Dormans do in the uppers? Failure / mileage on them?
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Never had an issue with them, but upper arms don't have the joints in them so I wasn't too worried. Dorman's bushings seem to be reasonable quality. I did use Moog upper and lower ball joints. I never replaced the lower arm or bracket because somehow the original lower bushings never failed on me even after 14 years and 215k miles. The passenger ones got a bit squeaky at one point but that was it.
 

Reprise

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Jul 22, 2015
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Appreciate the reply. Same for me - lowers were still ok, so I decided to wait on those.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I wont use Moog crap for anything personally. I would buy the cheapest ebay part and expect the same results as any Moog these days.
 
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mntegra01

Member
Mar 26, 2018
86
Virginia
I just bought an 03 LS shorty L6 with busted trans. I swear everything was original on the vehicle at 183,000 miles. I bought a lot of Moog parts on www.rockauto.com Sway bar links, upper arms, and lower brackets. The way we replace ball joints in the shop, I think mine may have been replaced before, because my suspension guy said they were solid, and he is PICKY. I know I said everything was original, but a few things have probably been replaced. While at it, I replaced the shocks all around with KYBs, it had a bit of lift and dive on accel and braking, almost gone now, but its still a SUV, its not a tight little honda like I used to daily.

I probably only drive 3000 miles a year, so I cannot say how the longevity of Moog is, but my front end is much quieter than my honda going over small bumps. I can get parts cheap at work, but I don't think its worth the $$hundreds they want for a GM ball joint. Upper arm is easy to replace without alignment work, as is a sway bar link.

Worst case, spend the money (GM parts) on the lower arm supports/brackets and you won't have to worry much about alingment again soon. All of your alignment is in them. Everything else can be replaced in a driveway and you can still drive it up to a shop if it reallllllly needs alignment.

If you are doing the work yourself, the front upper left control arm, the front bolt is a Bbbbbb, so take channel locks or something and bend the frame out of the way of the bolt, I bought a gearwrench 21mm ratcheting wrench to do it at Home Depot for less than $15, and it didn't help much because once you get so far the box end wont come off the bolt, so you have to use the open end. Be easy when doing the lower brackets, that you dont mess the threads up on the welded in NUT, 3 per side. I had to clean mine out for some reason on the pass side, so I went in from the top of the nut and fixed the threads slowly with dielectric grease and anti-seize.

Goodluck! -Mac
 
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